Behind them, Saco Oliveros de Lince bounced from their Round 2 draw with a 4–0 sweep of Panama’s The Oxford School, and Colegio Madre del Divino Pastor of El Salvador beat Columbus American School 2½–1½, although William Nicolás Rodríguez won again on the top board, this time against Jasmany Shallom Castillo Romero. Queen’s College, who had beaten Mexico in the opening round, lost 1–3 to Cuba’s Martin Klein Schiller.
It was a much better day for the hosts. Colegio Humboldt recorded a second consecutive 4–0 victory, this time over Uruguay’s Colegio y Liceo Nuestra Señora del Verdún, and the British School beat Honduras’s Escuela Internacional Sampedrana 3–1. Only Colegio Bilingüe San Francisco de Asís lost, 1½–2½ to Mexico’s Colegio Celta Internacional.
The field also grew. Projeto Vidançar of Brazil joined the championship as the 29th team and lost 0–4 to Academia Inter Metro of Puerto Rico, while St. Kitts International Academy took the bye.
Position of the round
The biggest individual upset of the round came on the top board of match nine, where Aimar María Murillo Mathiew, rated 1450, beat Juan Esquibel (1792) as Colegio Humboldt swept Nuestra Señora del Verdún 4–0.
The game had been anything but smooth, with the advantage changing hands repeatedly. In this position, Black tried something clever with 22…Nxf2, and the idea behind it is worth examining.
After 23.Qxg6, Black has 23…Nh3+ in reserve. If White takes with 24.gxh3, then 24…Bxd4+ arrives with a check, after which Black recaptures the queen on g6 and comes out level.
But 24.gxh3 is not a forced move. White simply stepped aside with 24.Kf1, and Black’s entire construction collapsed as both his knight on h3 and bishop on c5 were hanging, and he still had to spend a move to recapture the queen. A piece down, Black resigned a few moves later. A cool sidestep in a position where neither player had much time left.
Round 4
The two unbeaten teams met at the top and could not be separated. Harvest Park Middle School and Crescent Heights Academy drew 2–2, with the Americans taking the top two boards and the Canadians the bottom two, where Aiden Yin and CM Andrew Yin both won.
Board one was the meeting the draw had been building towards: FM Patrick Liu (2292), the highest-rated player in the championship, faced FM Lucas Mason Pin Qian Yao (1969), the second highest. It was the sharpest game of the round, with the two players castling on opposite sides and sending their pawns at each other’s kings. In the end Liu’s attack proved decisive.
That draw allowed Saco Oliveros de Lince to join them. Peru’s top seeds beat Colegio Madre del Divino Pastor 3–1, although Marcos Beltrán Meneses Morales lost on board one to Jasmany Shallom Castillo Romero.
Standings after Round 4