ISTANBUL, Turkey, CMC- Trinidad and Tobago have won the first women’s team encounter against Barbados in the 40th World Chess Olympiad, currently being played in Istanbul, Turkey.
Trinidad & Tobago beat Barbados 2 ½ – 1 ½ when the two met in Round 6 of the tournament.
For Barbados it was a heart breaking loss but much in the character of their previous four losses where they failed to execute from a winning position.
The Bajan’s team strategy of winning on the top two boards and holding the bottom two to draws appeared to be working.
Corinne Howard and National Champion, CARIFTA Girls Under-20 Gold Medalist Katrina Blackman, both members of the UWI Cave Hill Sports Programme, got the upper hand when Howard beat Trinidad Women’s Champion Adeti Soondarsingh on Board 1 and Blackman drew against Woman Candidate Master and CARIFTA Girls under 16 Gold Medalist Javanna Smith on Board 2.
The Bajan’s strategy was however unraveled by the two promising Trini juniors of Gabriella Johnson and Della-Marie Walcott who won on Boards 3 and 4 against Woman Candidate Master Sheena Ramsay and Donna Murray.
The news was no better in Men’s action for Barbados as the men’s team lost 3-1 to a young Estonian team.
National Champion, FIDE Master Martyn Del Castilho and Shamel Howell, both of whom are members of the UWI Cave Hill Sports Programme, held their ground with draws against Pavel Vorobjov and Roman Ezov.
However, losses by International Master Kevin Denny and FIDE Master Delisle Warner against Mark Lapidus and Sander Kukk gave the match to the Estonians.
In other Men’s action, Cuba trounced Qatar 3 ½ – ½ to leap 20 positions to 27th place with 8 match points.
Jamaica slip to 95th after losing 2 ½ – 1 ½ against Bolivia followed by Puerto Rico on 98th after drawing 2-2 with Luxembourg.
Barbados slide a further 14 positions to 134th and Trinidad & Tobago are 140th having lost 3-1 to the Dominican Republic.
In the Women Standings, Russia still tops the tables with 11 match points having drawn with China 2-2. Poland scored a fine 3 ½ – ½ victory over Serbia to move into 2nd place while China are 3rd.
Like their male counterparts, the Cuban women posted a big 3 ½ – ½ win against Guatemala to regain some ground and move to 43rd.
The Dominican Republic is the next highest Caribbean team dropping 13 positions to 99th having lost 3-1 to Egypt.
Trinidad & Tobago, compliments of Barbados, move ahead of their Jamaican and Bajan counterparts for the first time, jumping 6 positions to 116th. Jamaica slip to 120th, having lost 3-1 to Suriname and Barbados continue their decline by another 4 positions to 123rd.
For Round 7 pairings the Barbados Men have drawn Mozambique and the women a bye.