JAMAICA edged Barbados, 2 1/2-1 1/2 in the highly anticipated Caribbean derby in round five of the 2012 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey, yesterday.

It was the first decisive result between the Caribbean rivals as two previous meetings at the Olympiad in 1988 and 2002 ended in 2-2 stalemates.

Board 3 representative Duane Rowe gave Jamaica a 1-0 lead as he expertly dismantled International Master (IM) Terry Farley’s Alapin variation of the Sicilian Defense, and forced the resignation of the former Barbados champion in 33 moves.

Barbados levelled the scores at 1-1 when IM Kevin Denny outplayed IM Jomo Pitterson and neatly used a Knight to trap Pitterson’s King on the King’s Rook file at move 37.

Jamaica’s Damion Davy restored the lead to 2-1 with a wonderful display of tactical attacking chess. From a somewhat even position, Davy launched a ferocious attack on Barbadian FIDE Master (FM) Delisle Warner’s Benoni Defense, resulting in Warner’s surrender at move 34 with the threat of imminent checkmate.

FM Warren Elliott and Barbados national champion FM Martyn Del Castilho played to a marathon 120-move draw to give Jamaica a well-earned win.

In other scores in the Open section, the United States drew 2-2 with the Czech Republic; Canada lost to Azerbaijan; Cuba played their way back into medal contention with an easy 4-0 win over Venezuela; Trinidad and Tobago were shut out 4-0 by Denmark; Haiti beat Sierra Leone, and Bermuda drew with Togo.

In the women’s section, Jamaica suffered a narrow 2 1/2-1 1/2 defeat to Uruguay.