12-year-old Argentine GM Faustino Oro shared his opinion on the FIDE World Championship 2026. Faustino says Javokhir Sindarov is playing better at the moment, points to Gukesh Dommaraju’s decline in performance, and cites the Ding vs. Gukesh match in 2024.

Faustino Oro

Faustino Oro

12-year-old Argentine GM

“Sindarov or Gukesh?

Right now, I feel like Sindarov is playing better. Gukesh is obviously a good player, but in 2025 and early 2026, he’s not playing very well.

He dropped a lot in Elo after winning the World Championship match. He’s not playing well. He lost a lot of games. For example, at the Grand Swiss, he lost three games in a row. He’s not playing bad. But we know he’s capable of playing very well.

And now Sindarov won the Candidates with 10 points, which is crazy. He’s playing very, very good. But, just like with Ding vs. Gukesh — we weren’t expecting anything from Ding Liren, because he wasn’t playing well. And then he won the first game and almost won the match.

But right now, I think Sindarov will win.”

Reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju finished 8th/10th at the Sinquefield Cup 2025, 41th at the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, and was eliminated in the 3rd round of the FIDE World Cup 2025. In February Gukesh finished 9th at the Tata Steel Chess Masters 2026. In March Gukesh Dommaraju (2732) finished last at the Prague International Chess Festival.

The FIDE World Championship 2026 is the crowning match to determine the World Champion. Match features defending Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Uzbek GM Javokhir Sindarov, the winner of the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026. The location and date of the match will be announced by FIDE later this year.