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TURIN, Italy (CMC) - Jamaica stole the only honours for the English-speaking Caribbean at the 37th World Chess Olympiad but their match against Finland ended in a cloud of controversy on Tuesday.

With Jamaica leading 2-1 and heading for a shock win over the Fins, confusion erupted in the game on board 1 between Finnish Grandmaster Tomi Nyback and Jamaica's Shane Matthews.

Nyback was accused of touching his king without indicating that he was adjusting it, but making a move with his bishop in contravention of the rules of the game.

With the match arbiter not present at the time of the incident, the matter was referred to the section arbiter who ruled in favour of Nyback, despite eye witness reports supporting the Jamaicans' claim.

With the game restarted, Nyback went on to win the game and tie the match 2-2. Jamaica subsequently lodged a formal protest against the result.

Had the ruling gone in Jamaica's favour and Nyback forced to move the touched king, the Finnish player would have only been able to force a draw, thus giving Jamaica the upset win.

Earlier, Russell Porter pulled off a big upset over Grandmaster Heikki Westerinen to turn the match on its head before FIDE Master Warren Elliot and Duane Rowe managed stalemates against International Masters Mika Karttunen and Tapani Sammalvuo to give Jamaica the edge.

The result for the Jamaicans was the bright spot for the Caribbean as both Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago were flogged 4-0 in their respective matches.

Barbados, resting FIDE Master Dr Philip Corbin, were brushed aside by Sweden with International Master Kevin Denny, Terry Farley, FIDE Master Delisle Warner and Dirk Austin losing their games.

For T&T, FIDE Master Ryan Harper, Yogendranath Ramsingh, Ravichen Singh and Dr Edison Chang also went down meekly to Kyrgystan.

In other matches, Haiti, Aruba, Surinam and Puerto Rico all fell 3-1 to Sudan, Japan, the team from the International Blind Chess Association and Qatar respectively, while the Dominican Republic suffered a 3-0 defeat to Latvia.

Powerhouses Russia battled to victory over Germany to share the lead in the tournament with China and Uzbekistan on 10 points while defending champions Ukraine beat Serbia & Montenegro, 3-1, to join Greece and the Netherlands on a three-way tie for fourth on 10 points.

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Barbados brush aside Libya in chess

NATIONAL CHAMPION FIDE MASTER DeLISLE WARNER put his first points on the table to help Barbados to a 3-1 win over Libya at the 37th World Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy.

International Master Kevin Denny and FIDE Master Dr Philip Corbin also enjoyed wins in a match that Barbados dominated.

Libya were fortunate to avoid an even heavier loss when Barbados' Under-16 champion Justin Blackman of Queen's College, in his debut game, lost on time when a pawn up against Emad Madi.

Haiti were all smiles as they won their first match of the Olympiad, beating an overconfident Papua New Guinea 3-1.

Winning for Haiti were Afriany Velery and Joslin Bazil, while Piersont Lebrun and Mondoly Sanon drew with Fancey Stewart and Craig Skehan.

On the top tables, Russia, looking to retain their Olympic crown, beat China 3-1 thanks to victories by their middle order of Grandmasters Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk.

Draws by Grandmasters Vladimir Kramnik and Evgeny Bareev against Grandmasters Xiangzhi Bu and Yue Wang sealed the Russians' victory.

Cuba is the highest placed Caribbean country, in 18th position with 11 points, followed by Dominican Republic, 83rd with eight points, and Barbados, 89th with seven. Puerto Rico are 97th with seven, Jamaica 101st with six, and Trinidad and Tobago 112th on five.