12-year-old ‘Messi of Chess’ eyes youngest grandmaster record, but undaunted by pressure
For a boy knocking on the doors of history, Faustino Oro is remarkably nonchalant about the pressures of expectations that come along with being too good too early in his career. Having ticked off his first Grand Master norm and crossed the 2500 rating threshold a fortnight ago at the Legends & Prodigies tournament in Madrid, Oro finds himself just two norms away from being the youngest grandmaster in history, a record which currently belongs to Indian-origin prodigy Abhimanyu Mishra. Oro still has five months to break Mishra’s record. The chase of becoming the youngest Grand Master in history has infamously been known to do strange things to the form of prodigies in the past. But Oro dismisses any talk of pressure with a shrug and a smile. While speaking to The Indian Express from his home in Badalona, Oro said, “There is no pressure about the record. Like I say in all my interviews, I try to play my best chess and enjoy chess. For me, it’s a sport.” The 12-year-old prodigy added, “I am not focusing on the record of being the youngest grandmaster in history. I will try to do that, obviously. But I am more focused on playing my style of chess and trying to improve a bit more every day. And well, if I improve a bit more each day, the grandmaster title will appear.” Oro was introduced to chess by his father at the age of six, Alejandro, to prevent the restless boy of six from kicking the football against walls for hours at a stretch while they were in COVID lockdown. In these six years, he’s already become the world’s youngest international master (a record now broken), the youngest player ever to cross 2500 rating, and the second youngest to earn a Grandmaster norm. He’s also defeated players like Magnus Carlsen thrice, and Hikaru Nakamura in online games besides playing against five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand in exhibition games.
Derby result cannot be predicted, MBSG foreigners are a little ahead of EB foreigners: Suley Musa
Sudeep Pakrashi: Suley Musa believes Mohun Bagan Super Giants’ foreigners are slightly ahead of East Bengal’s new foreigners on paper, ahead of the forthcoming derby in the IFA Shield final, scheduled to be held on 18th October on Saturday. East Bengal’s former Ghanaian defender, who had an illustrious career with the Red-and-Gold jersey from 1998 to 2004, being the team’s captain in the ASEAN Club championship explained, “The Result of the Derby between these two arch-rivals can never be predicted. But, talking about the difference between the teams, I feel the foreigners of MBSG look slightly ahead of East Bengal’s newly roped-in foreigners. Footballers like Jamie Maclaren, Jason Cummings, and Dimitri Petratos are already experienced, participating in Derby. On the contrary, East Bengal’s newly-recruited foreigners, though good in quality, are yet to gain the experience, playing in a Derby.” When asked whether East Bengal’s Brazilian midfielder Miguel Figueira could play a crucial role in the match, Musa revealed, “He is a quality footballer. He has an accurate passing ability. He can hold on to the ball. But all these qualities have been observed in the Durand Cup. Can you compare Sreenidi Deccan and Namdhari FC defenders with MBSG foreigners? So, East Bengal foreigners will have the real test in the final and winning the derby always depends on the match fitness and mental strength.” However, the 31-year-old defender believes Saturday’s IFA Shield final will play an important role for Red-and-Gold brigade’s Spanish coach Oscar Bruzon to make an assessment of his foreigners as well as the team before leaving for Goa to participate in the forthcoming Super Cup, starting from 23rd October.
AIFF floats 15-year ISL tender, wants a guaranteed amount of Rs 37 Crores from the newly-approved commercial partner
The All India Football Federation has finally floated a tender to select the commercial partner for the Indian Super League for the 2025-26 season on Thursday. In its tender, the AIFF has expressed its demand for a ‘guaranteed payment’ of Rs 37.5 crore or five percent of gross revenues(whichever is higher) on a 15-year agreement for a 12 to 14-team league with bids to be opened on 5th November. The Supreme Court set a deadline to complete the entire bidding process, and hours later, 10 ISL clubs sent an urgent letter to the Federation over the delay. The AIFF said that interested companies must have a net worth of Rs 250 crores at the close of the 2024-25 financial year. Bidders have to furnish Rs 10 lakh as a security deposit. The last date for submission of written queries for clarifications is 21st October. “The Bidder must have a Networth of at least INR 250, Crores (Two Hundred and Fifty Crores in Indian Rupees) at the close of the Financial Year preceding the Bid Due Date, that is FY 2024-2025. In this regard, it is clarified that in the context of any Consortium Bidder, the cumulative net worth of the Consortium Bidder shall be a minimum of Rs 250 Crores. This must also be at the close of the Financial Year preceding the Bid Due Date, that is FY 2024-2025,” it is written in the bid document. Significantly, relegation and promotion in the ISL have also been mandated under this agreement. The first season will begin in December 2025. Promotion and relegation will be implemented at the end of the 2025-2026 season. One team will be promoted to and one team will be relegated from the competition. The number of participants for later seasons shall remain at 12. However, a governing council, comprising AIFF and company representatives, will reserve the right to induct new teams. In the first 10 years of the competition, there was no relegation despite an Asian Football Confederation roadmap for its beginning in 2024-25, while promotion began only in 2023-24. Relegated teams are guaranteed financial support in terms of “parachute payments” as per time spent in the competition. The bid-winning company will be liable to distribute “Central Revenue Pool” to teams, amounting to 2.5% of gross revenues for the first five years of the term and 5% for the next 10 years. Teams must maintain a salary cap of Rs 18 crore, while they will receive a minimum of 70% of the contributions made by the bid-winning company for grassroots development. Such amounts would be distributed equally between the teams. No franchise fee will be charged from teams, with the founding teams having to give 10% of revenue, while new teams will have to shell out 20%. From 2025-26, the league will implement a “football video support system” as part of its broadcast/match infrastructure, while full VAR (Video Assistant Referee) adoption can be mandated from the 2030-31 season, if both the AIFF and the bid-winning commercial partner agree. A three member committee of Justice LN Rao, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey, and AFC representative Kesvaran Murugasu will evaluate all bids.
