For a period of time sandwiched by the pandemic, young Indian players had a number of eye-catching performances. The likes of Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa put the world of chess on notice as they broke a number of age-related records en route to big wins over GMs. Since then, they have more or less delivered on their initial promise. In Gukesh's case, he has gone on to become the youngest world champion.

But chess is one sport where the game is increasingly becoming younger and younger. Gukesh may only be 19 but he's already a seasoned campaigner. It's one of the many quirks as players, some as young as 10, can become titled over-the-board performers.

At the ongoing World Cup in Goa, a fair few kids — children, really — could carry the mantle going forward. Turkey's duo of Ediz Gurel (16) and Yagiz Khan Erdogmus (14) have a promising future ahead of them. They didn't face many problems in the opening round and may pose problems for more experienced GMs in the upcoming rounds.

US's Abhimanyu Mishra (16) set the record for becoming the world's youngest GM a few years ago. It's a measure of how far he has grown in a short span of time that he received a bye in the first round.

But Argentina's Faustino Oro is tipped to take over that record from Mishra. Nicknamed 'chessi' — a portmanteau between chess and Messi — Oro is already famous. That much was evident on the opening day of the event in the west coast. The 12-year-old had a bevy of people lining up next to his board to take photographs (fans and accredited photographers are allowed to take images for the first 10 minutes). After his game finished, Oro was shadowed by people outside the venue by people twice his size and three times his age for photographs. He accommodated those requests like somebody already accustomed to this world of paparazzi and stardom.

At some level, it's crazy to expect a 12-year-old — he was 11 till a few weeks ago — to take in, process and understand this world. But, at a whole different level, this is his world, his safe space. Earlier this Summer, Oro took part in an exhibition event against five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand. He has already appeared in a number of international events as the surname continues to attract shutterbugs within the wider chess community. He has also beaten Magnus Carlsen several times in online games.    

It was why he was given a wild card by FIDE for this event. Around the time he was granted the wild card, he went and grabbed his first GM norm after winning the Legends and Prodigies meet in Spain. He's already one of the youngest International Masters (IMs) and is one of a growing band of youngsters whose games are keenly watched by the ever-expanding online chess community.

In Goa, ChessBase India have decided to place one of the nine phone cameras at Oro's table. "Whenever we put out content related to Oro, there's a lot of demand for it," a ChessBase employee told The New Indian Express. "We usually get upwards of a lakh for Oro." In December, Oro will also be part of the Global Chess League (GCL) as he won the Prodigy title.  

On the board, Oro, the youngest player in this edition, is very inquisitive even after taking into consideration he's a player. On both days, the Argentine would wander off to peer into the game state of some of the other matches. Even if this is fairly common, Oro spent a lot of time watching some of the other boards. Just to reflect his growing prominence, a lot of players made the excursion to watch his board (his board, No. 60, is placed in one corner of the room, away from the main boards).

The 2509-rated player is known to be someone who's precise with his moves as he focuses more on building attacks over a number of moves. It's why the young turk doesn't mind spending five hours over-the-board like he did against Ante Brkic on Sunday. After a relatively quick draw on Saturday, he willed himself to attack with the white pieces. For almost 70 moves, he tried but his Croat opponent, three times his age and a GM, kept finding a way. On Monday, they will return to the board to find a winner via tie-breaks.

For the time being, Oro will use these competitions to try and secure the GM norms needed for that title. In the long-term, though, his ambitions are grander.

Becoming world champion.  

(Written by Swaroop Swaminathan of The New Indian Express)