The seasoned reader has long understood that there are different ways of presenting an event that happened in everyday life as news.
If you read somewhere that
“a 10-year-old boy beat the best in the world”
in anything, you will without hesitation direct your gaze to the intrigue and impact of that statement.
He will want to know more.
But all news needs
context and analysis
to understand its why.
The intention, then, is that when you finish reading these lines it will be clear to you that
Faustino Oro
's victory over
Magnus Carlsen
can only astonish and stupefy those who do not know either the Argentine protagonist or the variables that occurred for this to happen.
Starting because if he didn't beat him before it is because he had never had the luck to face the Norwegian who
gave up his world chess title to seek motivation
elsewhere.
How can you write “lightly” – the critics will say – that it is “normal” for a kid who
will only blow out 11 candles on October 14
to win a game against the undisputed king of chess for 13 uninterrupted years?
First of
all
, because
Fausti
is not just any kid.
He is a genius.
A prodigy with a gift for the chosen ones.
A boy like others who during the pandemic blew up furniture with the ball in his house and whose parents tempted him with a board and 32 pieces: 16 white and 16 black.
He never took his eyes off those squares again: the physical ones and especially the ones seen on the computer screen.
He is passionate about chess.
Breathe chess.
He loves chess.
He wants to play chess all the time.
And that is where dad Alejandro and mom Romina have a task as monumental as it is loving: neither more nor less than
guiding their son so that he grows up as they should grow up
at 8, 9, 10 years old, knowing at the same time that
Fausti
is
a beast. of calculation and tactics
.
Everything in small packaging.
How is it “understandable” that he beats the current
star
and one of the best in the history of this ancient game?
Secondly
, because
Fausti
was
number one in the world
at
8 and 9 years old.
And he is with 10, with an ELO of 2,330 points.
He is more than 100 points ahead of the American Ethan Guo, the second highest ranked chess player born in 2013.
He has no rivals at his age and always seeks to play against older players.
But why does it have to be “normal” for him to beat Magnus Carlsen?
Thirdly , because he lives playing - and defeating
-
great masters in
online
games .
He did it against several of the best, including the American
Hikaru Nakamura
, world number 3, the Norwegian's nemesis for his dialectical “spicas” and one of the
top
fast-paced
blitzes
or “
bullets
.”
We will soon have to dwell on what this means.
Is it really surprising that
Fausti
won?
He should amaze but you have to understand him.
Because,
fourthly
, the world of international chess already knows who he is, they respect him and wait for him with their guard up.
You have to endure the pressure of pure sensationalism calling you “the Messi of chess.”
If comparisons are hateful, this one is straight up stupid.
Each athlete builds their path in the discipline in their own way and what this gem needs is to go step by step, guidance from their parents and advice from coaches and teachers who face it.
Stop, stop, do you want to continue convincing me that getting Carlsen to give up in front of a 10-year-old boy is an everyday thing?
An everyday thing, no.
But the prodigies of world chess wreak havoc.
They are increasingly achieving grandmaster standards at a younger age and have the ease of
online
study .
The advancement of computing made it possible to have extraterrestrial modules at hand and artificial intelligence is used to study chess.
This is the
fifth reason
why.
Just as table tennis players have hours of practice dedicated specifically to serving, adolescent chess players spend hours in front of a screen solving problems, betting on tactical shots and
training their eye view
so that reasoning provides them with a vision of the position of the departure and the path to victory.
And try to normalize that what Fausti
did
is not crazy!
Of course it's not crazy.
It is one of precocious geniuses and it occurs for all the above and for more reasons.
The
sixth
is that the
crack
in a small package has already taken a step that Argentine teachers used to take as adults:
he went to live in Spain
.
To Catalonia, precisely.
One of the centers with the highest concentration of chess clubs and especially renowned international competitions.
Because to be better you have to face the best.
In any sport.
The 10-year-old "Golden Boy" Faustino Oro beat Magnus Carlsen yesterday in a bullet game!
Messi of chess 🏆🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/eVDGqGjxFl
— Chess.com (@chesscom) March 25, 2024
Mom and dad quit their high-ranking jobs in pursuit of
Fausti
's dream :
to be a grandmaster
.
And there the three of them went, with the priority of living as a family, for the child to continue his school education and to train chess and play almost every day.
The Fiorito family has just done the same
: father Fabián, international teacher, and mother Roxana settled in Spain with their sons Joaquín, international teacher, and Francisco, who will soon be one at the rate he is going.
And the
seventh argument
appears just to try to contextualize why something that
the chess world knew was going to happen
may be surprising .
How is he going to beat Carlsen if
Fausti
had never faced him?
Small detail.
With life savings, the family managed to give the Argentine kid the luxury of competing last December in the Rapid and
Blitz
World Championships in Uzbekistan.
His dream is to confront Magnus.
It didn't happen.
But it happened just this Saturday in an
online tournament at a “
bullet
” pace
.
Which?
Welcome to the
eighth reason
that cements this news:
the pace of the game
.
The objective is not to bore but to be pedagogical, because those who are far from chess may think that it is always played with the same time on digital clocks.
With the same rhythm, as it is known in the jargon.
No.
“Thoughtful chess”, with games that can last up to seven hours, is the most traditional, that of the
matches
for the world title, the one that is hardly televised - except in Norway -, the one that led generations to stigmatize young chess players as “boring”.
Checkmate that nonsense.
But it is thoughtful chess that gives the rules to the titles: from FIDE master to grandmaster.
And at this pace,
Fausti
logically has a long way to go: he confirmed it in January, when he came last among ten
“young masters”
(such is the name of the tournament), in Saudi Arabia.
Of course, some of his rivals were 300 points ahead of him.
And that distance in that rhythm is noticeable.
Faustino Oro, the chess genius.
But chess is played at multiple rhythms and the change of era, the vertigo and the emergence of
online
platforms to play promoted quick games,
blitz
and “
bullet
”.
The fast pace can vary, but the World Cup - for example - is played at 15 minutes per player, plus 10 seconds per move.
The increase in time is a key factor, because the player knows that as soon as he moves a piece, seconds are added to continue thinking.
The “
blitz
” or lightning rhythm is 3 minutes, plus 2 seconds per move.
Fury in tournaments played by cell phone in the bondis.
But there is the
summum
of speed: the “
bullet
” rhythm, 1 minute
“to finish”
.
No increase.
And this was the pace at which Carlsen and Oro played in the Chess.com Bullet Brawl, where the Argentine finished 21st and the Norwegian finished 30th.
Ninth reason
for victory.
In a “bullet” game
everything is speed
.
If you review the video of the duel, there are moves that are made so quickly that the eye does not detect them.
And mistakes are commonplace.
How can the best of all be wrong?
Luckily the human being is fallible and not a machine.
Then the errors appear.
Carlsen's first mistake was proposing an exchange of queens that led him to lose a pawn.
“If I lose this I have to retire from chess,”
Fausti
was heard saying in the live broadcast of his game.
Moves later, he turned the tables: “I'm close to losing.”
Until suddenly, inexplicably, Carlsen placed the horse in a square where it would be eaten immediately.
He “hung himself,” as they say in the slang.
But how can you leave a horse at the mercy of your rival so that he can quietly eat it!
Because it is a “bullet” game and it is played at such a frenetic pace that there comes a time when
more than chess it seems like a battle of
mouse
clicks
.
An
online show
.
You have to know how to play Magnus... But of course!
And countless teachers can attest to
Fausti
's quality .
The golden boy will play two tournaments at a planned pace.
From this Wednesday, April 27 to Monday, April 1, the VIII International Easter Open, in San Vicente del Raspeig, near Alicante.
And from April 2 to 7 he will compete in the III Open Chess Menorca.
Invitations pour in and his parents choose carefully.
It is not a matter of getting dizzy or rushing steps.
Faustino Oro doesn't stop exercising.
Photo:Costanza Niscovolos
“A 10-year-old boy beat the best in the world.”
If now the seasoned reader understands why what happened happened, mission accomplished.
Miracles must be helped with work.
There is no other recipe.
Ah, the
tenth reason
for Faustino Oro's triumph over Magnus Carlsen is missing.
The temperament of him.
His cold blood.
His lethal gaze on the board and on the rival.
The audacity of him.
He may still be the youngest international master in history, an achievement held by American
Abhimanyu Mishra
at 10 years, 9 months and days.
But Fausti
's dedication
goes towards a single ultimate goal: to be a great teacher.
Mishra achieved it at a record age of 12 years, 4 months and 25 days.
Time to time, of course.
Although Faustino Oro has already defeated time so many times that...