Sensational victory goes viral
Ten-year-old defeats chess genius Carlsen
March 29, 2024, 1:35 p.m
Chess superstar Magnus Carlsen suffered a rare defeat this week. Not against anyone, but against a ten-year-old who is already being celebrated as the new prodigy. The clip of his sensational victory has gone through the roof in the last few days.
It’s not like Magnus Carlsen doesn’t suffer any defeats on the chessboard. The Norwegian also stumbles here and there and has to admit defeat, both in the real and virtual world. But defeats by probably the best player of all time are still a rarity. The astonishment in the scene was all the greater when Carlsen lost a game against the ten-year-old Argentine Faustino Oro in the middle of the week.
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The extremely rare spectacle happened in the so-called Bullet Brawl tournament on “chess.com”. In this variant, both players only have one minute to think about it. Mistakes and inaccuracies happen more often, and a near-perfect game is almost impossible. Carlsen’s defeat against Oro is still a sensation, after all, the Norwegian has been one of the absolute best in the world in rapid chess for many years.
Over four million see the sensation
In the game against the young Argentine, the Norwegian made a mistake in the 38th move of the final and lost his knight. Ten moves later Carlsen gave up. Oro streamed the game live on YouTube and then celebrated his victory exuberantly. The clip of the crucial moments later went viral on X and had been viewed 4.3 million times as of Friday.
Argentine media celebrated Oro extensively and described him as the “Messi of chess”. The student, who is officially listed as a FIDE (classical chess) master, also made headlines in other parts of the world. Oro, who lives with his family in Spain, told the “infobae” portal: “I’m very happy. It’s a great joy for me because I’ve never played against him.”
Child prodigy unimpressed by the “Magnus effect.”
How self-confident the Argentine is even at his young age was shown in the decisive move in which Carlsen lost his knight. Immediately afterwards, Oro said dryly: “If I lose in this position, I will have to retire from chess.” The oft-cited “Magnus effect,” which states that players who play against the big superstar tend to make untypical mistakes, had no effect on him that day.
By the way, Magnus Carlsen has not yet commented on his surprising defeat. In return, the Norwegian did what he always does: win games. At the 2024 Grenke Chess Classik in Karlsruhe on Thursday, the superstar won his two games against the grandmasters Vincent Keymer and Richard Rapport and stormed to the sole lead in the overall standings.