Faustino Oro has made history again in the world of chess. At just 12 years, 6 months, and 26 days, the Argentine prodigy became the second youngest Grandmaster of all time, following a remarkable performance at the Sardinia Open in Italy.
The young player, born in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Cristóbal, achieved the final norm after defeating Polish International Master Bartlomiej Niedbala and accumulating six points in eight rounds, resulting from his undefeated performance against high-level opponents with five victories and three draws.
Faustino Oro reached the final standard to become Grand Master.
Among his victories are notable wins against Gerhard Lorscheid, Alexis Tahay, and Guido Caprio, while he also drew against players of the caliber of Leon Mendonca, Aditya Mittal, and Adharsh Murali Karthikeyan. These results allowed him to achieve a tournament performance exceeding the 2600 Elo points requiredto obtain the title.
Even a potential loss in the final round, where he will face Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, former world title challenger, will not change the achievement, as the requirement has been mathematically fulfilled thanks to the strength of his opponents.
The rapid growth of his career
Oro's path to the elite has been meteoric. In 2023, he became the first player of his age to surpass 2300 FIDE Elo points, and a year later, he made a historic leap by becoming the youngest International Master of all time, at just 10 years, 8 months, and 16 days.
Faustino Oro had a meteoric rise in his short career as a chess player.
During 2025, he broke the barrier of 2500 points, one of the fundamental requirements to aspire to the Grandmaster title, and obtained two of the three necessary norms for it. Finally, in 2026, he consolidated his growth: he reached his best Elo ranking and completed the final norm in Sardinia to enter the great history of chess.
While the absolute record for precocity remains in the hands of American Abhimanyu Mishra, the emergence of the Argentine positions him as one of the greatest promises in international chess and marks a new milestone for the national sport.
