12-year-old Argentine IM Faustino Oro commented on missing the opportunity to set the youngest grandmaster record in an interview with the EFE agency. Faustino admits to feeling a little sad about the missed record, noting that it’s not the most important thing in chess for him.

Faustino Oro

Faustino Oro

Argentine IM

“The tournament was tough. A little sad at the end, because I could have achieved the last norm and set the record. It’s not that the record is that important, but it’s a nice memory, so to speak.

The good thing is that I’ll probably achieve the grandmaster norm soon. Without the record, but I will most likely become a grandmaster fairly soon.

For people, it’s all about the record, but ultimately, it’s not that important. Right now, I just need to play well and enjoy the game.”

12-year-old Argentine IM Faustino Oro (2526) lost the decisive game to GM Aleksey Grebnev (2621) and failed to achieve his third and last GM norm at the Aeroflot Open 2026. 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.

Credit: Michal Walusza / FIDE