12-year-old Argentine IM Faustino Oro lost the decisive game to achieve his third GM norm at the Aeroflot Open 2026 tournament. Faustino misses the opportunity to break the world record and become the youngest grandmaster in history.

IM Faustino Oro (2526) lost his game against GM Aleksey Grebnev (2621) in the final 9th round of the tournament. Oro scored 5.5 points out of the required 6.5, winning 4 games, drawing 3, and losing 2 in the tournament. Faustino’s performance rating was 2528 points out of the required 2600.

Faustino earned his second Grandmaster norm at the Szmetan-Giardelli Masters 2025 in Argentina, where he scored 5.5 points in 9 rounds and finished in 4th place. He completed his first Grandmaster norm in 2024 at the “Ciudad de Leon” Magistral tournament.

The 12-year-old Argentinian IM Faustino Oro (2516) holds all records as the youngest player to reach 2500 in Classical, Rapid, and Blitz. The current record for the youngest grandmaster is held by American Abhimanyu Mishra, who became GM at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days. At the time of publication, Faustino’s exact age is 12 years, 4 months, and 19 days.

Credit: Aeroflot Open