JAMAICA narrowly lost 2 1/1 to 1 1/2 to a strong all-grand master team from Slovenia in round one of the World chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey yesterday.

On board one, six-time national champion FM Warren Elliott held Super GM Alexander Beliavsky to an exciting draw; Jamaica's only international master (IM) Jomo Pitterson outplayed GM Matej Sebenk on board two for Jamaica's only win; candidate master Duane Rowe lost to GM Jure Borisek in a very close board three battle, while co-national champion Damion Davy narrowly lost his Olympiad debut on board four to GM Milan Novkovic.

Jamaica will play Algeria in today's second round, and with two international masters and a fide master, the Algerians will take some beating.

But after yesterday's determined performance against the solid Slovenians, Jamaica are favoured to score their first win in the 2012 Olympiad. Jamaica lost to Algeria in the second round of the 1992 Olympiad in the Philippines.

The Jamaica women's team went down 4-0 to a more experienced Serbia in their first-round game and will seek to rebound today as they tackle Aruba in the second round.

Meanwhile, the USA and Cuba got off to perfect starts as they shut out Jordan and Japan, 4-0, respectively. Barbados were blanked 4-0 by Greece, while Trinidad and Tobago suffered a similar defeat to Austria.