FIDE Master Justin Blackman salvaged a draw to prevent both Barbados teams from slumping to clean sweep defeats on a tough opening day for Caribbean countries at the 44^th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India on Friday.

Barbados’ Open team, seeded at no. 124 out of 188 teams, lost 3.5-0.5 to 31^st ranked Sweden while the Women’s team, seeded at no. 111 out of 162 teams, went under 4-0 to 31^st ranked Peru on the first day of competition at the Four Points by Sheraton Mahabalipuram Resort and Convention Centre.

Blackman, Barbados’ most successful player at the 2018 Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia, played to draw against a Tiger Hillarp Persson to deny the all-Grandmaster Sweden line-up a 100 per cent winning record.

It was, however, a difficult day for his teammates as International Master Orlando Husbands lost to Erik Blomqvist and debutants Emar Edwards and Justin Parsons went under to Jonathan Westerberg and Emanuel Berg respectively.

Barbados’ youthful Women’s team that included three players under the age of 21, also found it a rough against Peru and were unable to avoid a clean sweep.

Woman Candidate Master Katrina Blackman, the only member of the female team to play at a previous Olympiad, lost to Woman International Master Ann Chumpitaz.

First-timers, Hannah Wilson, 13, Gaybrianna Moore, 17, and Kiarra Eversley, 20, also suffered defeats to Woman International Master Mitzy Caballero Quijano, Woman FIDE Master Paula Paredes Bustamante and Kate Bravo Mallco respectively.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Open team was the only English-speaking Caribbean team to win in the opening round, defeating Niger 4-0.

Other English-speaking Caribbean countries also found the going tough.

In the Open section, Jamaica lost 3.5-0.5 to France, Guyana went under 3-1 to Andora, St Vincent and the Grenadines were beaten 4-0 by Panama, Dominica lost 4-0 to Iraq, St Kitts and Nevis were defeated by New Zealand 4-0 and St Lucia went under to Albana 4-0.

In the Women’s section, Jamaica lost to Netherlands 4-0, Guyana went under by a similar margin to Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago lost to Austria 3-5-0.5. (BCF)