Media365
Argentinian chess prodigy IM Faustino Oro, aged 11, has broken two records previously held by India’s Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. Oro won the Legends & Prodigies 2025 tournament in Madrid with 7.5/9 points, finishing undefeated and achieving his first GM norm.With this result, Oro’s performance rating reached 2759, the highest ever recorded by a player under 12. His projected FIDE rating for October is 2509, making him the youngest player and the first under-12 to cross the 2500 mark. This achievement surpasses Praggnanandhaa’s record from September 2017 by about a month. Oro’s 2509 rating will also become the highest rating achieved by any player before the age of 12, breaking another of Praggnanandhaa’s milestones.In Madrid, Oro defeated IM Pedro Martinez in the eighth round after a 90-move battle and then drew his final game against Peruvian GM Julio Granda. He secured the title with a round to spare, finishing one and a half points ahead of Granda and GM Alan Pichot.Oro now has one GM norm and four months to collect two more if he is to attempt breaking Abhimanyu Mishra’s record as the youngest grandmaster.Former World Champion Veselin Topalov described Oro as “the fastest-growing player in the world”, while his coach Jorge Rosito called him “a genius” and a symbol of hope for Argentine chess.“He’s a genius, and it shouldn’t matter if he achieves the title of grandmaster in record time. Fausti’s emergence is an achievement for Argentine chess, for those of us who love the game and who, for the first time in history, have the hope of seeing an Argentine in the chess elite,” Rosito told Argentinian outlet Infobae.By surpassing Praggnanandhaa’s under-12 rating records, Oro has underlined his status as one of the most promising young players in the world.
