12-year-old Faustino Oro perfectly explains why Gukesh is not favourite against Sindarov: 'He lost a lot of games'

12-year-old Faustino Oro believes India's D Gukesh is not the favourite for the upcoming World Championship match against Javokhir Sindarov. The Argentine talent, often called the “Messi of Chess,” recently became the second-youngest Grandmaster in history after securing his final GM norm.

Speaking about the much-anticipated title clash between Sindarov and Gukesh, the chess prodigy said the Uzbek GM is currently playing better chess and enters the contest as the favourite. He said that Gukesh has not been in his best form since winning the World Championship in 2024, and hence he picked Sindarov.

“Well, right now, I feel that Sindarov is playing better. Gukesh is obviously a good player, but in 2025 and the start of 2026, he has not been playing very well since winning the World Championship. He has lost a lot of Elo points and is not playing well. He lost a lot of games, including three in a row at the Grand Swiss,” Oro said.

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Oro also backs Gukesh 

The World Championship match later this year is already being seen as one of the biggest clashes in modern chess. It will also become the youngest World Championship match in history, with both Gukesh and Sindarov being 20 years old during the time of the contest.

FIDE has already started the bidding process for the host city and announced provisional dates from November 23 to December 17. Gukesh enters the match as the reigning world champion after defeating Ding Liren in 2024 to become the youngest undisputed World Champion in history at the age of 18.

However, the Indian GM has struggled to maintain the same dominance since that historic victory. He failed to win a major title in 2025 and continued to produce inconsistent results in 2026. Gukesh even decided to take a break from classical chess to focus more on preparation ahead of the title defence.

On the other hand, Sindarov’s rise has been rapid. The Uzbek star won the FIDE Chess World Cup 2025 in Goa and later dominated the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 in Cyprus with one round to spare to qualify for the World Championship match. Oro admitted that Gukesh still remains extremely dangerous, but feels Sindarov will win.

“He is not playing bad, but we know how good he can be. Sindarov won the Candidates with 10 points, which is crazy, and he is playing very well right now. But just like with Ding against Gukesh, people were not expecting much from Ding Liren because he was not playing well, but he won the first game and almost won the match. So, I don’t know, but right now I feel Sindarov will win,” he added.

Interestingly, Sindarov has also shown some vulnerability recently despite his brilliant form. Earlier this month, he lost a rapid game against Gukesh at the Super Rapid and Blitz Poland 2026 in Warsaw and also suffered a classical defeat against R Praggnanandhaa at the Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 in Bucharest.