Going into the first rest day on the 21st October, 2004, Jamaica finally had Her first win today at the 36th Chess Olympiad in Calvia, Mallorca routing the hapless campaigners from Guernsey 4-0 in round six action.

On board 1 Shane Matthews employed the King´s Indian Defence and this eventually proved too much for the stubborn Peter Rowe. On board 2, Duane Rowe´s class was evident against a determined Fred Hamperl, the latter resigning when Rowe was about to promote a pawn. On board three Russel Porter had his first win when he turned back John Cummins who fought hard but never had a chance. The first game to finish was that on board 4 where Ras Malaku Lorne had his first victory of the tournament, dispatching Toby Brookfield in quick order with the white pieces. Indeed, when the game was finished Lorne still had 87 minutes on his clock!!

The Jamaicans, now on 10 points, have leapt 20 places to 96th and will face Guatemala (92nd, also on 10 points) in the next (7th) round.

Barbados succumbed 0-4 to Portugal and are lying 100th on 9 points. They will face Uganda, led by Grace Nsubuga on the top board in the next round. Nsubuga has had some solid results, including a draw with GM Evgeny Sveshnikov (who employed the Sicilian opening named after him against Grace!!!) and should have a tense contest against Barbadian IM Kevin Denny on board 1. FM Phillip Corbin, scorching the chessic battlefields with 4/5, returns to warfare on board 4 after missing the last round due to flu.

Trinidad & Tobago drew 2-2 with the British Virgin Islands and are now on 8 points and in 118th position. They will next face Papua New Guinea, also on 8.

CHUCKY´S GLADIATORS STAND FIRM!!

Mega-grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk took his personal score to 5.5/6 (at an elo performance of over 3000!!!) when he used the white pieces to great effect to blast the young buck GM Teimour Radjabov off the board in a wild Sicilian Sveshnikov. Although GM Alexander Moiseenko lost on board 3, the young and energetic Sergei Karjakin showed up with a good win over GM Rauf Mamedov on board 4 as the Ukraine defeated Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5.

After the 6th round "Chucky´s gladiators" are on 19 points and still unbeaten. Russia lurk dangerously in 2nd on 18 followed by Bulgaria and India (17 each) and Israel, Azerbaijan, Spain A and Armenia all on 15.5.

In the top three matches of the next round Ukraine will face India, who defeated Holland 3-1, GM Vishy Anand, the number 2 in the world, playing well to beat GM Loek Van Wely on board 1. Anand will have the white pieces against Ivanchuk. Azerbaijan will face Spain A and Russia will clash with Bulgaria. Spain beat France 2.5-1.5, GM Alexei Shirov scoring the only win of the match, an attractive attacking game against GM Laurent Fressinet on board 1.

Russia had a command performance handing out a 3.5-0.5 thrashing of Israel. GM Peter Svidler brutalised GM Emil Sutovsky´s Sicilian on board 2 in a beautiful attacking game, his first of the Olympiad since the cessation of his duties as GM Vladimir Kramnik´s second in the recent world championship match in Brissago, Switzerland.

"SPIDERMAN" WEAVING HIS WEB

England´s GM Michael "Spiderman" Adams kept pace with Ivanchuk by defeating Mexico´s GM Gilberto Hernandez on board 1 as England had two wins and two draws in a 3-1 victory over Mexico. Adams, also on 5.5/6, will face Van Wely in the next round as England clash with Holland.

WHO WILL TEST THE CHINESE ?

China´s GM Xie Jun continued to steamroll everyone in her path as she defeated Russia´s IM Alexandra Kosteniuk on board 1 to lead her country to a 2-1 win over Russia. The defending champions moved to 16 points, 3 more than the French who are on 13.

France had a good 2-1 win against Armenia, IM Almira Skripchenko playing well to defeat WGM Natalia Zhukova on board 1 for the only win of the match. Skripchenko will next face Xie Jun as France will test China in the 7th round.

CLASH OF WORLD CHAMPIONS!

New Zealand thumped Trinidad & Tobago 3-0, the "Soca princesses" not coping with the pace. The West Indians will try to rebound in round 7 when they face Honduras.

Hungarian-born GM Susan Polgar prevailed over GM Maia Chiburdanidze as the USA beat Georgia 2-1. The two fine female combatants were observed amiably chatting and smiling before the game. After the clocks were pressed, however, the looks on their faces changed appreciably and the two former world women´s champions took off the gloves! When the dust had cleared it was Polgar who remained standing.

After the top two come Russia, Ukraine, USA, India, Bulgaria and Armenia all tied on 12 points. In the other top matches of the next round Russia will face Bulgaria, Ukraine clash with Armenia and India will pawn off against the USA (Polgar likely to face GM Humpy Koneru).

22nd October, 2004
Ian Wilkinson
Captain, Jamaica
Press Centre
Gran Casino Mallorca
Calvia, Mallorca