Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi was in for a surprise on Tuesday when 12-year-old Argentine prodigy Oro Faustino, dubbed the “Messi of Chess”, coolly held him to a draw in the first game of their second-round FIDE World Cup clash.
The wonderkid, who’s already become a sensation back home, showed composure beyond his years against one of India’s best.
Vidit Gujrathi 🇮🇳 claims a draw by threefold repetition against young prodigy Faustino Oro 🇦🇷
🇮🇳 Vidit ½-½ Oro 🇦🇷 | Game 1 | Round 2 | #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/CDnV3Wz955
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) November 4, 2025
Playing with black, Faustino opened with the Berlin Defense and matched Vidit move for move, refusing to crack under pressure.
Vidit tried probing for weaknesses,
but the youngster stood firm. With no breakthrough in sight, the two agreed to a draw after 28 moves.
The result means Vidit will have to find something special with the black pieces in the return game on Wednesday. If they’re still level, the match heads into tiebreakers under faster time controls.
This World Cup is crucial for Vidit as it’s his final shot at booking a place in the 2026 Candidates tournament, where the world title hopefuls are decided.
Elsewhere, Levon Aronian continued his fine form, defeating India’s Aronyak Ghosh, while several other Indian stars, including Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, had mixed results in their opening games.
Indian Results After Round 2 Game 1:
D Gukesh Nogerbek Kazybek (Kaz);
Martin Petrov (Bul) lost to Arjun Erigaisi;
R Praggnanandhaa drew with Temur Kuybokarov (Aus);
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) beat Surya Shekhar Ganguly;
Diptayan Ghosh drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fid);
Levon Aronian (Usa) beat Aronyak Ghosh;
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi drew with Oro Faustino (Arg);
Karthik Venkataraman Aravindh Chithambaram;
Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis (Gre) Nihal Sarin;
Nesterov Arseniy (Fid) drew with P Harikrishna;
Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Cze) drew with Pa Iniyan;
Idani Pouya (Iri) Murali Karthikeyan;
S L Narayanan drew with Nikita Vitiugov (Eng);
Dmitrij Kollars (Ger) drew with M Pranesh;
Aryan Tari (Nor) lost to V Pranav;
Robert Hovhannisyan (Arm) Raunak Sadhwani.
