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10-year-old FM Faustino Oro, dubbed the 'Messi of Chess,' has become the youngest-ever international master and once again earned a place in chess history, securing the final norm today in Barcelona, Spain. The Argentinian prodigy is one of only three players to achieve the title before turning 11.

Oro went undefeated through the nine-round Club de Ajedrez Barcelona event, which took place from June 26-30 in the Spanish city. The 10-year-old won four out of his first six games and drew the last three. With 6.5/9 points, the young Argentinian finished shared first with IM Cristian Andres Hernandez, half a point ahead of GM Hipolito Asis Gargatagli.

While Oro drew his way to the norm, it wasn't easy as he was under heavy pressure and had to defend worse positions in the last two games, in particular against Chilean IM Fernando Valenzuela Gomez in the final round. In the end a draw was enough to clinch Oro's third and final IM norm, just a month after scoring his second norm in Medellin, Colombia. The first norm came in Argentina in October.

Oro got off to a dream start when he beat the only grandmaster in the field.

He followed up by also winning the next two games, before he slowed down with draws in rounds four and five. His victory in round six against FM Alex Tornero was key for clinching the norm, leaving him needing only 1.5 in his last three games.

In the final game, he defended excellently in a worse position, and saved the draw after almost three hours of play.

After the conclusion of the game, the 10-year-old did not celebrate and could be seen calmly signing his score sheet and walking away from the playing hall with his father.

At 10 years, eight months, and 16 days the Argentinian prodigy has met all the requirements for the international master (IM) title, pending formal approval by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). He had already cruised well above the 2400 rating requirement when he narrowly missed a norm in the Madrid Chess Festival earlier this month.

Oro's record-breaking achievement places him in the elite company of players who qualified for the title before their 11th birthday. The previous record was held by GM Abhimanyu Mishra, while GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was another 17 days older.

He now tops a prestigious list of prodigies who all went on to become grandmasters.

By comparison, GM Magnus Carlsen achieved the title at 12 years and seven months, GM Alireza Firouzja at 12 years and nine months, GM Wesley So at 12 years and 10 months, GM Hikaru Nakamura at 13 years and two months, while GM Fabiano Caruana was aged 13 years and four months.

Oro is set to be rated 2419 on FIDE's July list, but thanks to his performance in Barcelona, where he extended his streak without a loss to 31 games, he will add another 31 rating points in August. While still four months away from turning 11, he breaks into Argentina's top 15.

To illustrate the feat, Chess.com compared his current rating with today's top-three players, Carlsen, Nakamura, and Caruana at the same age.

Oro is a part of a trend where kids who learned chess during the pandemic achieve their titles at an even younger age, breaking records left and right. "This is something I think we are going to be seeing more of as time goes along. A lot of kids trickling towards IM, GM, and maybe even the highest level as well. Players who have been starting to play during the pandemic," Nakamura said in a YouTube video.

Faustino's father, Alejandro Oro, has shared the story of how his son learned chess at the age of six after he signed him up for a Chess.com account at his wife Romina Simondi's request. During the pandemic lockdown, they needed to find a way to stop their kid from kicking a ball around and breaking things at home.

The trick clearly worked, as he instead fell in love with chess and, after just a year of playing actively, he achieved a FIDE rating of 2000. That was also the time he started streaming in Spanish with ChessKid's Director of Content, WIM Ivette Garcia Morales, who told Chess.com:

Since I met Fausti Oro in 2021 and he was playing his first games, I knew I was facing a chess genius. What stood out the most is his love for chess."

Since I met Fausti Oro in 2021 and he was playing his first games, I knew I was facing a chess genius. What stood out the most is his love for chess.

WIM Ivette Garcia

On his journey toward the title as the youngest-ever international master, the 10-year-old has set several mind-blowing records. He became the youngest to ever achieve a classical rating of both 2200 and 2300 last year. Not long after, he also scored his first international master norm, as the first under the age of 10.

When he officially breaks the 2400 barrier on an official list in July, he'll be the second youngest to do so, with only GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov a few months younger.

Oro has also made headlines for his exceptional skills in speed chess at Chess.com, defeating both Carlsen and Nakamura in bullet games and GothamChess, IM Levy Rozman, in a blitz match. Recently he also become the youngest-ever to achieve a blitz rating of 3000 on Chess.com.

Nevertheless, his parents have repeatedly stressed that they put no pressure on their son, and that they are not after records. Alejandro Oro told Argentinian newspaper InfoBae:

"Romina and I dont care, we are not after the record, but he wants the title of international master, and that is more important to him than breaking a record because his mind is not capable of magnifying it."

Romina and I dont care, we are not after the record, but he wants the title of international master, and that is more important to him than breaking a record because his mind is not capable of magnifying it.

Alejandro Oro, Faustino's father

He noted that it was Faustino's choice to play in Barcelona: "For Romina and for me, it would have been better if he had cancelled his participation because he had played many games in a few days, but he is fully charged, he wants to play and he is confident, and that is very important to face a tournament, he said.

The family moved last year from Argentina to Badalona, Spain so their son could focus on his chess career. That seems to have paid off, as Oro has gained around 100 rating points since. Last month it was also revealed that a group of anonymous businessmen, along with the Argentinian Chess Federation, have launched what is described as an unprecedented plan to back the family financially.

Oro now has a total of five coaches that are supported through the program. One of them is his original coach from Argentina, IM Jorge Rosito, who described for Chess.com a unique talent who is lucky to have all the support from his parents.

"I once asked Fausti's father what it was like to be his father. When Fausti started playing chess, he would have been happy if he became the under-8 champion, but then this happened, becoming the father of a genius. Without a doubt, his parents have managed this very well."

Having coached Oro since 2020, he described a gifted child who loves chess and enjoys working hard to improve.

"What has been surprising me the most lately is his work capacity. His work habits are those of a 2600-player, which really amazes me because he is only 10 years old. It is important to mention this because talent goes hand in hand with hard work, and Fausti has these work habits."

What has been surprising me the most lately, is his work capacity. His work habits are those of a 2600-player, which really amazes me because he is only 10 years old.

IM Jorge Rosito, Oro's first chess coach

Rosito says that he has coached players from around Latin America, but he never enjoyed coaching as much as now.

"I don't know how to describe it, I feel like an angel fell from the sky, and I am living in a movie. I never have to repeat anything to Fausti twice. His speed, his constant desire to win against anyone, working with Faustino is like a dream and a movie, which I still can't believe. I feel very blessed to have watched this movie from when Fausti was six years old to now that he is 10. He is a great person and something to highlight is that he has never been arrogant. He is very humble and very funny. I could talk about Fausti for an hour!"

I don't know how to describe it, I feel like an angel fell from the sky, and I am living in a movie. I never have to repeat anything to Fausti twice. His speed, his constant desire to win against anyone, working with Faustino is like a dream and a movie, which I still can't believe.

IM Jorge Rosito, Oro's coach

Another coach is the Peruvian GM Jorge Cori, who has worked with Oro for the past nine months. "He is a genius, best talent I have ever seen," he said. Asked what it's been like working with him, he said: "It has been nice. It is like playing with a friend. You can forgot that he is ten years old."

The sentiment was also shared by Mario Petrucci, the President of the Argentinian Chess Federation. In an email to Chess.com, he praised Oro's personality.

"His qualities include friendliness, simplicity, empathy with his opponents, being a good student, and respecting his teachers."

Oro has already received extensive coverage in Argentinian media, dubbing him the "Messi of Chess." Petrucci noted that, while the impact is difficult to measure, it has led to chess reaching new audiences.

He added: "Ordinary people outside the chess community are now aware of Faustino, follow his results, and are all attentive to his achievements. This phenomenon has never happened before, allowing chess to be noticed by new audiences and government officials interested in supporting us."

"Everything is very positive for chess, which we are channeling to support other talents. It is always the case in a sport that when a world-class figure emerges, that sport grows in both quantity and quality," Petrucci said.

It won't be long until we'll see Oro in action again, as he'll take part in ChessKid Youth Championship next week, playing in the U16 section.

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Faustino Oro Becomes Youngest Ever International Master At 10 - Chess.com

The fourth round of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania was a good day for GM Fabiano Caruana. The 31-year-old American grandmaster is back to being the number two in the world with a 2800+ rating after beating GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu defeated GM Anish Giri and joined GM Gukesh Dommaraju in second place.

The games GM Ian Nepomniachtchi vs. GM Wesley So, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and GM Alireza Firouzja vs. Gukesh ended in draws.

Round five starts Sunday, June 30, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CEST / 17:30 p.m. IST.

Superbet Chess Classic Romania Round 4 Results

Superbet Chess Classic Romania Standings After Round 4

On this fourth day in Bucharest, the tournament was visited by the 13th world champion and co-founder of the Grand Chess Tour, Garry Kasparov. As always, he was scheduled to play a ceremonial first move, but this time there was a twist: the organizers suddenly told him to pick a board himself.

In an attempt to avoid upsetting one of the players, Kasparov said that because he was the oldest player on the stage (the legend turned 61 in April), he would choose the youngest board: that of Firouzja-Gukesh. He then suggested 1.d4 and joked that Firouzja was already getting old and should choose to keep his pawn protected!

Soon, Kasparov also joined the official broadcast where he argued that classical chess is far from dead and deserves a future: "The preservation of classical chess, I think, is very important for helping players to realize their full potential, to put on display what they can do. Quality is also an issue."

The preservation of classical chess, I think, is very important for helping players to realize their full potential, to put on display what they can do. Garry Kasparov

Caruana 1-0 Deac

It was a somewhat surprising pre-game statistic: Caruana hadnt managed to beat Deac yet in four earlier encounters, which all ended in draws. "He's a really stable player," the winner of the game explained afterward. "He has a good positional feel in general and doesnt get in huge danger."

The fifth attempt was successful for Caruana, who was happy with his opening choice: the modern 8.Rb1 line in the Samisch Nimzo-Indian. He revealed that he got crushed by GM Alexander Grischuk playing the black side in a Titled Tuesday tournament and then started looking at it."It's a very tricky kind of modern line," he said.

It's a very tricky kind of modern line. Fabiano Caruana

Deac couldn't find the right plan and was already clearly worse when the queens were traded. Caruana was happy with his moves 24.f4 and 25.Rc3: "He doesnt have a way to free himself; theres pressure forever."

About the new situation in the live ratings, Caruana said: "The spot that would matter a lot is number one. Number two, number three, its not like it's changing things too much. But the win I'm very happy with because it puts me in a good tournament situation."

Here's the game with GM Dejan Bojkov's annotations:

Praggnanandhaa 1-0 Giri

Although it was a game that lasted 80 moves in total, the story of Praggnanandhaa vs. Giri is also a story of just one move. In what was a fairly normal-looking middlegame position, it was very surprising that it was possible for a 2700 grandmaster to make a losing move:

Black has just played 18...Rd5? here, and Praggnanandhaa found the tactic that is in the position: 19.b4! Bd6 20.Bxf6 Qxf6 21.Qxf6 gxf6 22.e4 and Black is in big trouble.

Much more happened in the game obviously and, in fact, Giri was close to a draw at several points (having a fully equal position on move 30!), but in the end he couldn't save the half-point.

Nepomniachtchi - So

For most top players, it's very difficult to read on their faces what's going on in a game. Few would have guessed that Nepomniachtchi at a point during the game felt "disgusted" about his play, but that's what he said. He wasn't happy with what he called "a lot of small inaccuracies," and he was particularly annoyed about missing So's 24...Be4, a simple attack on his rook on b1 which he had placed there to protect his b-pawn.

One of the qualities of a strong grandmaster is to be able to deal with such setbacks during a game, and that's what the Russian GM did. He found an excellent reply that dropped his b-pawn but maintained activity, which was enough to stay in the game. Ten moves later he even avoided a move repetition, but then it was So's turn to respond well to the new situation and avoid mistakes.

Abdusattorov - Vachier-Lagrave

This game was very interesting from an early stage, partly thanks to the fact that Vachier-Lagrave returned to his good old Najdorf repertoire.This author has tried out 6.Qd3 as well (inspired by his compatriot GM Jorden van Foreest) and was quite curious about what Abdusattorov was planning. 8.0-0 and 9.b4 is a new and provocative concept that spiced up the game right away.

Vachier-Lagrave found some good moves with 11...Qc8, 12...h5, and 13...e5, and then Abdusattorov started to play inaccurately and missed a chance to get the better game. With a nice positional queen sacrifice, Vachier-Lagrave then changed the dynamics where he would always have at least a fortress.

Firouzja - Gukesh

It was somewhat ironic that the board where Kasparov played the first move ended in a draw first. Firouzja and Gukesh played an old line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted that Kasparov himself had played in a game in 1989.

Gukesh said he didn't know 14.Nf5 but quickly noticed it wasn't very dangerous either. He traded some minor pieces, and then his control of the light squares meant that Black was completely fine.

The 2024 Superbet Chess Classic Romania is the second leg of the 2024 Grand Chess Tour. The event is a 10-player round-robin with classical time control (120 minutes for the entire game, plus a 30-second increment per move). The tournament runs June 26-July 5 and features a $350,000 prize fund.

Previous coverage:

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Caruana Sole Leader, Back To World #2 After Beating Deac - Chess.com

Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand has won his 10th Leon Masters title after defeating GM Jaime Santos 3-1 in the final match. The 54-year-old Anand took over to win the last two games after a shaky start and has now won the event in northwest Spain in 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2016, and 2024.

2024 Leon Masters Final Bracket

Anand revealed after the match was over that he'd played a very risky gambitdeserting his wife on her 50th birthday to play chess instead. In the end it worked out as well as he could possibly have hoped.

From the scoreline alone it looks as though Anand was in full control, but he admitted afterward that for the second match in a row he'd got off to a very tough start. Local hero Santos was pushing for almost the whole of the 50-move first game, with Anand saying he felt terrible ("fatal" was the Spanish word he used in the post-game interview) and had the sensation at times that his defense wouldn't hold. It did, however, with no very clear missed chance for his opponent.

There was no passive defense for Anand in the second game, as a poisoned-pawn variation of the French became the definition of double-edged after 16.f5, threatening to follow up with f6.

After 16...Rc8 17.Nd1!? White was taking risks, and in fact a few moves later Anand realized he'd blundered with 22.c3?!. He was relieved, therefore, that soon after Santos, who didn't particularly like his position, took a draw by repetition. Anand later noted his opponent had been "almost a clean pawn up."

The third game is the critical clash of the whole match, with the first turning point coming when Santos unleashed 15.Bxe5!?, an idea Anand admitted he'd simply overlooked. White takes advantage of the fact that the queen and rook on d7 and f7 can be forked by a knight on e5.

It led to a fascinating position where White soon had no minor pieces, but all eight pawns were left intact. The strategic contest could have gone either way, but it was Anand who outplayed his young opponent to take the lead in the match.

That's our Game of the Day, which GM Dejan Bojkov has analyzed below:

That left Santos needing to hit back on demand with the black pieces in the final rapid game. Doing that against Anand is one of the toughest challenges in chess, but the Spanish 27-year-old had bounced back against GM Arjun Erigaisi a day earlier, and once again he managed to make things interesting.

Just as his opponent was thinking everything was under control, Santos began pushing pawns, first 19...h5, next 20...f5, and then 25...e5!? It sparked a battle where Anand had to be on the top of his game to avoid getting into trouble.

It was a vintage final couple of games by Anand, who wrapped up his 10th title in Leon.

It is fitting that the 54-year-old did it on the same day 10-year-old Faustino Oro had become the youngest international master in chess history. Anand reminded us that older chess players can still perform at the very highest level. The Indian star noted he hadn't been in time to defeat Oro at the board, but he could at least say he'd given the kid his autograph!

Let's hope we see Anand back to defend his title in 2025.

The 2024 Leon Masters was a four-player knockout that took place in Leon, Spain, during June 28-30, featuring GMs Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Arjun Erigaisi, and Jaime Santos. Each match consisted of four 20+10 rapid games. If the scores were tied, the players competed in 3+2 blitz games.

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Vishy Anand Wins 10th Leon Masters Title - Chess.com

Titled Tuesday belonged to GMs Dmitry Andreikin and Hikaru Nakamura on July 2, although both needed tiebreaks after scoring 9.5 points. GM Arjun Erigaisi pulled off the impressive but unenviable feat of finishing in second place in both events, while Nakamura also tied for first in the early tournament but wound up in third by the tiebreaks.

Out of the 692 players earlier in the day, Andreikin was the last perfect player, reaching a 7/7 score after defeating GM Javokhir Sindarov with a double fianchetto and exchange sacrifice.

After that, however, Andreikin made three straight draws, including against GM Arjun Erigaisi in the eighth round. It was Arjun's second draw of the tournament, while Nakamura had already made two himself in previous rounds. Andreikin's next two games were drawn as well, with Arjun catching up after round nine and Nakamura after round 10.

But they weren't the only ones, with a seven-way tie occurring on 8.5 points entering the final round. In that round, Andreikin faced GM Alexey Sarana, Arjun GM Tuan Minh Le, and Nakamura GM Vincent Keymer. The last co-leader, GM David Paravyan, faced GM Alexander Zubov in what turned out to be the only draw in the four games.

The first game to end was Andreikin's, although it still took 54 moves. But on move 54, Andreikin checkmated Sarana with a pawn.

With the tiebreak scores the way they were, this effectively ended proceedings. Arjun was the next player to win, demonstrating the strength of two bishops over two knights, and with it, ended up in second place.

For Andreikin, who has won more Titled Tuesdays than anyone besides Nakamura, it was his first victory since October of 2023. GM Magnus Carlsen has been on Andreikin's tail since he started regularly playing in 2022, but Andreikin put some space between them, 17-15, with the result.

One other notable result from the early tournament was IM Levy Rozman's third-round win against GM Hans Niemann. Niemann scored 8.5 points anyway but would have been in the first-place mix had it not been for that game.

July 2 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Andreikin claimed the $1,000 first-place prize, with Arjun winning $750 and Nakamura $350. Zubov led tiebreaks among the players with nine points and earned $200. GM Fabiano Caruana pulled into fifth place for $100, and the last $100 went to women's prize winner WFM Sachi Jain (who was born in 2009) on eight points.

Andreikin, Arjun, and Nakamura would all again finish in the top seven (now out of 515 players) in the late tournament, but now it was time for Nakamura's first Titled Tuesday victory since June 11 and second since May 14about the only player for whom such a spread could be considered any degree of slump.

And yet teenaged Argentinian IM Joaquin Fiorito was a surprise last perfect player, starting 6/6. But he would lose four of his last five games, beginning against Nakamura in round seven.

The win was Nakamura's only one from rounds six through nine, with his other three games drawn, including against Arjun in the ninth round. With two rounds left, Nakamura's 7.5 points put him half a point back of Arjun and three other co-leaders. No matter.

Nakamura's opening began when only one of those four leaders, GM Daniel Naroditsky, won his game, defeating GM Matthias Bluebaum, while Arjun and GM David Anton drew. Meanwhile, Nakamura beat GM Jose Martinez to stay a half-point behind Naroditsky.

The resulting 11th-round clash between Naroditsky and Nakamura would thus decide the victor. For much of the game, a draw seemed the most likely result, but the engine saw Naroditsky lose the thread on moves 43-45 as he dropped a piece on move 46. Naroditsky could reasonably have resigned then but fought on another 23 moves before throwing in the towel.

Arjun, meanwhile, faced Le again and won again but, with his tiebreaks several points behind Nakamura's again, had to settle for runner-up... again.

July 2 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won $1,000 to bring his total on the day to $1,350, while Arjun took another $750 for a daily total of $1,500. Sindarov finished third for $350, Anton fourth for $200, and Naroditsky did manage to hold onto fifth for $100. IM Tatjana Vasilevich claimed the $100 women's prize with seven points.

The rather low scores meant little movement in the standings, although Andreikin joined a tie for fifth. The women's standings continue to be extremely close.

Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (179.0 points)

Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (167.0 points)

Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (113.5 points)

The Titled Cup fantasy game Chess Prophet continues as well. Current standings can be found here. (Login required.)

Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The first tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, and the second at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time/23:00 Central European/2:30 Indian Standard Time (next day).

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Titled Tuesday July 2, 2024 - Chess.com

Perhaps it sounded too wild to be true. The $1 million buy-in tournament with GMs Hans Niemann, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana, and Ian Nepomniachtchi, scheduled for November 21, 2024, in Dusseldorf, Germany, has been cancelled by organizer Wadim Rosenstein after Niemann tweeted on Thursday that he had withdrawn from the event.

Nothing seemed to be standing in the way of the one-day, $4 million poker-style tournament to actually happen when Rosenstein confirmed to Chess.com on June 11 that funds of all four players had been secured and that he had received Niemann's signed contract. 16 days later, the 21-year-old American grandmaster pulled the plug.

In a tweet on Thursday, Niemann said that he had withdrawn from the event "due to contractual disputes," saying it was "unfortunate considering I had already secured the required funds, signed a contract, and started my preparations. Sometimes things just dont work out how you would like them to."

In a phone call with Chess.com, Rosenstein didn't want to go into detail about what exactly happened. "I don't want to make it a scandal," he said on Thursday evening, European time.

Rosenstein did note that, although all four players had secured their $1 million, actual funds hadn't been transferred yet. The deadline for that was a month before the tournament, so October 21.

According to Rosenstein, a lot of time and effort had already been put into preparation. Asked whether he was displeased with Niemann potentially breaching his contract, and whether action would be taken, Rosenstein said: "It doesn't make sense to discuss the details or anything. The tournament is off, that's all. Nobody wants a scandal."

Minutes after the phone call, Rosenstein confirmed on X that the tournament was off: "I regret to inform you that the WR Chess Masters High Roller Event, which had commitments from 4 players under signed contracts, will not take place. As a passionate chess fan, I was eagerly anticipating this event."

Less than an hour later, Niemann followed up with another tweet. He wrote that he "started to have doubts about the tournaments legitimacy and way of handling business," and that he "heard reports of the organizer potentially financially supporting other players entrance fees, and after requesting the organizer to confirm or deny this, they failed to comment."

Niemann also revealed that he had agreed to play a blitz match against GM Wesley So that was somehow related to the buy-in tournament. According to Niemann, the commercial terms for that match "were later changed when an additional contract was issued. Private messages were also deleted that showed my acceptance of the previous terms, only increasing my distrust and skepticism."

Chess.com reached out to Niemann for comment. The other four players involved in the story, Abdusattorov, Caruana, Nepomniachtchi, and So, are all playing in the Superbet Chess Classic Romania at the moment and were not available for comment.

In another phone call on Friday morning, Rosenstein provided comments to Chess.com about some of the claims Niemann had made in his second tweet. He denied that the contract was poor: "My aim is to make things easy for chess players, so I work with contracts that are easy to understand. With many players, I work with handshake agreements. There are no penalties for not participating. What for? I wouldn't judge someone for not participating in something that he doesn't want to participate in."

On the topic of financially supporting other player's entrance fees, Rosenstein noted that he intended to pay So for a "warm-up match" against Niemann before the main event. Rosenstein denied that "additional commercial terms were later changed when an additional contract was issued," as Niemann had stated. "I prepared a separate contract for the warm-up match, as it was a separate event, but Hans did not want to sign it."

"I made an offer to make this tournament, and in the end it didn't work," Rosenstein said. "I am fine with it, and I am glad the situation came out now, and not a month before the tournament."

According to Rosenstein, it was surprising that Niemann signed his contract and only started talking about "contractual disputes" more than two weeks later. He added: "Niemann is a strong, young, talented player. I wish him all the best. But if you ask me if I will invite him to my other tournaments, that is a big question now."

The buy-in tournament was scheduled for November 21, 2024, in Dusseldorf, Germany. The format was a double round-robin among four players with six rounds of rapid (15+0) games. All four players were required to bring $1 million to the table; the winner would walk away with $2 million. The second-placed player would get $1.5 million, the third-placer would earn $0.4 million (losing $0.6 million on the deal) and the fourth player would get $0, losing a full million. $100,000 would go to the organizer.

The remarkable event sprung out of a conversation in May on social media platform X between Niemann and Rosenstein, a businessman and owner of a conglomerate of companies called WR Group. Rosenstein also organized last year's WR Masters in Dusseldorf (February 2023) and the World Rapid Team Championship (August 2023). He will only participate in the second edition of the latter event August 1-6 in Astana, Kazakhstan, and organize two brand new tournaments October 31-November 3 in Dubai and October 14-18 in London.

When Niemann inquired about the London event, Rosenstein came up with the buy-in format and invited the American GM to it, also on X. A week later, he confirmed the event and the players to Chess.com.

While the event is now off, Rosenstein wrote on X: "Hopefully our idea can help other organizers pull off tournaments like this in the future."

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$1 Million Buy-In Tournament Cancelled As Niemann Pulls Out - Chess.com