Faustino Oro, born October 14, 2013, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a chess prodigy often called the “Messi of Chess” or “Chessi.” He started playing chess during the pandemic in 2020, taught by his father, Alejandro, and quickly showed remarkable talent. Now at Sharjah Masters he is chasing his first GM norm in a quest to become the youngest GM in history.
New: Faustino Oro has his own calendar where fans can track his current and future events, as part of The Chess Calendar
This will not be the first record that Faustino Oro breaks. In April 2023, he became the youngest FM in history. At age nine, Oro became the youngest player to achieve a 2300 classical FIDE rating (a record broken by Ethan Pang)
In June 2024, at 10 years, 8 months, and 16 days, Oro earned the IM title, surpassing Abhimanyu Mishra’s record. He secured his third IM norm and reached 2400 FIDE Elo, becoming the youngest IM in history (broken in January 2025 by Roman Shogdzhiev)
GothamChess, “Chess prodigies are now 3 years old”
Now at Sharjah Masters Faustino Oro is on track to become the youngest to score a GM norm. He is currently with 3,5/6, a good start in the chase for the new record. If he becomes a GM by March 11, 2026, he will also be the youngest Grandmaster in history.
Throwback: Faustino Oro is the winner of Puigpelat Open 2024
