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Mayank Chaudhary. At just 12 years old, Argentina's Faustino Oro has accomplished what many renowned chess players only dream of. Although he did not break the record for the youngest Grandmaster held by America's Abhimanyu Mishra, Oro has certainly etched his name in the annals of chess history.

By securing his third and final GM norm at the Sardinia World Chess Festival in Italy, Oro became the second youngest Grandmaster in chess history. Time seemed to be his greatest adversary in this journey.

Oro achieved the Grandmaster title at the age of 12 years, 6 months, and 26 days, making him the second youngest player ever to do so.

Known as the 'Messi of Chess,' Oro is only the seventh player to reach this milestone before turning 13. This elite group includes Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, D. Gukesh, Yagiz Khan Erdogmus, Javokhir Sindarov, and R. Praggnanandhaa.

In March 2026, Oro was just one victory away from cementing his name in chess history, but Russian teenager Alexey Grebnev played the role of the villain in his remarkable journey.

Reaching the final round of the 2026 Aeroflot Open in Moscow, a win against Grebnev would have granted Oro his third and final GM norm. Had that happened, he would have become a Grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 19 days, just six days shy of the current record holder, Abhimanyu Mishra.

Explaining this to an average 12-year-old would be challenging, but Oro is no ordinary child. Displaying maturity beyond his years, he accepted this heartbreaking defeat with grace.

After the loss, Oro spoke to a Spanish international news agency, expressing enthusiasm, "Overall, I didn't play badly, but I didn't show my best today. In fact, I played quite poorly. The good news is that I might get my norm soon. Even without a record, I will become a Grandmaster shortly."

This young talent from Buenos Aires previously held the record for being the first player under 12 years old to achieve a rating above 2500. Earlier, in June 2024, he broke the record for the youngest 'International Master' in the world.

At that time, Oro secured his final norm at the age of 10 years, 8 months, and 16 days. However, his IM record has since been surpassed by Russia's 10-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev, who achieved this feat at just 10 years, 3 months, and 21 days, making him five months younger than Oro.

Faustino Oro shared with The Indian Express, "I am a positional player, but I also enjoy tactics. I believe I am a tactical player, but I don't consider myself dynamic. I don't try to checkmate my opponent in 20 moves. I focus on playing well and winning the game."

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