![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/WSTCC-Americas-DG01.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOpening the \u201cflashlight,\u201d Jos\u00e9 Antonio Carrillo Pujol read:<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes 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\u2026 Sometimes the best move is visible only in semi-darkness, when your eyes have adjusted and are not distracted by flickering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unwrapping the \u201cmagnet,\u201d Luis Eduardo Quir\u00f3s Rojas read:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe magnet doesn\u2019t 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\u2026 The main thing \u2013 don\u2019t bring the magnet near your rating. It doesn\u2019t attract that. Only your mood and attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
The final card left the young players with a thought to carry through the week: \u201cYou 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!\u201d<\/p>\n
The ceremony closed with the symbolic first move, made by Timur Turlov (President of the ISCF and CEO of Freedom Holding) and Jos\u00e9 Antonio Carrillo Pujol (President, FIDE Americas \u2013 CCA), officially declaring the American Continental Stage open.<\/p>\n
Round 1 <\/p>\n
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\u2019s Colegio Biling\u00fce San Francisco de As\u00eds, and Harvest Park Middle School did the same to Paraguay\u2019s Colegio Cristo Rey.<\/p>\n
The result of the round came on board five, where Queen\u2019s College of Barbados, seeded 18th, beat Mexico\u2019s Colegio Celta Internacional 3-1. Mexico took the top board through CM Fernando Cortes Medina, but Queen\u2019s College won the other three, with Jaeda Herbert and Nathan Simmons-Patterson both beating higher-rated opponents.<\/p>\n
It was a difficult start for the hosts. None of the three Costa Rican schools won. San Francisco de As\u00eds was swept by Peru, Colegio Humboldt lost 1-3 to Saint Gabriel\u2019s School of Chile with only Nicol\u00e1s Ram\u00edrez Quir\u00f3s scoring, and the British School took the day\u2019s only drawn match, holding Colegio Madre del Divino Pastor of El Salvador 2-2.<\/p>\n
Position of Round 1<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Board one of the top match produced the finish of the round. Marcos Beltr\u00e1n 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.<\/p>\n
White is winning here and has several good continuations, but the young Peruvian found the most attractive one: 20.d5! opening the b2 bishop\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
The game continued 20\u2026cxd5 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opening the \u201cflashlight,\u201d Jos\u00e9 Antonio Carrillo Pujol read: \u201cSometimes the position seems dark and unclear, and all the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-431279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}