Oro Targets Record At Aeroflot Open: Like It Or Not, Chess History Could Be Made In Moscow

Chess could be about to experience an awkward moment.

It was confirmed this week that Argentina's 12-year-old "Messi of Chess" IM Faustino Oro is heading to Moscow to play the 2026 Aeroflot Open in a bid to make history.

If he succeeds, it will be an astonishing achievement: Oro will become the youngest grandmaster of all time, surpassing the current record held by GM Abhimanyu Mishra. Oro will also cement his status as one of the most remarkable talents ever to emerge in the game.

No-one can blame him for doing this, especially in an event with a $240,000 prize pot. But in Russia? It's not ideal.

For decades, Russia was the unquestioned centre of the chess universe. That status was abruptly disrupted in March 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

FIDE, the game’s governing body, found itself pressured into imposing sweeping restrictions on Russia and Belarus in line with wider sporting sanctions.

As a result, Russia was barred from hosting official FIDE-rated team competitions, its national teams were suspended, and its players were forced to compete under neutral status rather than under the Russian flag.

Russia's Isolation

For many in the chess world, Russia was now a pariah. While some individual tournaments continued to take place in Russia, they existed in a diminished state. The Aeroflot Open was one of them.

Aeroflot, the state-backed Russian national airline, has historically been a major sponsor of chess. Founded in 2002, the Aeroflot Open was one of the most established open tournaments in international chess, traditionally attracting elite fields.

Following the international outcry in 2022, however, the top players largely swerved events on Russian soil and, as a result, the Aeroflot arguably lost a large part of its lustre.

Few Western grandmasters ventured there. GM Hans Niemann—himself something of a pariah at the time—was one of them, invited by the Chess Federation of Russia last year.

A PR Gift

But timing is everything. Especially if you have a deadline to break a record, which is the case for Oro. He needed a open tournament to enter.

Under FIDE regulations, players must achieve three grandmaster norms in qualifying tournaments to earn the title. Oro already has two. But he must secure the final one before March 11, and recent rule changes mean it must come in an open rather than an invitational event.

The Aeroflot Open fits those criteria perfectly. The fact he could make history in Russia is unlikely to be of concern to Oro.

Russian chess chiefs will also be pleased. Oro is not just the next prodigy off the block, he's one of the most talked about chess players in the world. He offers the Aeroflot exactly what it needs: clean rehabilitation.

Joining Oro is Russia's number-one and top seed GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, plus other established Russian stars including the Super GMs Andrey Esipenko, Daniil Dubov and Alexander Grischuk.

Aside from Oro, there is also a host of other exciting young talents such as GMs Sina Movahed, Savva Vetokhin, and Artem Uskov, plus the IMs Yihan Meng, Khuong Duy and Khagan Ahmad.

FIDE, the world governing body of chess, has already been quietly bringing Aeroflot back into the fold. Last month FIDE listed, to little fanfare, the Aeroflot Open on its rundown of tournaments eligible for the 2026 FIDE Circuit, one of the qualifying routes for the 2026–2027 World Championship cycle.

That carries a certain amount of prestige and symbolism for the event and adds legitimacy: for the second year running, the Aeroflot is part of the pathway to the world title, albeit just a tiny step.

It all means that for the Chess Federation of Russia, hosting the tournament—and potentially witnessing history there—would represent a significant public relations victory.

It would signal that, despite sanctions and controversy, Moscow remains capable of staging meaningful international competitions.

Andrey Filatov, CEO of the the CFR, said: "Last year, the international chess festival Aeroflot Open celebrated its 20th anniversary—a truly significant milestone and a major achievement for the organisers.

"However, the history of this grand forum continues: this year, in addition to the traditional open tournament, events for children and chess veterans will also be held. All of them will take place in the very heart of the Russian capital—at The Carlton, Moscow, which is warmly opening its doors to us for the third year in a row.

"Over the past 20 years, the Aeroflot Open has become a place of triumph and a launching pad for many chess stars, including Magnus Carlsen, the reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, as well as young talents such as Artem Uskov, Savva Vetokhin, Roman Shogdzhiev, and many other gifted children.

"I would like to thank Aeroflot for its long-standing support of the festival and The Carlton, Moscow, for providing such a magnificent tournament venue."

All this comes right on the back of FIDE's controversial General Assembly ruling before Christmas that mandated a relaxation of restrictions on Russian and Belarusian teams competing in international tournaments.

It's important to note that FIDE is being taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after five federations challenged that decision to lift sanctions on Russia and Belarus. But recent noises from the International Olympic Committee and other major sporting bodies suggest the tide of opinion is turning in favour of readmitting Russia.

In the meantime, Russian chess is not being stopped.

None of this is what the people fighting Ukraine's corner want—even if Oro breaking a record would be something to be celebrated.

The Aeroflot Open runs from February 28 to March 5 at The Carlton Hotel, Moscow. Coverage will be available on the Chess Federation of Russia's YouTube channel here.