WSTC Americas Day 2: A Tightening Race in San José

WSTC Americas Day 2: A Tightening Race in San José
Day two of the American Continental Stage of the FIDE ISCF World Schools Team Championship 2026 brought rounds three and four to the DoubleTree by Hilton Cariari in San José, and ended with three teams sharing the lead and nobody able to break clear.

Round 3
The two matches at the top decided the shape of the day. Harvest Park Middle School beat Saint Gabriel's School of Chile 3-1, losing only on the bottom board, where Martín Muñoz Venegas beat Ruyi Hu in a meeting of players rated identically at 1501. Canada’s Crescent Heights Academy took the other 3-1, over Harrison College School of Barbados, with FM Lucas Mason Pin Qian Yao beating AIM Jeremiah Farley on board one. Both winners now had three from three, and Harvest Park lead on game points, 11 to 9.

Behind them, Saco Oliveros de Lince answered 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 Colombus 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, this time against 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
2r1r1k1/1p3ppp/p5q1/2b1P3/2NBn3/1P1Q4/P3RPPP/R5K1 b - - 2 22

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, rated 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 seeing.

After 23.Qxg6 Black has 23…Nh3+ in reserve, and if White takes with 24.gxh3 then 24…Bxd4+ arrives with check, after which Black recaptures the queen on g6 and comes out level.

But 24.gxh3 was never forced. White simply stepped aside with 24.Kf1, and the whole construction collapsed: Black now has a knight on h3 and a bishop on c5 both hanging, no checks to fall back on, and still has to spend a move taking 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, 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, at 2292 the highest rated player in the championship, against FM Lucas Mason Pin Qian Yao, the second highest at 1969. 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, and Liu came through it.

That draw let Saco Oliveros de Lince 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 four rounds
Three teams share the lead on 7 match points:

Nine players on a full score
Nine players have won all four of their games, and the three teams at the top of the table supply two apiece.

For Harvest Park Middle School they are FM Patrick Liu, the highest rated player in the championship, and Ethan Sun. For Crescent Heights Academy, Aiden Yin and CM Andrew Yin. Saco Oliveros de Lince are carried by two girls, WCM Fabiana Jiménez Salas and Rihanna Irina Rojas Salas, who between them have taken eight points from eight while the Peruvian top boards have dropped three games.

The other three are CM Fernando Cortes Medina of Colegio Celta Internacional, Charis Stuart of Harrison College School, and William Nicolás Rodríguez of Colombus American School, whose four wins have come against the strongest opposition of any of them: Meneses Morales, Castillo Romero and Chaz Reifer-Belle in the last three rounds alone.

A day for the side programme
The competitive programme ran alongside a full afternoon of side events.

The day's headline activity was "Smart Moves: Girls Who Lead", a girls' chess event organised by the International School Chess Federation and the Confederation of Chess for the Americas within the framework of the championship. It paired a seven-round Swiss blitz, at 3 minutes plus a 2-second increment for girls aged 16 and under, with a masterclass by WIM María Elena Rodríguez, a member of the Costa Rican Women's National Team, who spoke about her own path in chess and about confidence, perseverance and success on and off the board.

Twenty players took part, and one of them did not drop a half point. WCM Larissa Mayorga Araya won with a perfect 7 out of 7, ahead of Alana Patricia Castro Campos on 6 and Keilym Francinnie Durán Araya on 5. Every girl who played went home with a gift to mark the occasion.

Running into the late afternoon, the "Chess in Subject" Master Class brought together Robert McLellan, Interim Executive Director of the National Scholastic Chess Foundation, and WFM Amelia Hernández for a session with up to fifty chess educators, trainers and coaches, exploring how chess connects with STEM and social and emotional learning in the classroom.

The afternoon closed on a lighter note with a mask-making workshop in the activity area, where players made traditional Costa Rican masks, the colourful mascaradas rooted in the country's festival culture, swapping the tension of the boards for paint, paper and a little friendly chaos.
Looking ahead
Rounds five and six take place tomorrow, 14 August, as the competition tightens and the leading teams begin to separate from the field.

The event is supported by Freedom Holding Corp., the main sponsor of the American Continental Stage and General Partner of the International School Chess Federation, together with the Costa Rican Institute of Sport and Recreation (ICODER). Their continued commitment helps make both the competition and the wider educational and cultural programme possible.

Written by Aruzhan Aldasheva