Handed pawns will be enjoyable

The concept of selling pawns into different items feels trendy, however is definitely fairly previous. The rule was already recognized in Shatranj, an early type of right now’s chess that was standard within the Persian and Arab world from the seventh century onwards. When the trendy type of chess regularly took maintain on the finish of the fifteenth century, the rule was retained. However, there have been no uniform written rules concerning the promotion of pawns: had been a number of queens allowed on the board, or may a pawn solely be promoted to a queen if the one from the beginning place had already been captured? Could a pawn be left standing on the opponent’s again rank, or did it must be promoted instantly? Did promotion must be to a queen, or may or not it’s to a different piece — and did it at all times must be a bit of 1’s personal coloration?

Most of those questions primarily involved research and drawback composers; in sensible play they hardly ever mattered. But it was not till the center of the nineteenth century that the main chess nations of the time agreed on uniform guidelines.

The most well-known handed pawns in chess historical past appeared in 1834, within the sixteenth sport of a match between Louis Charles Mahé de Labourdonnais of France and Alexander McDonnell of Ireland, the 2 strongest gamers of their time. From June to October 1834 the 2 performed a complete of 85 video games throughout six matches — Labourdonnais received this marathon duel with 45 victories, 27 losses and 13 attracts. The sport that remained within the reminiscence of the chess world was the next win by Labourdonnais.

The sport beneath between the 2 younger skills Faustino Oro and Nico Chasin would possibly in the future discover its method into the textbooks. Faustino Oro, born on October 14, 2013, in Buenos Aires, turned an International Master in June 2024 on the age of 10 years, 8 months, and 16 days. At the time, that made him the youngest International Master in historical past, however the file didn’t stand for lengthy. Eleven months later, in May 2025, Roman Shoghzhiev of Russia, born on February 4, 2015, earned the IM title on the age of 10 years, 3 months, and 21 days.

Oro, nonetheless, may nonetheless turn out to be the youngest grandmaster of all time. To break that file, he has till March 11, 2026, to attain the required norms and attain a score of 2500. So far, Oro has not but scored a GM norm, and his score at the moment stands at 2464.

Faustino Oro on the Sunway Sitges Tournament 2023 | Photo: David Llada

Nico Chasin can’t declare such information, however he’s among the many strongest gamers of his age group. Born on June 19, 2006, in New York, he completed in shared fifth place with 7½ out of 11 on the U18 World Youth Championship in Florianópolis, Brazil, in November 2024. He has held the title of International Master since 2023.

Nico Chasin | Photo: David Llada

In his sport in opposition to Oro, Chasin confirmed how robust he’s.

So many handed pawns drew consideration, and on his YouTube channel Gotham Chess Levy Rozman analysed the sport in his trademark spirited model.

The Masters in Fujairah, nonetheless, was received by one other younger participant: GM Brewington Hardaway. Hardaway, born on 22 April 2009, additionally comes from New York and is the primary African American grandmaster born within the United States. Maurice Ashley, the primary African American grandmaster, had obtained the title in 1999, however he was born in Puerto Rico.

Hardaway completed the Masters with 7½/9 to take sole first place. Chasin scored 7.0/9 and shared second place, although he ended up fifth on tiebreak. Oro completed on 6½/9 however gained 11.9 score factors.

Final standings after 9 rounds

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Games

Tournament page

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