Faustino Oro, 12, Narrowly Misses Youngest-Grandmaster Record
Sun, 10 May 2026
Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro earned his final grandmaster norm at the Sardinia World Chess Festival, becoming the second-youngest GM in history, just days behind the all-time record.
Faustino Oro, a 12-year-old Argentine player, earned his final grandmaster norm at the Sardinia World Chess Festival in Orosei, Italy, on May 10, becoming the second-youngest grandmaster in chess history.Oro fell just short of Abhimanyu Mishra's all-time record of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days, set in 2021. Had he completed the norm at an earlier attempt, at the Aeroflot Open, he would have broken the record by six days — but a final-round loss there meant the title came slightly later than it might have.Oro has been one of the most closely watched prodigies in online chess in recent years, rising as high as fifth on Chess.com's live rating lists before completing the over-the-board results required for the grandmaster title, a path that underscored the growing gap between online rating prominence and formal title qualification for young players.His achievement adds to a wave of young talent that has kept youth development a persistent storyline across the sport, with federations and academies increasingly competing to identify and support prodigies earlier in their development.Oro is expected to continue competing on the international circuit through the rest of 2026, with his federation, Argentina, citing him as a centerpiece of its efforts to raise the country's profile in elite chess.