At approximately 3:15 pm, 45 minutes after the 6th round had started in the sports hall, the silence, pregnant with the tension which inevitably accompanies chess games, was shattered by the sudden and shrill cries of a young child from the western spectator stand. Prudently and expeditiously, its guardian quieted the infant and the few players who were distracted quickly returned to the business at hand.

Thursday, 31st October, 2002 will be remembered as a great day in Jamaica's chess history. Instead of celebrating halloween, the women and men celebrated perfect victories over New Zealand and Hong Kong, respectively.

The Jamaican women were paired, on board 40, with an experienced New Zealand team, two thirds of which were comprised of seasoned olympiad veterans. This, however, did not matter to the "reggae chess queens". On board one, Maria Palmer, having prepared beautifully in anticipation of her opponent's Pirc defence, played 1.e4 and must have smiled inside when Vivian Smith, a twenty-year olympiad veteran, remained true to her opening repertoire and played 1...d6.

Palmer played a brilliant game with a queen sacrifice (24.Qxb8 !) and two rook sacrifices (25.Rxg6 ! and 39.Rxe4 !) to reap the full point and record her first win of the tournament.

On board two Deborah Richards faced her pet English opening but played a great positional game to defeat Edith Otene in 27 moves. Otene, another olypmpiad veteran with more than ten years' experience, told the writer after the game that her team paid the penalty for underestimating the Jamaicans.

On board three Hui Zhu, faced the Sicilian defence, but still completed a hat-trick of victories with a great performance, effectively ending the game with the pretty knight sacrifice 28. Nf5 !. Her opponent, Evgenia Charmova, resigned just one move later.

Barbados lost 0.5 - 2.5 to Costa Rica in match 90, Nathali Greenidge drawing on board one. Cuba, playing in match 18, fielded three women grandmasters but after a win, a loss and a draw with India the result was 1.5 - 1.5.

At the top of the standings Georgia beat the Netherlands 3-0 with former world champion Maia Chiburdanidze winning on board one.

In a clash of contrasting cultures, world powers Russia and the USA met in match two but Vladimir Putin's women won 2.5 - 0.5 after wins on board 2 (WGM Alexandra Kosteniuk over WIM Camilla Baginskaite) and board 3 (WGM Tatiana Kosintseva over WIM Jennifer Shahade), respectively.

The adorable French WGM Almira Skripchenko-Lautier won on board one as France defeated the Czech Republic 2.5 - o.5. Almira will now face Zhu Chen on board one as France is paired against China in round seven.

In match 56 Jamaica's men crowned themselves and the country in glory after thrashing a very competitive Hong Kong team 4-0 in an exciting encounter. On board one FM Warren Elliott won his second game of the tournament by breaching Edwin Borigas' French defence.

The last game to finish was that on board four between veteran NM Robert Wheeler and ST Fung. Wheeler, playing a fianchetto Grunfeld with the Black pieces, missed a comfortable win after failing to see that 42...Rxg2 ! won a piece. Observing that his teammates had all won, Wheeler could have played it safely and forced a draw with perpetual check The German-born Englishman, however, took off the gloves and pressed for the win a piece down but with three pawns as compensation. Aided and abetted by his opponent's inaccuracies, "Bob" secured the victory which was met with great celebration by everyone in the Jamaican camp.

After the game, the men said that they were motivated by the sight of the suprisingly quick arrival of the Jamaican women who had earlier blanked New Zealand 3-0.

One of the many witnesses to Jamaica's historic day was Ukrainian coach Aleksander Vaysman who arrived in Slovenia the previous day, Wednesday 30th October, and came straight to the playing hall nearing the end of the fifth round ! Coach Vaysman, who spent two months in the summer coaching a number of Jamaica players, has graciously offered his services gratis to help both teams during the olympiad.

The International Chess Association of Physically Disabled Players (IPCA) showed no infirmity in beating Barbados 3.5 - 0.5 in match 49 with only FM Delisle Warner on board three getting a half point. Trinidad and Tobago, in match 50, also lost 0.5 - 3.5 to Iraq with FM Mario Merritt getting a half point on board three.

Although Zimbabwe lost 1 - 3 to Malaysia, the impressive IM Robert Gwaze employed the Sicilian Taimanov on board one to defeat FM Zi Jing Wong and record his team's only point. This was Gwaze's sixth straight win as he continued his amazing streak towards olympiad glory.

On the top board, the defending champions Russia rested Garry Kasparov but still easily reclaimed the lead from Bosnia-Herzegovina by winning 3.5 - 0.5.

Armenia, "mentally stretched" after their draw with Russia in the previous round, lost to dark horses Romania 1.5 - 2.5, GM Mircea Parligras scoring the only win of the tie by beating GM Artashes Minasian on board four.

In match four Fide world champion Ruslan Ponomariov drew with England superGM Michael Adams on board one after both men continued their Ruy Lopez debate. On board two of the match, two losing world championship fnalists met as GM Vassily Ivanchuk (who lost to his countryman Ponomariov in the 2001/2002 Fide world championship final) and Englishman GM Nigel Short (who lost to Kasparov in 1993) also drew. The honours were shared 2-2 as the other two games were also drawn.

Russia leads the standings on18.5 points with Poland and Armenia tied on 17 and Romania, Czech Republic and Belarus all on 16.5.