Boris Gulko won the United States Championship last week in Key West, Fla.
Along with the championship, he also won a place in the next stage of the International Chess Federation's (FIDE) world championship series.Gulko, now of Fair Lawn, N.J., was a former Soviet champion. He was a dissident who survived several hunger strikes before he was allowed to leave the Soviet Union in 1986.
In Key West, he scored 91/2-31/2 to capture the $8,000 first prize, given by Interplay Productions, makers of the Battle Chess CD-ROM and the principal sponsor of the tournament.
Grandmasters Larry Christiansen of Boston and Yasser Seirawan of Seattle ended in a tie for second and third places. Each scored 8-5, and each was awarded $3,000.
Fourth, fifth and sixth places were shared by grandmasters Joel Benjamin of Manhattan, Elex-an-der Shabalov of Pittsburgh and Alexander Yermolinsky of Edison, N.J., who scored 7 1/2-5 1/2.
Because the United States is permitted only five entrants in the FIDE interzonals, Benjamin, Shabalov and Yermolinsky had to contest a playoff to eliminate the extra player.
In the double-round play series, Shabalov was eliminated, and Benjamin and Yermolinsky will go on to the interzonal stage.
Here are the results; W equals won; L equals lost; D equals drew and P equals points:
FINAL STANDINGS
Player W L D P
Gulko 6 0 7 91/2
Seirawan 5 2 6 8
Christiansen 5 2 6 8
Benjamin 4 2 7 71/2
Yermolinsky 4 2 7 71/2
Shabalov 5 3 5 71/2
Orlov 7 1 10 7
Browne 5 5 3 61/2
Kaidanov 3 4 6 6
DeFirmian 3 5 5 51/2
Gurevich, D. 3 5 5 51/2
Finegold 2 6 5 41/2
Ivanov, A. 1 6 6 4
Keiman 1 6 6 4
Although Gulko was, at 47, the oldest player in the tourney, he surely did not play like it. His overall performance level was very high, and his games featured some excellent combinations. In the eighth round, he went through the redoubtable Kaidanov like a buzz saw, experts reported.
- SOVIET CHESS - The country's chess program, as reported here last week by Geoffrey York of the Toronto Globe and Mail, concluded:
"The country's chess program has suffered badly from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the upheaval of the Russian political system. The government simply cannot afford the hefty subsidies of the old days. Since 1987, more than 400 chess clubs have closed and the country's two major chess schools have been paralyzed by a lack of money.
"The financial problems have affected the caliber of Russian chess. During the communist era, Soviet children and young adults traditionally captured five or six world championships in different groups; today, Russia usually wins only two or three of the 10 championships.
"Promising youngsters who want to attend international tournaments often must scramble for private sponsors. Many of the best players have emigrated because they can make more money in the West.
"Yet for the old people who play chess at Neskuchny Sad (literally, the `not boring gardens') every day, the game has a deeper meaning that goes far beyond money.
"For decades, chess has distracted Sergei Gusev, who has played for 43 years. `It has helped me through some difficult illnesses and hardships in my life. When you are playing chess, you don't notice that you are sick.' "