PRESS RELEASE: 2002-11-13
RUSSIA RETAIN

Russia led by Former World Champion Garry Kasparov was crowned overall champions when the curtain came down on the 35th World Chess Olympiad being contested in Bled, Slovenia.

Russia led by Garry Kasparov Chess Olympiad Winners

The Russians retained the Vera Menchik Cup by winning the Men's Olympiad with 38 ½ points and placing 2nd to China in the Women with 29 points.

Former World Champion Garry Kasparov was named the most outstanding player of the Olympiad based on his incredible performance rating of 2933 while Zhao Xue of China took the women's title.

However a number of players from less known chess playing countries took honours in the board prizes including Robert Gwaze of Zimbabwe who won the Board 1 Gold Medal with a 100% score.

Zimbabwe's Robert Gwaze Board 1 Gold Medal Winner

Ravishen Singh of Trinidad & Tobago was the Board 5 Silver Medal winner with 87.5% and Wossenyelew Hailu of Ethiopia the Board 6 Bronze with 92.9%. Boikhutso Mudonga of Botswana took the Board 4 Bronze Medal in the Women's section with 87.5 %.

The Barbados men's and women's teams closed their Olympiad on a winning note with victories over Brunei and the deaf chess players association.

For the women, their 2-1 win over the deaf players gave them a hat trick of wins and ends their campaign at these championships with personal best score of 19 points, 2 ½ points better than the last appearance by a Barbados womens's team at the Olympiad.

Coach Richard Pert was once again spot on in his team preparation, as Rashaana Blenman, sponsored by
Neil & Massey, won on Board 3 and Nathali Greenidge, sponsored by the Mutual and its sports club, and National Women's Champion Rashida Corbin drew on boards 1 and 2.

Greenidge's overall score of 8 out of 13 placed her in the Board 1 Top 20 and made her the most valuable player on the women's team. Rashaana Blenman had double honours of becoming the 2nd internationally rated female player from Barbados and a 7 ½ out of 13 score to make the Board 3 Top 30 list.

For the Bajan Men, the 35th World Chess Olympiad would be remembered as one of missed opportunity. Having gotten off to the best start of any Bajan Olympiad team and their sensational 4th Round 3-1victory over hosts Slovenia, they lost their way between round 5 -10 only managing to win 1 match, draw 2 and lose 3.

Fortunately wins in rounds 11 and 14 allowed the Bajan men to recover and end with a respectable score of 25 points.

Top Junior Askari Elson, who was sponsored by Illuminat, was the most valuable player on the team scoring 63%, 5 out 8, on Board 4. In fact Elson's performance is the 2nd best performance at an Olympiad by a Bajan player on the men's team, the best being FIDE Master Philip Corbin's 1988 performance of 68%, 9 out of 14, at Thessaloniki, Greece.

National Champion FIDE Master Ricardo Szmetan's 50% score on Board 1 against an average rating of 2345 is the 2nd best Board 1 Olympiad performance on the men's team, the best being FIDE Master Philip Corbin's 1990 Novi Sad performance of 58% against an average rating of 2367.

Szmetan and Elson should certainly see increases in their international ratings as result of their performances as will FIDE Master Delisle Warner who score 50% on Board 3 against an average rating of 2269.

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