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 record breaking numbers registering for the annual Chess Olympiad was probably an early indicator that there was strong Caribbean support at the tournament but none could expect the early successes the teams saw. Trinidad got past New Zealand 3-1, a strong Dominican Republic team beat neighbors Barbados whilst Jamaica made it a clean sweep against Kenya with a 4-0 victory.

The 13 day tournament started on Thursday and includes 154 teams in the open division and 114 teams in the women’s division.