Opening the “flashlight,” José Antonio Carrillo Pujol read:
“Sometimes the position seems dark and unclear, and all the moves are like in a fog. Then take the flashlight and look at the board from a different angle… Sometimes the best move is visible only in semi-darkness, when your eyes have adjusted and are not distracted by flickering.”
Unwrapping the “magnet,” Luis Eduardo Quirós Rojas read:
“The magnet doesn’t work from fear. If you are nervous and fidgety, it repels everything good. But if you breathe evenly and trust your calculation, it pulls the right moments toward you… The main thing – don’t bring the magnet near your rating. It doesn’t attract that. Only your mood and attention.”
The final card left the young players with a thought to carry through the week: “You are not just participants. You are part of a great chess story that began long before you and will continue after you. Happy playing, champions!”
The ceremony closed with the symbolic first move, made by Timur Turlov (President of the ISCF and CEO of Freedom Holding) and José Antonio Carrillo Pujol (President, FIDE Americas – CCA), officially declaring the American Continental Stage open.
Round 1
The opening round saw a predictable start. Seven of the thirteen matches finished 4-0, which is common enough on the first day of a school team event, where the seeding gap between the top and the bottom of the field is at its widest. Top seed Saco Oliveros de Lince swept Costa Rica’s Colegio Bilingüe San Francisco de Asís, and Harvest Park Middle School did the same to Paraguay’s Colegio Cristo Rey.
The result of the round came on board five, where Queen’s College of Barbados, seeded 18th, beat Mexico’s Colegio Celta Internacional 3-1. Mexico took the top board through CM Fernando Cortes Medina, but Queen’s College won the other three, with Jaeda Herbert and Nathan Simmons-Patterson both beating higher-rated opponents.
It was a difficult start for the hosts. None of the three Costa Rican schools won. San Francisco de Asís was swept by Peru, Colegio Humboldt lost 1-3 to Saint Gabriel’s School of Chile with only Nicolás Ramírez Quirós scoring, and the British School took the day’s only drawn match, holding Colegio Madre del Divino Pastor of El Salvador 2-2.
Position of Round 1
Board one of the top match produced the finish of the round. Marcos Beltrán Meneses Morales of Saco Oliveros de Lince, playing White, helped his team to their 4-0 sweep with a game he had taken control of in the opening.
White is winning here and has several good continuations, but the young Peruvian found the most attractive one: 20.d5! opening the b2 bishop’s diagonal towards the black king on g7 and setting up a discovered check the moment the knight on f6 moves. In such overwhelming positions it is easy to rush; instead, White brought another piece into the attack.
The game continued 20…cxd5 21.Nxd5+ Kh6, and White wrapped it up with 22.Qc1+ Kg6 23.Qg5#, the queen protected by the knight on f3 and every escape square covered.