Faustino Oro on the cusp of becoming youngest Grandmaster ever

Argentine chess prodigy Faustino Oro is now one step away from becoming the youngest ever Grandmaster (GM), the highest title awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE, in its French acronym). The 12-year-old secured two wins and seven ties at the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli, a top-level tournament played at the Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires. One of his top results was a tie against 2567 ELO-ranked and eight-time Argentine champion, GM Diego Flores.  Oro wrapped up the tournament with a score of 5,5 points in total, securing the second norm — or result — he needed to earn the Grandmaster title. What do chess players need to become Grandmasters? Chess players need to fulfill two requirements to become Grandmaster. First they need to secure a FIDE ELO rating of at least 2500.  Oro cleared the requirement in October 2025, when he became the youngest player ever to reach it at 11 years, 11 months, 18 days. The other requirement is a bit more elaborate, as players need to secure what are known as three norms. Norms are results within competitions with a specific set of standards: it must be a nine-game tournament, at least three GMs must be competing, all attending players must have a 2380 ELO rating, and be from at least two foreign federations.  To secure a norm, a player needs to earn a 2600 ELO performance within that tournament. There are many ways to get that score, as it depends on the strength of the rivals a player faces. There is one more additional requirement: one of the three norms must be secured at an open tournament played on a swiss-system format (essentially, a performance-based round robin). When can Faustino Oro become a Grandmaster? Oro already has two norms under his belt — he earned his second one in Tuesday’s Buenos Aires tournament after getting the first one at the Legends & Prodigies 2025 tournament in Madrid last September. Given that these won’t expire, he theoretically can become a Grandmaster whenever he reaches the third, provided he maintains his 2500 FIDE ELO rating. However, he’s on a race against the clock if he wants to secure the record of youngest ever player to reach the GM title. The current record, achieved by U.S. player Abhimanyu Mishra in June 2021, sits at 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days old. Oro turned 12 on October 14, meaning would have to secure his third norm by March 7, 2026 to beat it. Kasparov’s reaction to Oro’s second norm The chess world did not remain silent on Oro’s performance at his latest tournament.  Legendary former world chess champion Garry Kasparov had a curious reaction on his  X at the Argentine whizkid’s most recent milestone achieved. Often regarded as the best chess player in history, Kasparov quoted Chess.com’s announcement on Oro’s second norm, adding a surprised eyes emoji. It’s not the first time the man who famously lost against IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in 1997 congratulated the Argentine online.  ‘Chessi?’ They keep getting younger!” he wrote about Oro on X back in 2014, when the Argentine prodigy became the youngest player ever to achieve the rank of International Master. The name he used was of course a nod to Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi.