Only half a point separates Faustino Oro his second grandmaster standard. The Argentine, chess prodigy and international champion at just 12 years old, reached a draw in the eighth round of the tournament this Monday Masterful Szmetan Giardelli with the Peruvian GM Julio Granda58 years old and increased his score in the tournament to five points. So, Another draw in the final round will be enough for him to take another step in his quest for the most important title in world chess.
Fausti He played with white pieces and although he was slightly better after the opening, he admitted that he couldn’t find the right plan and that he repeated moves until he equalized after 27 moves in the first game of the day.
After victories in the first two rounds against his compatriots, it was the sixth draw in a row for the young wonder of the “Science Game”. Ilan Schnaider And Thomas DarcylRivals with a lower rank than him.
At the end of the tournament played in the Recoleta Cultural CenterThis Tuesday he will play against the GM with black pieces Diego Floreswho won their duels at the last two Argentine championships in 2024 and 2025
Flores, who won for the eighth time a few weeks ago Argentine Superior Absolute and achieved the record of Miguel Najdorf As the top winner of this tournament, he defeated Darcyl with black this Monday.
Faustino Oro takes advantage of the opening with the white pieces 🚨
Szmetan Giardelli Tournament 🏆 Leandro Plotinsky @mela_chess pic.twitter.com/ylk0AQYKSd
— Chess.com in Spanish (@chesscom_es) December 15, 2025
Gold achieved its first norm on September 23 in the tournament “Legends and Miracles” In Madridat just 11 years, 11 months and 9 days, becoming the second youngest person to receive this honor. If he gets the second spot now, he has 86 days to win the third and become the youngest GM in history. He would have to do this before March 7, 2026, when he will be 12 years, 4 months and 24 days old.
Schnaider, another precocious 14-year-old Argentine and MI talent, also achieved a great result. Because he was tied with the Norwegian GM with black Aryan Tari88th in the world and one of the two leaders in the tournament with 5.5 points.
The other leader is the Latvian nationalized Spanish GM Alexei Shirovwho defeated the Bulgarians Ivan Cheparinov in an exciting duel. They started with 20 quick theoretical moves, Shirov thought for an hour before making the queen eat a pawn, and at that moment his rival made a mistake and the former world third formed a winning combination.
In addition, the GM Sandro Mareco He earned his first victory in the competition by defeating the GM in an all-Argentine game. Sergio Slipak.
The ninth round matches that will be played this Tuesday from 2 p.m. are Flores-Oro, Granda-Shirov, Mareco-Tari, Cheparinov-Slipak and Schnaider-Darcyl.
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