Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia – Wins for Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago against Surinam and Papua New Guina in the men’s section, and Jamaica against Yemen in the women’s, signalled an improved performance for the English-speaking Caribbean in Round 7 action at the 39th World Chess Olympiad yesterday in Russia.
For Barbados, the 3-1 victory over Surinam was sweet revenge for their surprise defeat at the 2004 Olympiad in Calvia, Spain.
FIDE master Delisle Warner and national champion Martyn Del Castilho took out the Surinamese middle order of Franklyn Mungroo and Suradj Hanoeman, while international master Terry Farley and FIDE master Dr Philip Corbin hemmed in candidate master Roger Matoewi and Willem Veer on the top and bottom boards with draws.
Trinidad and Tobago scored a badly needed morale-boosting 3-1/2 to 1/2 win over Papua New Guinea. FIDE master Ryan Harper, Marcus Joseph and FIDE master Keron Cabralis had the sweet taste of victory for the Trinis against Joselito Marcos, candidate master Shaun Press and Helmut Marco.
It was only some tough resistance by FIDE master Rupert Jones against Ravichen Singh that led to a draw, denying Trinidad the 4-0 rubber.
Jamaica faced one of the Olympiad Special teams, from the International Physically Disabled Chess Association, and lost 2-1/2 to 1-1/2.
Ukraine seized the tournament lead with 6-1/2 match points after beating Georgia 2-1/2 to 1-1/2. However, the big news of the round was the defeat of defending champions Armenia by Azerbaijan 2-1/2 to 1-1/2.
In women’s play, Barbados lost 3-1 to Iraq. (PR/BA)
