Fausti Friday As Oro Takes First Freestyle Gold

The 12-year-old IM Faustino Oro was victorious in Freestyle Friday on April 17, the only of the three co-leaders entering the final round to win his game. GM Pranav Venkatesh finished in second place after leapfrogging the other two, IM Sahib Singh and GM S Rohith Krishna. Oro overcame a valiant run by Rohith, who began with 8/8 until Oro stopped him in the ninth round. 

Entering the first break, four players remained perfect, all of them seeking their first Freestyle Friday victory. Most surprising was Singh, who scored a fourth-round win over last week’s winner, GM Parham Maghsoodloo. The others on 4/4 were Oro, Rohith, and GM Jules Moussard. In the fifth round, the two IMs faced off, and the two GMs faced off. Rohith and Singh took the initial advantages, and both held up, while GMs Nodirbek Yakubboev and Sergei Movsesian moved half a point behind.

Rohith and Singh played each other close to start the next round, while Yakubboev jumped out in front of Movsesian. As the computer continued to favor his position, however, Yakubboev started running low on time, and the game eventually fizzled into a draw. In the meantime, Singh blundered with 30…Nc3, and Rohith became the last perfect player.

That was already good enough for a full-point lead. Oro, meanwhile, was now 1.5 points off the lead after a draw with Pranav.

Of the seven players immediately behind Rohith entering round seven, he took on GM Sina Movahed, the five-time Freestyle Friday victor, trying to recover from a second-round loss. But Rohith won two pawns early and marched on to 7/7. Movsesian, Singh, and CM Roman Al Nosach remained a point behind, while Oro finally got back into the win column, which he would not leave for the rest of the tournament.

Movsesian was Rohith’s next rival. Rohith swarmed his king and won in just 27 moves, reaching 8/8.

Singh then defeated Nosach, becoming the only player within a point of Rohith. Pranav, seeking his third Freestyle Friday win of the year, and Oro were on 6.5/8, defeating IM Renato Terry and Movahed, respectively.

Having already played Singh, Rohith’s next challenger was Oro. While Singh and Pranav played to a draw, Oro took it to Rohith, who, already in dire shape, hung a rook to seal his fate in the game (but not yet in the tournament).

Rohith continued to hold the outright lead and his own destiny, but now five players were a point or less behind: Oro and Singh on 7.5 and Pranav, Nosach, and GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son on seven.

It was Nguyen who played Rohith, with Oro taking on Nosach and Singh facing GM Alexey Sarana. Rohith drew his game, which was good news for Oro and Singh, who both won to pull into a tie for first. Singh, facing the tougher opponent in the tougher game, wore Sarana down in 85 moves.

Oro had Black against Nguyen, Singh had Black against Terry, and Rohith had White to make up for the fact that he was facing GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. Pranav, the only player on 8/10, had White against Moussard and an outside chance at first if the co-leaders all lost or drew. Moussard apparently failed to notice key pieces of the starting position: the king on d8, the undefended f7-square, and the undefended h8-bishop were immediately susceptible to tactics. Pranav went straight for it and scored the nearly instant wipeout.

Then, it nearly happened. Terry toppled Singh. Nepomniachtchi delivered a knockout blow to Rohith. And now it came down to Oro in a tense endgame against Nguyen. Oro was able to centralize his king with 41…Ke4! and soon enough won a pawn, then two, and then stopped Nguyen’s passed b-pawn just in time. Nguyen soon had only a knight left—Oro couldn’t lose. And with two connected passed pawns, he could hardly stumble into a draw either.

And so Oro took sole first and Pranav sole second. Singh and Rohith took third and fourth place with their 8.5 points after tiebreaks. GM Humpy Koneru won the women’s prize, leaving Oro the only non-Indian player to earn a cash prize with his performance.

The victory was Oro’s first win in the tournament ever, and brought him into the top 10 on the leaderboard for the Freestyle Friday Championship. Humpy also moved into the top 10 in the women’s.

April 17 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)

(Full final standings.)