After four completed rounds, the Cuban team appears in 12th place and is the best positioned from the Americas in the Intellectual Cup Chess Tournament taking place in the Russian region of Novokuznetsk with talented children from various countries around the world.

The Cubans suffered a pair of defeats this Wednesday in their matches against Sri Lanka and the main host team, reaching 30.5 points, and will face the home team's second selection in their next outing.

A year ago, the Cuban contingent shone with a bronze medal and also enjoyed the individual gold of Felipe Herrera from Camagüey, as defender of the first board.

Just like on that occasion, the tournament is convened for school and youth players with a program featuring two types of competition: the best exponent from each team plays a simultaneous match against the remaining four members of the opposing selection, followed by a traditional match between both teams.

According to this system, the maximum possible score reaches 13 points, and the total from each contest is used for the final ranking, which is currently led by Kazakhstan with 43 points and a wide advantage over Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka, showing 38 and 37.5 points, respectively.

The Cuban group consists of Esteban David O'Farril, Alberto García, Daziel Pernas, Ángel González, and Mya Valdés, the latter being the only one repeating the experience from the previous edition.

In addition to the opportunity to compete and demonstrate on the boards what they have learned through years of study, the Intellectual Cup offers the chance to interact with children from various parts of the world, learn other ways of seeing the Game of Science, and create friendships that may last over time.