Faustino Oro, author of one of the “comedies of the year” of the Rapid Chess World Cup

Faustino Oro he made pure history for Argentina, because with just 10 years old in October, he competed in the World quick chess games, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. And the Argentine prodigy made his debut making a lot of noise, because already on the first day he achieved a sensational victory against the master of the Russian national team Rudik Makarianwith a risky and very complex tactical combination, worthy of an elite chess player, which amazed the specialists.

At a key moment in his confrontation with Makarian, when everyone expected him to eat the white queen with his black queen, Fausti He chose to attack his opponent’s position with a bishop, to begin cornering his rival’s king. A play that completely changed the game and allowed him to move towards victory.

“It’s one of the best comedies of the whole year,” said one of the site’s specialists. Chess.comwho followed the duel live.

“In a quick game, this is a very difficult move: sacrificing the queen and sacrificing the bishop,” the Spaniard explained. Miguel Santos Ruiz, another expert on the board. “Faustino showed an experience as if he had played 10 million Blitzes. Exceptional chess,” he added.

Seeded 189th out of 202 participants, Oro added 1.5 points in five rounds on the first day. He made his debut with a defeat with the whites against the Russian grandmaster Arseny Nesterov. Then he achieved two great results: the victory over Makarian, in that match that put him at center stage in Samarkand, and the blank draw with the Uzbek grandmaster. Shamsiddin Vokhidov, member of the champion team of the last Olympics. And he finished with two falls against two Indian grandmasters, with black against Adhiban Baskaran and with white in front Venkataraman Karthik.

This Wednesday, on the second day of competition, he achieved two victories in four matches. He beat the Russian Grandmaster with the white pieces Denis Khismatullin and with black to the Moroccan international master Mohammed Tissir. He has also established a relationship with the locals Jamshid Mustafaev and lost early on with the Grand Master Mahammad Muradliborn in Azerbaijan.

After nine rounds, Faustino accumulates four points in nine games. The world number 1, the Norwegian Magnus Carlsenthe Slovenian Vladimir Fedoseev and the Chinese Yangyi Yu They are the provisional leaders with 7. This Thursday the last four rounds will be played to define the champion.

Faustino started playing chess during the 2020 lockdown due to the pandemic, he was world number 1 in the under 8 category and the youngest in history to first surpass 2,200 and then 2,300 points. ELO (today it has 2,357).

In April he became a teacher FIDE the youngest of all time, at 9 and a half years old. And shortly after he obtained an international master standard, a title he will obtain with two other standards. He has just moved to Spain with his parents to compete in higher level tournaments, looking for personal progress. And it didn’t take long for him to attract the attention of the greatest players in world chess with that extraordinary victory at the start of the World Chess Championships in Samarkand.