Argentina’s IM Faustino Oro has scored his first grandmaster norm after a stunning 6/7 start to the Legends & Prodigies 2025 tournament in Madrid, Spain. Only World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju has ever scored a GM norm at a younger age and, after smashing through the 2500 barrier, the 11-year-old now needs only two more norms to earn the grandmaster title. The “Messi of Chess” turns 12 on October 14 and still has five months to beat GM Abhimanyu Mishra’s record as the youngest grandmaster in chess history.
Faustino Oro Scores His First GM Norm
The 10-player “Insud Pharma – Nave Bellver Leyendas & Prodigios” tournament is taking place in a converted warehouse in Madrid from September 17 to 25, featuring prodigies—Oro is joined by 14-year-old IM Ilan Schnaider and 15-year-old Chinese IM Lu Miaoyi—and legends, headed by 58-year-old Peruvian GM Julio Granda. Oro has been in top form, storming to 6/7 and a towering 2790 performance.
With the addition of the 12 points Oro picked up in Fujairah at the end of last month, the young star has now crossed a live rating of 2500 (2502.5), one of the requirements to become a grandmaster.
Even if he loses the last two games, he’ll now officially be the highest-rated 11-year-old in chess history, while if he scores 50 percent or more, he’ll be the first 11-year-old ever to be rated 2500 or above. Perhaps more importantly, however, he’s picked up his first grandmaster norm at the age of 11 years, 11 months, and 10 days.
He also did it in style.
Oro Lives Dangerously, Plays Brilliantly
Oro’s path to the norm has been glorious, featuring games full of tactical skirmishes, where at times he’s been lost, but his ambitious play has been richly rewarded. It started with the first game, where, against renowned chess commentator GM Pepe Cuenca, he rejected a draw in the middlegame, with an eye to his opponent’s clock, and then pounced after Cuenca lost his way.
35.Be2?, played with just two seconds to spare, was the start of the end for Cuenca.
The next game was even more dramatic, since the mercurial GM David Larino was at times completely winning a wild clash, even when Oro found some brilliant defensive resources. In the end, however, Oro tricked his opponent in time trouble, and his passed pawn couldn’t be stopped.
“I didn’t expect it at all,” said Oro as he moved to 3/3, but he admitted he’d been lost against Lu in round three.
15.Bb3! is crushing, while 15.Nxf7!? also gives White a powerful attack. Instead, the Chinese star delayed with 15.Qf3?!, and when she did capture on f7, it was a losing move, as Fausti swiftly demonstrated.
The game seemed completely smooth from there, on the surface, though it turns out that 20…Rf8!? allowed an amazing save. “Rf8 is bad? It seemed like the best move in the history of chess, didn’t it?” exclaimed Oro when joining the live commentary—something he’s done on all but one of the days.
Unfortunately, Lu had to withdraw from the tournament after round six, with the organizers commenting:
Lu is experiencing health issues and is completely exhausted. After talking with the family, we have decided that the most prudent course of action is for her to withdraw from the tournament in order to prioritize her well-being and protect her health.
The fourth round was the smoothest yet, as Oro moved to a 4/4, which he described as “not bad!”
His one slip was missing a win on move 14 against IM Diego Macias, but that meant we got to see a fine finish, starting with “a pretty brilliancy” (Oro’s words upon seeing the computer evaluation!).
The one player to stop Oro’s rampage was his 14-year-old fellow Argentinian Schnaider. GM Anish Giri explained the situation.
I already understood a long time ago, the solution to kids is more kids. https://t.co/tcE95q7VEf
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) September 21, 2025
The 91-move draw was a missed chance, since while there was no obvious knockout blow, the younger star was a pawn up with Schnaider’s pawn structure in ruins and should have been able to press the advantage. Instead, Oro pushed and lost the pawn, with his opponent putting up fine defense to hold the draw.
Normal service soon resumed, however. In round six, Oro beat a legend, GM Alan Pichot, who was the Argentinian number-one before switching to represent Spain in 2023. Pichot had reason to lament, since one less-than-obvious miss aside, he made only one real mistake all game—29…Ra2?, which immediately cost him the full point.
“I can make the norm in seven rounds!” said Oro after the game, and that’s just what he did, with a quiet 17-move draw against Cuban GM Omar Almeida in round seven.
Fausti’s Road To Grandmaster
Oro was a child of the pandemic, discovering chess in May 2020 when his father, Alejandro, not wanting his six-year-old son to do too much damage inside with a football, set up an account on Chess.com. He then made the rash decision to award a prize for every 100 rating points Fausti improved.
Since then, Oro has been breaking records left, right, and center. At nine, he became the youngest player to score an IM norm, at 10, he became the youngest IM and crossed 3000 on Chess.com, while he set records for the youngest player ever to cross 2200 and 2300 as well. This year, he had the great GM Viswanathan Anand on the ropes in the Leon Masters.
Now he’s crossing 2500, and the next big goal is the grandmaster title. The current youngest-ever list looks as follows:
| No. | Player | Federation When Achieved | Age |
| 1 | Abhimanyu Mishra | United States | 12 years, 4 months, 25 days |
| 2 | Sergey Karjakin | Ukraine | 12 years, 7 months, 0 days |
| 3 | Gukesh Dommaraju | India | 12 years, 7 months, 17 days |
| 4 | Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | Turkiye | 12 years, 9 months, 29 days |
| 5 | Javokhir Sindarov | Uzbekistan | 12 years, 10 months, 5 days |
| 6 | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | India | 12 years, 10 months, 13 days |
| 7 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Uzbekistan | 13 years, 1 month, 11 days |
| 8 | Parimarjan Negi | India | 13 years, 4 months, 22 days |
| 9 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway | 13 years, 4 months, 27 days |
| 10 | Wei Yi | China | 13 years, 8 months, 23 days |
Oro has until March 11, 2026, to score the three norms required to set a new record, but it’s only a matter of time. As his coach until earlier this year, GM Tomas Sosa, commented:
Fausti is playing as a GM, he will get the title soon, and then probably we will see one of the best talents of chess playing without any pressure, and his best chess. He’s amazing, improving every day, and I’m very happy for him!
IM David Martinez, co-organizer of the tournament with Mariano Sigman, commented after round six:
He has resources, natural talent, and a practical game that intimidates. It gives the impression of having no limits. Faustino has been playing at grandmaster level for several months, but in Madrid, he is taking an even bigger leap. It is true that he had a bit of luck in the early rounds, but the last three have been of an extraordinary level. His style is very classical, capable of generating good options even in quiet positions, and in time trouble, he is very reliable.
Faustino has been playing at a grandmaster level for several months.
—David Martinez
So the future is very bright for Oro, but he’s unlikely to have things all his own way. A few years older is GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, the highest-rated 14-year-old of all time, while younger players are also snapping at Oro’s feet. Ten-year-old FM Ethan Pang broke Oro’s records as the youngest ever 2200- and 2300-player, while 10-year-old IM Roman Shogdzhiev took the record as the youngest ever international master.
So Oro is guaranteed to face formidable opposition, but so far, there’s nothing to suggest he can’t get to the very top.
