TWIC is 31. First issue 17th September 1994.
Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026 (9)
Faustino Oro earns his final GM norm in Sardinia
Mark Crowther - Monday 11th May 2026
Nepomniachtchi and Faustino Oro at the end of their game in Sardinia. Photo © | https://sardinia-worldchess.it/
Argentinian chess player Faustino Oro finally has become a Grandmaster after a six points from nine games performance at the Sardinia World Chess Festival. Oro had previous norms at the Legends and Prodigies tournament in September 2025 and the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli in December 2025. Oro had been chasing the third and final mark since then but couldn't break Abhimanyu Mishra's record of 12 years, 4 months, 25 days. Oro finally got his title at age of 12 years, 6 months, 26 days, the second youngest in history beating third place Sergey Karjakin by a few days.
Oro earned the title after a win over Bartlomiej Niedbala in round 8 but his tournament ended on a bit of a whimper with a loss to Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final round. None of this matter very much, it's clear Oro has the talent to go very far and he will no doubt be just relieved to get this landmark out of the way.
Youngest GMs in History
There are two records to pay attention to, how the age record has fallen over the years, and expanding the list of players who earned the title under the age of 14 since Bu Xiangzhi was the first in 1999.
Bobby Fischer held the record for about 33 years between 1958 and 1991 before Judit Polgar beat it. Sergey Karjakin held his record for 19 years between 2002 and 2021 before being passed by Abhimanyu Mishra. Mishra has held his record for about five years, I think that record is under threat.
Oro took the record for youngest ever IM in June 2024 at the age of 10 years, 8 months, and 16 days. That record has already been broken by Roman Shogdzhiev, in May 2025, at the age of 10 years, 3 months, and 21 days. Something seems to have changed recently and we're getting reports of young talents practically daily. None of this takes anything away from Oro who really looks to have what it takes to go far.
Info: Chess Prodigy Wikipedia page
Info: Faustino Oro Wikipedia page
| Youngest GM Record holders | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Country | Age | ||||||
| 1950 | David Bronstein | Soviet Union | 26 years | ||||||
| 1952 | Tigran Petrosian | Soviet Union | 23 years | ||||||
| 1955 | Boris Spassky | Soviet Union | 18 years | ||||||
| 1958 | Bobby Fischer | United States | 15 years, 6 months, 1 day | ||||||
| 1991 | Judit Polgar | Hungary | 15 years, 4 months, 28 days | ||||||
| 1994 | Peter Leko | Hungary | 14 years, 4 months, 22 days | ||||||
| 1997 | Etienne Bacrot | France | 14 years, 2 months, 0 days | ||||||
| 1997 | Ruslan Ponomariov | Ukraine | 14 years, 0 months, 17 days | ||||||
| 1999 | Bu Xiangzhi | China | 13 years, 10 months, 13 days | ||||||
| 2002 | Sergey Karjakin | Ukraine | 12 years, 7 months, 0 days | ||||||
| 2021 | Abhimanyu Mishra | United States | 12 years, 4 months, 25 days | ||||||
| GM titles under-14 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Country | Age | Birth year | ||||||
| Abhimanyu Mishra | United States | 12 years, 4 months, 25 days | 2009 | ||||||
| Faustino Oro | Argentina | 12 years, 6 months, 26 days | 2013 | ||||||
| Sergey Karjakin | Ukraine | 12 years, 7 months, 0 days | 1990 | ||||||
| Gukesh Dommaraju | India | 12 years, 7 months, 17 days | 2006 | ||||||
| Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | Turkey | 12 years, 9 months, 29 days | 2011 | ||||||
| Javokhir Sindarov | Uzbekistan | 12 years, 10 months, 8 days | 2005 | ||||||
| R Praggnanandhaa | India | 12 years, 10 months, 13 days | 2005 | ||||||
| Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Uzbekistan | 13 years, 1 month, 11 days | 2004 | ||||||
| Parimarjan Negi | India | 13 years, 4 months, 22 days | 1993 | ||||||
| Magnus Carlsen | Norway | 13 years, 4 months, 27 days | 1990 | ||||||
| Ivan Zemlyanskii | Russia | 13 years, 8 months, 21 days | 2010 | ||||||
| Wei Yi | China | 13 years, 8 months, 23 days | 1999 | ||||||
| Andy Woodward | United States | 13 years, 8 months, 28 days | 2010 | ||||||
| Raunak Sadhwani | India | 13 years, 9 months, 28 days | 2005 | ||||||
| Bu Xiangzhi | China | 13 years, 10 months, 13 days | 1985 | ||||||
| Samuel Sevian | United States | 13 years, 10 months, 27 days | 2000 | ||||||
| Richard Rapport | Hungary | 13 years, 11 months, 6 days | 1996 | ||||||
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