A Messi Kid

John B. Henderson • Sep 19, 2023

India today is a land of amazing young talents and prospects in chess, with the country seemingly having a never-ending production line of prodigies rolling off the factory conveyor belt. But for some countries, such as Argentina, prodigies only seem to come around with all the regularity of  Halley’s Comet.


One of the first notable post-war chess prodigies was Oscar Panno from Buenos Aires, who became the first world-class player born in South America. In 1953, at the age of 17, he became only the second World Junior Champion, having won the coveted youth title ahead of a strong cadre of future elite-level Grandmasters such as Boris Ivkov (who in 1951 was crowned the first World Junior Ch), Bent Larsen, and Fredrik Olafsson.

After winning the World Junior title, the legend who became the star protagonist of the golden age of Argentine chess through the 1950s went on to compete in five Interzonal events and finished clear 3rd at Gothenburg 1955 ahead of the leading troika of Soviet newcomers Geller, Petrosian and Spassky to qualify for the 1956 Candidates tournament in Amsterdam.


Now at the age of 88, and looking very sprightly and lucid, octogenarian Panno was recently cheered from the rafters as he appeared as the guest of honour at a memorial tournament in his hometown to commemorate his famous World Junior Championship victory 70 years ago in Copenhagen. And as chance would have it, another promising young star on the rise was also playing in that special Panno anniversary event.


It was 9-year-old FM Faustino Oro - and back in March, the Argentinian prodigy hailed by the media as the “Messi of Chess” made history by becoming the youngest player ever to break the 2300-rating barrier.

Last week, the pre-teen seen as a potential world champion by several pundits and commentators went one better with an incredible performance of 6.5/9 to finish second-equal in the ITT Cop Ciudad de Comodoro Rivadavia closed round-robin, which, along with a performance rating of 2452, saw him grab his first IM norm to also become the youngest to do so.


Final standings: 1. GM D. Flores (Argentina) 7.5/9; 2-3. GM N. Delgado (Paraguay),  FM F. Oro (Argentina) 6.5; 4. FM A. Aguilar (Argentina) 5.5; 5-6. WIM J. Gomez Barrera (Chile), IM J. Romero (Venezuela) 4.5; 7-8. FM D. Belmonte (Argentina), C. Vasquez (Chile) 3.5; 9. M. Aguinaga (Argentina) 3; 10. G. Slomka (Argentina) 0.


Young Master Oro at the board: © Federico Marin, El Mundo.

FM Andres Aguilar - FM Faustino Oro 

ITT Comodoro Rivadavia, (5)

E35: Nimzo-Indian, Classical, Noa variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 The Classical or Capablanca variation was popular in the early days of the Nimzo-Indian, made famous by being adopted by the great Jose Raul Capablanca. The idea is for White to try and gain the bishop pair without compromising the pawn structure after ...Bxc3, and at the same time possibly planning on domineering the centre with e4. 4...d5 The Noa variation can often lead to a sort of Queen's Gambit Exchange variation, as happens in the game. 5.cxd5 exd5 Safe and sound, heading for a sort of QGD Exchange variation as mentioned above - but for so long the critical line has been 5...Qxd5!? 6.Nf3 Qf5!? looking to keep game more dynamic, holding a firm grip on the e4 square. 6.Bg5 c6 7.e3 O-O 8.Bd3 h6 9.Bh4 Be6 10.Ne2 Bd6 11.h3 Nbd7 12.O-O Re8 13.Rad1 Also a good plan was 13.a3 with the idea of b4 and Na4. 13...Rc8 14.a3 Nb6 15.e4 dxe4

Better was 15...g5! 16.Bg3 and now 16...dxe4 17.Nxe4 Nxe4 18.Bxe4 Bc4 19.Bh7+ Kg7 20.Bd3 Bxd3 21.Qxd3 Nd5 and despite the f5 weakness, Black has a solid position.16.Nxe4 Nbd5 17.Nc5 Bxc5?! It is around here when the youngster starts to stray, losing the thread of the game - all Black had to do was keep things solid and his dark-squared bishop on the board with 17...Rb8! to retain equality. These are just little things young master Oro will pick up with experience. 18.dxc5 Qa5 19.Nd4 Bd7 20.Bf5 Suddenly White finds he has a dominating position - and even more so had he found 20.b4! Qc7 (Snatching the pawn soon crashes to 20...Qxa3? 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Qd2! Kg7 23.Bf5 and Black is lost due to the perilous state of his king) 21.Bg3 Qd8 22.Nf5! with a big positional plus and a potentially winning kingside attack. 20...Rcd8 21.Rd3 Re1! After taking his eye off the ball, Oro is back in the game - but it is still a difficult position for Black. 22.b4 Rxf1+ 23.Kxf1 Qa6 Without this move, Black would be in dire straits. 24.Bxd7 Rxd7 25.Bxf6 Nxf6 26.Kg1 Rd5 27.a4 Re5?! The rook was ideally placed where it was on the strong d5 square - the move to find was 27...Nd7! with the better idea of trying to put the knight on e5! 28.Nf5! Suddenly, with just one mistake, all of Oro's hard work of hanging on in a difficult position has gone - and from here he should really have lost. But kudos to the 9-year-old for not completely capitulating in a difficult position. 28...Re8 (see diagram) Ever resourceful, the engine finds the better/losing move(!) with 28...Nd5!? 29.Rg3 Kf8! 30.Nd6! Nf6 where at least White has to play the unhuman-like move of 31.Re3 to retain good winning possibilities; the (full) point being that if Black exchanges rooks on e3, White has excellent chances of converting the win with threats of Qf5 or even Qb3. 29.Rg3?

After slowly but surely pushing his young opponent almost off the board with a well-played positional squeeze, White inexplicably cracks in a close-to-winning position. Aguilar has the right idea but the wrong execution - the way to win was 29.Qc3! where the direct threat is next Rg3! with a mating/winning attack. But get the sequence wrong, and it doesn't take a 9-year-old long to spot a saving tactical resource! 29...Re1+! 30.Kh2 Qf1Just keeping the rook on d3 preventing ...Qf1 for one move longer would have made all the difference between White winning and not. 31.Rxg7+ Kf8 32.Kg3?? I can only speculate that this had to be a blunder induced by time-pressure, and White thought he was losing any way to the threat of ...Qg1+ and ...Nh5+ - but then again, we have Mr Engine chugging away in the background, gleefully telling us that after the remarkable resource 32.Rh7! the game fizzles out to a draw after 32...Nxh7 33.Qc3! f6 (It's much the same after 33...Ke8 34.Ng7+ Ke7 35.Qd4 f6 36.Nf5+ Ke8 37.Nd6+ Kf8 38.Nf5 etc) 34.Qd4 h5 35.Qd8+ Kf7 36.Qd7+ Kg6 37.Nh4+ Kh6 38.Qf5 Kg7 39.Qg6+ Kf8 40.Qxh7 Qxf2 41.Ng6+ Ke8 42.Qg8+ Kd7 43.Qf7+ Kc8 44.Qf8+ Kc7 45.Qd6+ Kc8 46.Qf8+ and a repetition is on the cards. 32...Nh5+ Fortune favours the lucky today! 33.Kf3 Nxg7 34.Ne3 Rxe3+ 0-1And White resigns with 35.Kxe3 Qxg2 being hopelessly lost.

The 42 Paradox

By John B. Henderson • 02 Oct, 2023
Well, well, well. After rampaging his way through many of the finals and opponents throughout the 2023 Champions Chess Tour, Magnus Carlsen’s “final boss” reign came to a screeching halt in what proved to be an enthralling AI Cup Grand Final on Friday, as the favourite was beaten not once but in three games, and over two matches, by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who sensationally grabbed the last remaining spot in the Champions Tour Final in December. Earlier, Carlsen had defeated MVL in the final of the winners’ bracket, before the Frenchman gained the right to a rematch in the double-elimination contest by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final of the losers’ bracket. In the Grand Final, buoyed up and firing on all cylinders, MVL beat Carlsen by a 2½-1½ score.

We'll Meet Again

By John B. Henderson • 29 Sep, 2023
The self-proclaimed “final boss of chess” does what the final boss of chess does best of all: Magnus Carlsen beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final of the AI Cup winners’ bracket, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season, to reach yet another Grand Final in the novel double-elimination contest. But it wasn’t without an epic bare-knuckle street fight from both players, as MVL proved to be a worthy opponent for what looked to be an unstoppable Carlsen, who narrowly prevailed in the Armageddon to take the match 3-2. "This is the sort of thing that happens when you play Sicilians in every game," said a magnanimous Carlsen in victory after four fighting Sicilians left the match tied at 2-2.

Tiers For Fears

By John B. Henderson • 27 Sep, 2023
Fans were treated to arguably the greatest online rivalry in chess history recently, with the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship Grand Final showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura seeing the Norwegian narrowly snatch victory by a solitary win to end the American speed maven’s hopes of a sixth successive victory. But Carlsen’s narrow win left the salivating fans feeling they’d been denied seeing this epic gladiatorial speed contest going into overtime - but they didn’t have to wait long for the rivalry redux, as a couple of days later, both Carlsen and Nakamura went head-to-head yet again in the opening day of the AI Cup, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season.

Bossing It

By John B. Henderson • 25 Sep, 2023
Magnus Carlsen more than lived up to his self-proclamation of being “The Final Boss of Chess” with a revenge-is-sweet narrow victory over fellow chess influencer Hikaru Nakamura, as he denied his long-time arch-rival a sixth successive Chess.com Speed Chess Championship title last Friday. Last year, it was Nakamura who narrowly squeaked home by one point - this time, in yet another thrilling match consisting of three different speed limits - 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 (more commonly known as ‘bullet’) - between the two speed titans, it again ended with the same scoreline, though this time seeing Carlsen triumph by a solitary win after two pulsating hours of thrilling play, as he took the $150,000 2023 Speed Chess Championship presented by Coinbase, 13.5-12.5.

Death, Taxes, Magnus & Hikaru

By John B. Henderson • 22 Sep, 2023
With a smorgasbord of online chess events out there now, the granddaddy of them all is surely the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship , with a $150,000 prize fund that determines just who is the best blitz and bullet players. It has become the perennial fan-favourite with arguably the best viewing experience - and the fans are set for yet another spectacular finale later today, as the two rivals who dominate the roll of honour, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, get set for another explosive showdown in the 2023 final. Friday’s final and commentary, free to view, starts at 14:00 ET (11:00 PT; 20:00 CEST; 23:30 IST) on Chess.com. Carlsen and Nakamura have won each edition since the inaugural Speed Chess Championship event in 2016 - Carlsen won the first two speed titles before taking a hiatus, only for Nakamura to rule the roost, winning four more times.

The Great Rook 'n' Roll Swindle

By John B. Henderson • 14 Sep, 2023
“Chess is a cruel game. We all know that feeling when your position has gone awry and everything seems hopeless. You feel like resigning. But don’t give up! This is precisely the moment to switch to swindle mode. Master the art of provoking errors and you will be able to turn the tables and escape with a draw or sometimes even steal the full point!” So wrote David Smerdon, an Australian chess grandmaster and one of his country’s leading behavioural economists, on the back cover of his witty and wickedly entertaining, not to mention the much-lauded and deserving 2020 ECF Book of the Year winner, The Complete Chess Swindler (New in Chess).

No Country For Young Men

By John B. Henderson • 11 Sep, 2023
With the top teenage talents being overshadowed in the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid in Kolkata by a dominant performance from seasoned veteran Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, there were hopes of a homeland comeback in the follow-on Blitz tournament - and one looked to be on the cards, only for another “old guy”, this time Alexander Grischuk, crashing the teenage party by capturing the second, even faster speed title. Early doors, all eyes were firmly on Rameshbabu “Pragg” Praggnanandhaa, with his flying start of a perfect 5/5 on the opening day of the two-day double-round contest. But that was as good as it got for the 18-year-old Candidate-qualifier, who could only finish the day on 6.5/9, and despite being the sole leader, he held what looked a very slender half-point lead over nearest rivals Santosh Vidit and Grischuk, ominously the only unbeaten player.

My Indian Summer

By John B. Henderson • 08 Sep, 2023
The past couple of years have proved to be a major one for India - not only a global player with world leaders descending this week in New Delhi for the G20 Summit and recently successfully landing a spacecraft on the moon but now also a fully-fledged chess superpower, with many exciting young talents set to make the country a dominant force for the foreseeable future. Many would even speculate that Indian Chess could well turn into a hegemony, in much the same way as the Soviets dominated the chess scene in the 1945 post-war period until its collapse and ultimate dissolution in 1991. The latest big chess tournament to be held in India coincides with the G20, with the fifth Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz - a spinoff from the larger Dutch super-tournament, the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee - taking place 5-9 September in Kolkata.

Me & The Kids

By John B. Henderson • 04 Sep, 2023
The fifth and latest leg of the Champions Chess Tour , the Julius Baer Generations Cup more than lived up to its name with the world No.1, Magnus Carlsen, after overpowering Alireza Firouzja in the winners’ final, to effortlessly cruise his way into the Grand Final, declaring: “It’s just me against the kids now!” After three clean kills that included a brace of back-to-back 2½-½ victories over Iranian Amin Tabatabaei and his old title foe Caruana, Carlsen proceeded to sweep Firouzja 3-0 to reach the Grand Final of the contest - but it wasn’t lost on the “old man” that non of his old rivals were left in the competition, and that meant that Denis Lazavik (16), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (18), and Firouzja (20) were the only three left standing to see who would go forward to meet him in the Grand Final.

Vanity Fair

By John B. Henderson • 29 Aug, 2023
The game’s world governing body, FIDE, has launched yet another World Championship event, the inaugural World Team Championship , that was held over the past weekend in Dusseldorf, Germany - but this one is mildly controversial, as the clue can be found in the eventual final result, as it took on the air of a vanity project dominated by the event sponsor’s own powerhouse WR Chess team. It had its attractions though, with forty-two sponsored teams registered to take part in the tournament and a unique blend of professional players, top women, and amateurs on each team. The novel format, faster time control (15 minutes per player, with a 10-second increment per move), and inclusion of amateur players alongside professionals aimed to make the event accessible to a wider audience (and that part failed, apparently).
Show More
Share by: