After Grandmasters Daniel Naroditsky and Hikaru Nakamura, a thriller win over World no.1 Grand Master Magnus Carlsen during the 2024 Bullet Brawl is the latest triumph Faustino Oro, the Argentine chess wunderkind, has added to his belt.
The eve of Saturday, March 23rd sent ripples across the chess fraternity as the 10-year-old chess prodigy found the upper hand against Carlsen towards the end of the game where he capitalized on his opponent’s mistake and trapped his knight.
Oro forced Carlsen to resign in a tense ‘bullet’ match, which lasted just 38 seconds and a total of 48 moves, thus earning him the title “Messi of Chess” from admirers. “If I lose from this position, I can retire from chess”, he said at one point during the match.
Streaming live on his YouTube channel, Oro quickly made his way through other participants until he found his next fight would be with the current best player in the world.
Bullet is ultra-fast chess where each player gets one minute on the clock with no time extension. The rules of this online weekly tournament are simple — Players are randomly matched and have to win as many games as possible in two hours. The person with the highest points is declared the winner.
The 2024 Bullet Brawl saw several grandmasters fighting in this open contest, including the king of bullet games GM Hikaru Nakamura, who was crowned the champion of this tournament. Despite finishing 21st out of a total of 156 players with a total of 108 points, Oro’s big victory over Carlsen has taken up the spotlight.
Argentina’s ‘golden boy’
The “Messi of chess” started learning the game during the pandemic. He is the youngest-ever chess player to cross the 2300 FIDE rating, besides achieving a norm toward an international master title, demonstrating a meteoric rise in just three years.
According to GM Nakamura, “He is the most talented junior in the world at the moment.” Oro grabbed eyeballs during his debut in the 2023 World Rapid Chess Championship 2023, which saw a pre-teen take on adult grandmasters head-to-head, finishing the tournament with two draws and a shocking win over Russian GM Denis Khismatullin.
Grandmasters Daniel Naroditsky and Hikaru Nakamura have also tasted defeat at the hands of the 10-year-old.
Known for his attacking style and “play to win” motto, Argentina’s ‘golden boy’ shifted to Barcelona, Spain with his family to pursue his dream of conquering the chess world.
