Buenos Aires, March 4 (NA) -- Young chess player Faustino Oro is just one match away from making world chess history. The 12-year-old Argentine prodigy secured two consecutive wins this Wednesday at the Aeroflot Open 2026, taking place in Moscow. This Thursday, Oro will face the final round with a concrete chance to become the youngest Grand Master of all time. The pairing for the final round determined that he will play with black pieces against the young Russian Grand Master Aleksey Grebnev (2621), who is also undefeated in the tournament. A victory would allow him to achieve the third norm and officially obtain the title of Grand Master, as learned by the Argentine News Agency. With an ELO of 2526, the teenager from the Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Cristóbal reacted after losing his unbeaten streak in the sixth round to Russian Ivan Rozum. Far from being discouraged, he showed character and precision in rounds 7 and 8: first, he defeated Indian Lad Mandar (2334) with black pieces, and then he defeated the Azerbaijani International Master Shiroghlan Talibov (2431) in a demanding match that went to 60 moves. In this way, Oro accumulates 5.5 points in eight appearances, the product of four wins, three draws, and only one loss. Since January 2022, FIDE requires three norms to be crowned a GM: two must be achieved in closed tournaments and one in an open one. Oro had already met the first two in Madrid, at the Prodigies and Legends tournament, and in Buenos Aires, at the Szmetan-Giardelli Memorial. Moscow represents the last stop of the challenge. In addition to the norm, he needs a performance superior to 2600 in the tournament, where 52 Grand Masters from different federations are competing. If he achieves it before March 11, he will break the current record of American Abhimanyu Mishra, who reached the title at 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days. Oro would achieve it at just 12 years, 4 months, and 19 days, a milestone that could mark a before and after for Argentine chess.
