World’s Youngest IM Struggles – 1.5/9
Whenever there’s a discussion about the new generation of prodigies, the name Faustino Oro comes up. Faustino, also known as the Lionel Messi of Chess, is an 11-year-old International Master from Argentina who holds the record for being the youngest to earn the title at just 10 years of age. The Wonder Kid has been on the radar of closed tournament organizers, such as Tata Steel Chess Festival, Djerba Chess Festival, etc. However, Faustino who holds a reputation for being a Blitz genius in the online chess circles, has been struggling at these over-the-board classical events.
After a disappointing outing at Wijk aan Zee, Faustino was up against a field of 9 sub-2600 players in the Djerba International Chess Festival (Masters). The tournament took place from Feb 15 to 23 on the wondrous island of Djerba, Tunisia. With the likes of rising juniors like the World Rapid Champion Volodar Murzin, Daniel Dardha, Maurizzi, and seasoned guys such as Vasyl Ivanchuk and David Navara, the Argentine had an opportunity to show his calibre and potentially earn a Grandmaster norm. But Faustino was in for a tough time as he finished with only 1.5/9, managing 3 draws, 6 losses and no wins!
Having played almost a whopping 17,000 games online, Faustino has built a good understanding of opening play and did fairly well in most of his games, but he got absolutely outclassed by his opponents in strategic play. Faustino failed to obtain even a single winning position on the board. The Masters section of the Djerba International Chess Festival was won by the French youngster, Marc’Andria Maurizzi. This evaluation graph of his game against Etienne Bacrot sums up how most of his games went:
BLITZ SECTION – FAUSTINO GOES ON A RAMPAGE
Even during a nightmarish Classical event, Faustino Oro displayed his strong mental fortitude as he came back to his strengths, i.e., fast chess. In the 9-round Blitz Swiss section that took place on Feb 19, Faustino scored a heavy 8/9, beating Parham Maghsoodloo and Marc’Andria Maurizzi on his way! Owing to his only loss which came to Daniel Dardha, who also finished with the same score, Faustino had to settle for 2nd place.
The young boy has bright years ahead of him, and it remains to be seen how he can translate his strength in faster chess to the standard time control. Faustino will be seen in action next month as he is set to participate in another Grandmaster round-robin tournament, in Uruguay!
Photo credit: Lennart Ootes / FIDE
