Jamaica scored an historic 3-1 win over Yemen in the 10th round of the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, yesterday. Registering wins on Boards 1 and 2, Jamaica earned two hard-fought draws on Boards 3 and 4 against highly acclaimed Yemen international chess masters.Fide master Warren Elliott forced the resignation of Khalil Al-Subaihi on Board 1 at move 31 after checkmate seemed inevitable. On Board 2, Shane Matthews chalked up the second win for his country against Hatim Al-Hadarani after obtaining a sizable material advantage. Duane Rowe battled to a tough draw against Zendan Al-Zendani with the latter up a pawn, and Jomo Pitterson agreed to a draw with Basheer Al Qudaimi in a very exciting game. The draw gave Pitterson the coveted World Chess Federation Fide master title, and the win over Yemen was sweet revenge for Jamaica who were soundly beaten by that team, 4-0, at the 2000 Olympiad in Turkey. Pitterson is still undefeated after eight games with four wins and four draws.

Mexico drubbed Trinidad & Tobago 4-0; Turkmenistan brush aside Barbados 3-1; leaders Israel were edged 2 1/2 - 1 1/2 by Ukraine; the USA beat Germany by a similar score to improve their chances for at least a bronze medal; Armenia regained a share of the lead with a 3-1 win over Serbia; Russia easily defeated Slovenia; Belarus upset Cuba 3-1; and Canada trashed Nicaragua 4-0.

Poland are the surprising leaders of the Women’s section as favourites China suffered back-to-back losses in the ninth and 10th rounds at the hands of Serbia and Georgia, respectively. Barbados are 89th while T&T are in 106th place.

In today’s crucial 11th round, Jamaica tackle Palestine; Barbados play Lebanon; T&T oppose Fiji; the USA have joint-leaders Ukraine; it’s Cuba against Australia and China vs champions Armenia.

The two-island republic emphatically beat old rivals Barbados by seven wickets on Sunday at theGuyana National Stadium to take the title. T&T now join Guyana in winning the prestigious title on nine occasions since its inception in 1976. They outplayed the Barbadians in all aspects of the game as they romped to 143 for three off 27 overs, replying to Barbados’ modest 142 all out off 45.5 overs.

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Dever Orgill scored five goals over two games and led Jamaica to a pair of victories, sending it to the final round of Caribbean qualifying for the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship.

Orgill scored in the 29th minute of Jamaica’s 4:1 victory over Antigua and Barbuda on Thursday and then scored two in each half on Saturday to lead a 4:0 victory over Aruba.

The victories finished Jamaica atop Caribbean second-round Group F and put it in January’s final round with St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. St. Vincent and Haiti won their respective groups while Haiti advanced as the best runner-up from the three second-round groups.

The winner of the final round will earn an automatic berth to the CONCACAF under-20 finals in Trinidad & Tobago along with the host, Canada, Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica and El Salvador. The final place in the eight-team championship will be determined in a playoff between the Caribbean runner-up and Honduras

Grp C
Suriname - Haiti
1:1

Grp C
El Salvador - Costa Rica
1:3

Grp B
Honduras - Mexico
1:0

Grp B
Jamaica - Canada
3:0

Grp A
USA - Guatemala
2:0

Grp A
Trinidad & Tobago - Cuba
3:0

Jamaica had a goal rush, slotting three past a somewhat hapless Canadian keeper as the Reggae Boyz made a courageous bid to make up an imbalance in the goal difference table in order to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Unfortunately a win by Honduras in Mexico has prevented that.

An accomplished half-century from Test batsman Devon Smith failed to prevent the Windward Islands from going down by 13 runs to Barbados in the WICB Cup One-Day cricket tournament at the Enmore ground, yesterday.

The 27-year-old Grenadian left-hander hit five fours in his 109-ball 83 but the Windwards were bowled out for 184 in 49.3 overs, chasing the 197 for eight off 50 overs made by Barbados.

The victory carried Barbados to 13 points and assured them a place in this weekend’s day/night semi-finals at the National Stadium at Providence.

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Bahamian Blake Sands took on all comers and came out on top in the 2008 AAU National Surfing Championships. The championships which were held between October 26-28, saw Sands topping the men’s division 18-34 ahead of Mike Perrischetti, Ian Criswell, Jared Herndon, Paul Munson and Sam Mailender. Sands, who has seen recent successes in ESA/CFL divisions, is now contemplating a move to pro.

The absence of Steve Massiah, Rashard Marshall and Sushil Nadkarni, all key batsmen, and a lack of sharpness among those available was clearly evident in a limp United States team performance, especially in the batting department that contributed to them slumping to a 110-run loss to Barbados in their opening game of the West Indies Limited Overs championship Friday.

The full strength Barbados capitalized fully to blow away the pick-up side of U.S. players many of whom have not played since summer time, in the biggest victory of the day among the three matches, at the Providence Stadium.

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Pakistan won the three ODI series by 2-0 defeating West Indies in second one-day here Friday, reported our sources. Pakistan had decided to bat first and was all out at 232 in 49 overs. Misbahul Haq was the major contributor of the Pakistani inning with his 55 runs knock. West Indians while chasing the target were all out at 208 in 48.5 overs.