JAMAICA AT THE 2002 CHESS OLYMPIAD
SECOND REPORT
The biggest chess
olympiad to date (141 countries registered !) "pawned off" in Bled,
Slovenia a few minutes after the scheduled time (2 pm local time) when the chief
arbiter Dutchman Geurt Gijssen (pronounced "hurt heysin") gave the directive for
the clocks to be started. The games are being played in the magnificent Sports
Hall where the opening ceremony was held on Friday October 26. The opening
ceremony was magnificent and some of the more influential persons present
included Milan Kučan, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Florencio
Campomanes ( the former president of FIDE who brought greetings on behalf
of the current president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov who was absent), the thirteenth
world champion the Baku-born Russian Garry Kasparov and the current FIDE
champion Ukraine's Ruslan Ponomariov.
ROUND ONE
The English-speaking Caribbean was put to the sword in the first round. The Jamaican men's team, playing on board 28, went down 0-4 to a powerful Croatian team which paid Jamaica due respect by fielding its strongest team - all of four grandmasters (GMs). For the uninitiated, a grandmaster is the highest title that a chess player can receive. Below GM is international master (IM) and then Fide Master (FM). National Master (NM) precedes FM.
On board one FIDE Master (FM) Warren Elliott never really solved his opening problems with the Black pieces in a Queen's pawn opening and lost to Croatia's number one player the ultra-solid Grandmaster (GM) Kozul. On board two National Master (NM) Duane Rowe did not have the birthday present he wished as, with the White pieces, he succumbed to GM Cvitan's Sicilian Najdorf defence. Nonetheless we wished Duane a happy birthday. On board three NM Robert Wheeler, a veteran of many olympiads, deployed his favourite Alekhine's defence with the Black pieces and played superbly for 22 moves but after an inaccuracy on his 23rd move (Nf8? when h5! was strong), was steamrolled by GM Zelcic. On board four the debutant Mark Smith suprisingly opted for a stonewall set-up in a Queen's pawn opening and was easily routed by GM Sulava.
The toast of the English-speaking caribbean was the women's team. Playing on board 43 against the very experienced and strong Slovenian B team Jamaica lost 1-2 after putting up stern resistance. In the process the team earned a valuable point and became the only English-speaking caribbean team, men or women, to do so.
On board one national champion Deborah Richards employed the English opening with the White pieces but her inaccuracy on the 17th move (she played the attacking e5? in lieu of the necessary defensive h3!) was ruthlessly punished by Women Fide Master (WFM) Vesna Rozic who served up mate in 37 moves. On board two Chinese-born Zhu Hui chose the Philidor defence but lost her way, and a piece, and resigned after 43 moves.
GREAT VICTORY
In every cloud there is a silver lining, however, and there was rapturous joy in the camp when Vanessa Thomas on board three created a sensation by refuting the Sicilian defence of the strong WFM Ksenija Novak. With only one minute and nineteen seconds left on her clock, Thomas made the winning move (23 f6!) and then, thinking that her opponent had offered her a draw consulted with team captain Ian Wilkinson. When the arbiter (Frantisek Lips of the Czech Republic) was summoned, the Slovenian captain, who was nearby, confirmed, to Jamaica's delight, that his charge had in fact resigned. Vanessa Thomas is believed to have entered the history books as the first Jamaican female gladiator to defeat a female FM ever. It is even more significant that it occurred at a chess olympiad.
The game was a tense affair and attracted a fair number of spectators, especially as the home team was playing. This was particularly interesting as the great Sports Hall in which the games were being played featured such great GMs as the world's number one female player the Hungarian Judit Polgar, 1999 Fide Champion Russian GM Alexander Khalifman and English GMs Michael Adams and Nigel Short just to name a few.
In other matches, the Barbados men's team lost 0-4 to Denmark and the women's team lost 0-3 to Croatia. The Trinidad & Tobago men's team went down 0-4 to Moldova, Christo Cave losing a piece in time trouble in at least a drawn position against IM Alexey Khruschiov. Russia, the defending men's champion, beat Costa Rica 3.5 - 0.5, IM Alejandro Ramirez (looking no older than 14 years old) rated 2421 drawing with super GM Alexander Morozevich (rated 2707 !) on board 3.
Kasparov, Russia's number one player, did not play. World champion Russian Vladimir Kramnik is not taking part in the olympiad.
China, the women's defending champion with champion Zhu Chen, routed Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-0.
The competition continues on Sunday 27th October. In round two the Jamaican women will have the White pieces on boards one and three against Iceland and the men will have the White pieces on boards one and three against Guernsey. The men play on four boards and the women on three. One point is awarded for a win, a half point for a draw and zero points for a loss. The time control is game in ninety minutes with an additional thirty seconds per move from move one. The Fischer method has, therefore, been adopted.
SLOVENIA TIDBIT: "Dober dan" means "good day" or "good afternoon". Slovenia is bordered by Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia and the capital is Ljubljana.
IAN WILKINSON
Hotel Krim
Bled, Slovenia
27th October, 2002