What is generally regarded as the strongest team from Barbados to play in a Chess Olympiad put in another good performance yesterday winning all four of their seven round games against Uganda. IM Kevin Denny, FM DeLisle Warner, Terry Farley and FM Phillip Corbin all registered wins on boards 1 to 4, respectively. At the halfway stage, the "Bajans" are the top West Indian team with 13 points entering the eighth round tomorrow.  In the next round they will face Guatemala, also on 13 points.

The Guatemalans defeated Jamaica 3 to 1 with wins on boards 3 and 4 by Marco Figueroa and FM Guillermo Juarez Flores over Russel Porter and Malaku Lorne, respectively. Analyses of all four games showed that the Jamaicans missed wins in at least three of the games. Jamaica are now on 11 points and will face a young and competitive Botswana team, also on 11 points, in the next round.

Trinidad  and Tobago easily beat Papua New Guinea 3.5 to 0.5 and moved to 11.5 points. In the next round they will face Puerto Rico, also on 11.5, who beat British Virgin Islands 3 to 1.

UKRAINE TWO POINTS CLEAR

Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk got his toughest test to date and passed with flying colours using the Petroff defence to hold world number two Indian GM Vishwanathan Anand on board one as Ukraine defeated India 2.5 to 1.5. The only win of the match came on board 4 where the young "phenom" GM Sergey Karkajin, who at 12 years old set the record as the youngest player to become a grandmaster, was too good for IM Julian Radulski.

In the next round Ukraine, leading on 21.5 points, will face Bulgaria, the men from the Balkans creating a storm by upsetting defending champions Russia 2.5 to 1.5. The only win in the encounter came on board 3 where GM Alexander Grischuk pressed with the white pieces and paid dearly against IM Ivan Cheparinov, who at a rating of 2576 is the highest rated international master in the tournament.

Although some will say that it is still early and that anything can happen the signs are not looking good for Russia who lost only one match, 1.5 to 2.5 to Hungary, in the last Olympiad. At the half way stage, they have already lost twice and one must bear in mind that there is no Garry Kasparov in the team.

AKOPIAN IS ALSO  IN TOWN

GM Vladimir Akopian, fresh from his duties as sedcond to GM Peter Leko in the recently concluded world championship match against GM Vladimir Kramnik, showed for Armenia on board one and drew against GM Boris Gelfand. The men from Yerevan, behind wins from GM Levon Aronian over GM Emil Sutovsky and GM Rafael Vaganian over GM Ilia Smirin on boards 2 and 3, respectively, nevertheless prevailed 3 to 1 against Israel . The bronze medal winners in Bled, they seem bent on again finishing among the medals and have moved to 19.5 points, the same as Bulgaria and Russia. The Armenians have a date with the Russians in the next round.

Spain come next on 19 points after defeating Azerbaijan 2.5 to 1.5. The Spanish will clash with the Indians, on 18.5 points, in the next round GM Alexei Shirov and Anand renewing their rivalry.

The Netherlands beat England 2.5 to 1.5, GM Sergei Tiviakov having the only win of the clash by prevailing over GM Luke McShane on board 2. GM Michael Adams and GM Loek Van Wely drew on board 1.

Ivanchuk, Adams and GM Evgenij Ermenkov from Palestine have 6 points from 7 games and lead for the prize for best male performance. Close by is Cuban number one GM Lenier Dominguez with 5 points from six games.

CHINA STILL RULING AMONG THE WOMEN

IM Almira Skripchenko played well to hold the rampaging GM Xie Jun to a draw on board 1 but China won the other two games to turn back France 2.5 to 0.5. The Chinese will next face Poland.

Bulgaria and Russia drew 1.5 to 1.5 but the highlight of that contest was the victory by IM Alexandra Kosteniuk over the world champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova in a rousing game.

The defending champions have now moved to 18.5 points, a whopping 4 points clear of Poland and Lithuania who are tied in second on 14.5. England and Hungary come next on 14 points followed by Russia, USA, France, Ukraine, India, Sweden, Bulgaria, Armenia and Kazakhstan all on 13.5 points.

Well down the tables Trinidad and Tobago drew 1.5!to 1.5 with Honduras and the West Indian lasses, on 6 points and 84th of 87 teams, will try and improve their position in the next round against Japan.

Xie Jun, with 4.5 points from 5 games, is ahead in the race for best female performance. She is followed by IM Viktorija Cmilyte from Lithuania, 5 of 6, and IM Harriet Hunt from England, 5.5 from 7.

23rd October, 2004
Ian Wilkinson
Captain, Jamaica
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