Buenos Aires, January 22 (NA) – Argentine Faustino Oro, just 12 years old, has made headlines again in the chess world following another outstanding performance in the Netherlands, where he is competing in the Challengers section of the 88th Tata Steel Festival. After his victory in the fifth round, former world champion Garry Kasparov praised him once again and gave him a nickname that quickly went viral: 'Chessi', in a direct comparison to Lionel Messi, as reported by the Argentine News Agency. The nickname fuses the word 'chess' with the surname of the Argentine captain, and Kasparov had already used it in 2024 when Oro became the youngest international master in history. Now, the Russian has once again highlighted his impact on the board, in a context where the young prodigy not only competes on equal terms with older rivals but also remains in the main fight for the title. In this fifth round, Oro achieved a resonant victory with the black pieces against the Chinese prodigy Miaoyi Lu (15), the world's top-ranked female junior. The game was resolved in 27 moves with an impressive 95.7% accuracy, a figure that reflects the level of control and maturity with which the Argentine has been playing. With this result, Faustino leads the tournament alongside Aydin Suleymanli and Andy Woodward, raised his Elo to 2531 points and boasts a performance of 2760, figures that continue to consolidate him as one of the great promises of the circuit. The next challenge will be this Friday, when he faces the Dutchman Max Warmerdam with the white pieces, in a tournament that still has eight rounds to go.
