Faustino Oro’s triumph on a virtual board continues to resonate in Argentine sports. The 10-year-old Argentine boy has just defeated the number 1 in chess, Magnus Carlsen, in a bullet (ultra-fast) game that took place during the Bullet Brawl 2024. Gold, with white and an ELO ranking of 2955, beat the Norwegian grandmaster (3246) in 48 plays. An impeccable game from the Argentine, who capitalized on a couple of Carlsen’s errors to win a historic victory.
But to take a greater dimension of the achievement of this young Vélez fan who lives in Barcelona in the care of his parents, it is appropriate to develop eleven questions and answers to explain the phenomenon. Here they go:
1- How does Faustino agree to play against Carlsen?
-It is an online platform called Chess.com, which is one of the most important in the world in the organization of chess tournaments and events of all kinds. It must be taken into account that chess is played much more online than “face to face”. We always talk about fast game rhythms, not classic ones. For example, there are chess games lasting twenty minutes per player with an automatic addition of ten seconds per move. This is a fast pace of play, if compared to classical chess, where games last several hours, but slow compared to other forms of rapid chess, such as the world blitz, of which Carlsen is champion, which is three minutes per player with the addition of two seconds per play. The fastest pace of play of all is the “ultrabullet”, one minute per player with no added time. It was in this rhythm of play where Faustino’s victory over Carlsen crystallized.
2- What does the platform consist of?
-This platform, Chess.com, has a kind of Diamond League, similar to athletics, where different players are invited to participate, which includes promising young players, such as Faustino. Online tournaments are played very frequently. One-minute per player tournaments are very popular and, due to their short duration, easy to organize. Every Saturday there is one with the participation of the best. This was an ultra-fast tournament by Swiss system. The Swiss system is like this: in a tournament with many players, they cannot play all against all because it would become endless, so the confrontations are drawn by draw. It is within this framework that Carlsen and Faustino played.
3- Why doesn’t Carlsen appear in the video?
-One-minute tournaments are informal, so players are not required to appear on video. Yes, they can, on their own, make a streaming, like Faustino does.
4- How important is Faustino’s triumph?
-For a ten-year-old boy to beat the best in the world in any modality is extraordinary, because Carlsen is also the best in this modality, or in any case the second best behind Nakamura. On the other hand, games with one minute per player have a relative value. It is a rhythm of the game in which it is as important to play fast as to play well, and many mistakes are made. It is not uncommon for Carlsen or any other of the best to lose games to little-known opponents.
5- In a conventional game, does Faustino have a chance of beating number 1?
-In principle no, the difference in ranking is still very big. But Faustino has been progressing like a rocket.
6- Why is Faustino especially good and how is his career continuing?
-As far as I know, no chess player in the entire history of world chess has ever played so well at the age of ten. Faustino is first in the world ranking for those under ten years old. He has already obtained the title of master from Fide (International Chess Federation) and is the youngest in history to achieve it. His next step is to obtain the title of international master, which he is already close to; and then that of grandmaster, the highest title of a chess player.
7- What expectations are there for your future?
-Taking into account how he plays right now, expectations are high for him. However, nuances must be taken into account; The explosion of chess on the Internet and its ease of practicing it online means that other children are emerging in different parts of the world who are also very good. And, furthermore, the fact that Faustino is brilliant at the age of ten does not apply, like a mathematical law, to the fact that he will be a world champion one day. But it can happen, and it is valid to think that Argentina will have in Faustino, within a few years (five or six), an elite player, among the ten best in the world.
8- Could having lost to a ten-year-old boy have an impact on Carlsen’s self-esteem?
In my opinion, nothing. If it were a slower game, maybe it could be a blow to his self-esteem. But a two-minute game is given little importance and is quickly forgotten. Furthermore, Carlsen has bulletproof psychic strength and usually accepts the challenges presented to him. He could very well not play one-minute games, knowing in advance that he is going to suffer some defeats that could be considered humiliating, but he plays anyway without worrying about it.
9- Is there a special technique to play one-minute chess?
Yes. We are talking about an online modality. It is played differently than physically. For example, there is something called “premove”; It is when one, anticipating the opponent’s next probable move, makes one’s own next move with the mouse, so that when the opponent plays, our response is automatic, without loss of time. There is also the “antipremove”, which already enters the realm of psychological cunning. It is about foreseeing that the opponent is going to make a “premove” and making an objectively bad play, but intended to take advantage of that “premove”. In turn, the one who was going to make that “premove” must have a lot of foresight and instinct to change his move on the fly. Because another factor to take into account is that, in a one-minute game, a disadvantage of, say, ten seconds on the clock with respect to the opponent, is decisive, no matter how much material or positional advantage one may have. For reasons like these we said before that one-minute games have relative importance. Although it is also clear that you don’t beat Carlsen just by playing fast.
10- Can there be an overload of expectations for a ten-year-old boy?
-We must be careful that the adult world does not place too many expectations on someone who is only a ten-year-old child. I think the defense for that is letting him live his own childhood without interference. With the love that Faustino has for chess, the path will retrace itself.
11- Can we help you in your career?
-Yes of course. The family has and will have many expenses, not counting the sacrifice that the parents make to accompany them. Travel, cutting-edge computer tools, world-class trainers. All of this has to be paid for and any help, state or private, will be useful.