World No 1 Magnus Carlsen has heaped praise on 12-year-old Faustino Oro who is in line to become the youngest grandmaster in chess history. Since Oro is from Argentina and like football superstar Lionel Messi, he moved from his native country to Spain to accelerate his career, Oro is also known as the Messi of Chess.
Carlsen, though, had a different spin to this comparison.
“I am a Real Madrid fan personally, but I’ve kind of come to appreciate Messi more and more. I think Faustino is a lot better at 12 than Messi was at 12. He’s on a good path. Just embrace it and enjoy it and you know, one day Messi will be lucky to be compared to you if you continue (like this),” the five-time world champion Carlsen told Oro in a conversation for the Take Take Take app.
Faustino Oro, the 11-year-old prodigy from Argentina, competes at the FIDE Rapid and Blitz tournament two years ago. (PHOTO: FIDE/Lennart Ootes)
When Oro was asked about the comparison with Messi, he said: “Obviously I watch football. I like Messi for sure. I watch him a lot, and a lot of games (of him). Sometimes I watch football, but I’m not focusing on the football obviously. I also like to be compared with Messi and I’m happy. That for sure is important,” Oro said.
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WATCH: Magnus Carlsen’s advice for Faustino Oro
Talking about the record of the youngest grandmaster in the world, Carlsen had some advice for Oro.
“I do think that there are more important things right now than records. I think that’s the most important thing to think about. I think he’s a great player. He has a wonderful positional feeling for chess which is quite rare among such young players. He seems to really love chess, seeing as he plays a ton online and he plays every tournament that he can play. He also seems to have great support to kind of let him do his thing. So, I would focus on just trying to keep it light, not think about results a whole lot. And you know, he’s on an incredible path. Believe me, it’s fun to be that much into something and be that good at it at such an early age. So just enjoy it and the pieces will fall where they may,” Carlsen told Oro when talking about the impending record as the world’s youngest grandmaster.
To this, Oro replied: “I don’t care much about records. I care much more about trying to play better chess all the days, trying to improve and trying to play and enjoy the game. For me, this is the most important thing for chess. I am happy and trying to improve my chess.”
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