Frederik Svane wins Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026, Faustino Oro creates History

by Devansh Singh - 11/05/2026

Frederik Svane scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 points to win the 3rd Edition of Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026. In the last round, Svane scored an important victory over Murali Karthikeyan, who was co-leading with him after 8 rounds. Haik M Martirosyan, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Mamikon Gharibyan scored an unbeaten 7/9 points to finish in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th positions, respectively, according to tiebreak scores. Faustino Oro creates history at the Sardinia Chess Festival as he scored his final GM norm after facing Nepomniachtchi in the last round. He became the second-youngest Grandmaster in Chess history at the age of just 12 years, 6 months, and 26 days. Check out how things ended up in Sardinia. Photos: FT Niklesh Jain

'Messi of Chess'?

Fondly called the "Messi of Chess", 12-year-old Argentinian Phenom Faustino Oro has become the World's 2nd youngest Chess Grandmaster after his opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi played his move against Oro in the Final round of the Sardinia Chess Festival.

Faustino Oro during his last game against Nepomniachtchi

Faustino scored his 1st GM norm at the Legends and prodigies Round Robin Tournament in Madrid last year, scoring an undefeated 7.5/9 points, also crossing the 2500 Rating barrier. His 2nd GM norm came at the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli Masters in December 2025. His 3rd and final GM Norm came at the Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026, where he secured the norm with a round to spare, scoring 6/8 points!

Faustino Oro with his mother after the last round

Faustino missed becoming the youngest ever Grandmaster by 2 months; that record still stays with GM Abhimanyu Mishra. The 3rd GM norm perhaps took the longest time to complete for Faustino. He was very close in acheveing the final norm and breaking Abhimanyu's record in Aeroflot Open 2026, but he lost his last round. Now Faustino is a part of the Grandmaster Club.

In this Exclusive Interview, Faustino talks about his feelings after creating history, his future goals, and family support

The Last Round Clash

Going into the last round, Murali Karthikeyan and Frederik Svane were co-leading with 6.5/8 points. There were 8 players on 6/8 points. On the top board, Frederik Svane got the better of Murali Karthikeyan in a rook endgame to clinch the title. Check out the important clashes of the final round below.

Frederik Svane vs Murali Karthikeyan (1-0)

Critical moment after 50.Rf6

In the above position, Frederik played 50.Rf6 attacks the pawn, and it's impossible to defend the pawn, but still, after losing the pawn, the game would end in a draw. Karthikeyan had to keep his rook on g-file to put pressure on g3 pawn, but he played 50...Rh1, which turned out to be a game-losing mistake.

Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Fautino Oro (1-0)

Mistake at 23...Ng4

Faustino played 23.Ng4 after spending 18 minutes and 13 seconds, and it turned out to be a game losing mistake as Nepo found a nice sequence getting the winning position.

Check out the game | Video: ChessBase India

Haik M Martirosyan came back from a terrible position against Velten Paul to secure the 2nd place

Top 3 finishers: (L to R) Haik M Martirosyan(2nd), Frederik Svane(1st) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (3rd)

Nepo would be happy with his performance as he scored an unbeaten 7/9 points

Prizes

Top 5 Prizes

Category Prizes

Video Gallery: Here

Exclusive interview with Faustino Oro | Video: ChessBase India

Check out the moment when Faustino became the second youngest GM | Video: ChessBase India

Photo Gallery: Here

Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov also made his final GM Norm

GM Aditya Mittal drew his last game to score 6/9 points

Abhimanyu Puranik suffered a tough loss against Mamikon Gharibyan

The game between Parham Maghsoodloo and Prraneeth Vuppala ended in a draw and both players finished in 9th and 10th places respectively

Karthikeyan played some amazing chess throughout the tournament and despite losing the last round he finished in 6th place

ChessBase India's Niklesh Jain was in Sardinia to cover the event and he got some amazing interviews coming up for you!

Local Bishop of Sardinia was present during the Closing Ceremony

Tournament Director: GM Roberto Mogranzini

Vantika Agrawal (L) secured the 1st prize in Women Category!

Norms Scored

GM Norms: Suyarov Mukhammadzokhid (UZB), Oro Faustino (ARG), Kuru Atilla (TUR)

WGM Norm: Aamuktha Guntaka (IND)

WIM Norm: Swara Lakshmi S Nair (IND

Replay Available Games of Round 9

Round 9 Results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	5	GM	Svane, Frederik	2645	6½	1 - 0	6½	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	2648	4	PGN
2	1	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	2729	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Oro, Faustino	2528	23	PGN
3	2	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2710	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Prraneeth, Vuppala	2515	24	PGN
4	27	GM	Velten, Paul	2487	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	2636	6	PGN
5	29	GM	Gharibyan, Mamikon	2477	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	2607	9	PGN
6	25	GM	Hardaway, Brewington	2510	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Aditya, Mittal	2619	7	PGN
7	11	GM	Idani, Pouya	2594	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid	2534	21	PGN
8	26	GM	Ohanyan, Emin	2508	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Jacobson, Brandon	2594	12	PGN
9	13	GM	Lodici, Lorenzo	2590	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Ilinca, Felix-Antonio	2486	28	PGN
10	30	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2470	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Sokolovsky, Yahli	2564	16	PGN

Details

Final Standings after 9 Rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	Rp	K	rtg+/-
1	5	GM	Svane, Frederik		GER	2645	7,5	9	51	47,5	42	2475	2748	10	11,9
2	6	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.		ARM	2636	7	9	53	49,5	39,75	2517	2737	10	12,4
3	1	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian		FID	2729	7	9	51,5	49	38,75	2527	2747	10	3,9
4	29	GM	Gharibyan, Mamikon		ARM	2477	7	9	44,5	41	34,75	2317	2537	10	7,9
5	12	GM	Jacobson, Brandon		USA	2594	6,5	9	53,5	49	36,75	2486	2652	10	8,7
6	4	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali		IND	2648	6,5	9	53	49,5	36	2489	2655	10	2,8
7	20	GM	Yilmaz, Mustafa		TUR	2549	6,5	9	50,5	47	35	2427	2593	10	6,9
8	32	IM	Kuru, Atilla		TUR	2464	6,5	9	50	46,5	34	2481	2647	10	23,1
9	2	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham		IRI	2710	6,5	9	50	45,5	35	2469	2635	10	-3,1
10	24	GM	Prraneeth, Vuppala		IND	2515	6,5	9	49,5	45,5	34,5	2471	2637	10	15,9