Argentine chess prodigy Faustino Oro is set to make his debut at the Argentine Major Championship on Tuesday. He will become the youngest to compete in the tournament, and by a considerable margin. At 11 years and one month, Oro is set to overtake International Master Joaquín Fiorito, who reached the final in 2022 at 15 and five months.

“I like being the youngest and getting records, but I try not to push myself too much,” Oro told news outlet Clarín ahead of the tournament. “I don’t think I’m a candidate to win, there’s several players with a higher ELO than me.”

The ELO rating system ranks the relative skill levels of players in chess by assigning points to players depending on the players they beat — beating a player with a higher ELO grants you more points, thus increasing your own tally. Oro currently sits at 2433 points.

The Argentine whiz-kid first jumped to fame with his shocking win over world number-one player Norwegian Magnus Carlsen during the 2024 Bullet Brawl in March.

Three months later, he won the Barcelona Masters Tournament, prompting former world champion Garry Kasparov to nickname him “Chessi” as a nod to Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi. The win also crowned him as the youngest player ever to achieve the rank of International Master, at ten years, eight months and 16 days.

The Argentine Major Championship, which crowns the top Argentine player, is reaching its 99th tournament. First held as an in 1921, the 99th championship is named after Argentine writer and poet Ezequiel Martínez Estrada, who was also an avid chess player and co-founder of the Argentine Chess Federation (FAA for its Spanish acronym).

The top players taking part will be seven-time champion Grandmaster Diego Flores, five-time winner Grandmaster Fernando Peralta, as well as Grandmasters Sandro Mareco and Federico Pérez Ponsa.

It will be played in 11 round robin games, from November 26 to December 6. On weekdays, games are set to start at 2:30 p.m. at the Casa de la Ciudad auditorium (Uspallata 3150, Parque Patricios). Saturday’s games will start at 4 p.m. and will be played at the Club Argentino de Ajedrez (Paraguay 1858, Recoleta),  Sunday action — also a 4 — will move to the Círculo de Ajedrez Torre Blanca (Sánchez de Bustamante 587, Almagro).

All games will be broadcast live through platforms Chess.com and Lichess.org.