Faustino Oro spoke about how his chess career began in an interview with content creator Manuel Lopez Michelone. Faustino tells the story of how he annoyed his mother by playing with a ball in the house. Oro notes that his career began “by chance.”

Faustino Oro

Faustino Oro

Argentina's No. 1

“[Interviewer: Is this true that you were playing with a ball and then your mother was a bit fed up with you?]

Yes! Well, fed up, I don’t know, but sure, I was annoying, I was making noise, she was afraid. My mom was afraid, my mom worked in the living room and I was kicking the ball there.

Sometimes she had a meeting and I was with the ball, I was making noise. And she was afraid I would break some things.

And then, one Sunday she told my dad to teach me chess. And that’s how I started my chess career. A bit by chance, let’s say, in quotation marks.”

Faustino Oro started his chess career during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, at the age of 6. Oro became the youngest IM in history in 2024 at the age of 10. He became the second-youngest GM in history in May 2026. Faustino is currently World’s No. 249 and Argentina’s No. 1 with 2560 Classical points.

Credit: Michal Walusza / FIDE