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D Gukesh watches in amazement as 11-year-old ‘Messi of chess’ defeats Indian IM, R Praggnanandhaa pauses game and joins

Jan 26, 2025 08:57 AM IST

D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa were amazed as 11-year-old Argentine Faustino Oro defeated Divya Deshmukh.

Divya Deshmukh, 19-year-old Indian International Master, was left shellshocked at the ongoing Tata Chess Masters, as she crashed to a shock defeat against Argentina chess prodigy, Faustino Oro. Oro, who is 11-years-old, holds the world record for the youngest IM, a title which he bagged in June 2024 at only 10 years, eight months and 16 days, breaking Abhimanyu Mishra's record. But his record has since been broken by Roman Shogdzhiev in January 2025.

D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa paused their games to watch in amazement as 11-year-old chess prodigy Faustino Oro defeated Indian IM Divya Deshmukh.
D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa paused their games to watch in amazement as 11-year-old chess prodigy Faustino Oro defeated Indian IM Divya Deshmukh.

D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa, who were also present at the venue, were in action in their matches, at the same time as Deshmukh's match. The two Indian Grandmasters were also spotted pausing when Oro sealed his win against Deshmukh, and they turned to look at the scene in amazement.

Also Read: 'Gukesh's strategy a spectacular failure’: Magnus Carlsen slams world champion as he evades loss against Abdusattorov

Who is Faustino Oro?

Oro became famous worldwide in May 2024 when he defeated World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen during a weekly Bullet Brawl tournament, hosted by Chess.com. He got the 2300 rating in classical format in 2023, becoming the youngest chess player to do so at the time. It has since been surpassed by Ethan Pant, in November 2024.

Oro is also nicknamed as the “Messi of chess” due to his diminutive stature, young age and talent, similar to the Argentine World Cup winner's formative years at Barcelona. They are also from the same country.

Divya, on the other hand, is a three-time gold medalist at the Olympiad, and has also won multiple gold medals at the Asian C'ship, World Junior C'ship and World Youth Championship. She won the 2022 Women's Indian Chess C'ship and also bagged an individual bronze at the 2022 Chess Olympiad. Deshmukh was also part of the team that won gold at the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020. She is currently the second ranked woman chess player in the country.

During the 2023 Tata Steel India Chess Tournament, she came out on top in the women's rapid section, although she was bottom seeded. She defeated Koneru Humpy, Irina Krush, Nino Batsiashvili, Harika Dronavalli, Vantika Agrawal, Savitha Shri B. She drew against Ju Wenjun, Anna Ushenina and lost to Polin Shuvalova.

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Stay updated with the latest sports news, including latest headlines and updates from the Olympics 2024, where Indian athletes will compete for glory in Paris. Catch all the action from tennis Grand Slam tournaments, follow your favourite football teams and players with the latest match results, and get the latest on international hockey tournaments and series.
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