Happened Today in the Chess World - Feb 9, 2024

KASPAROV'S NEMESIS

Soviet Championship playoff, Moscow 1978: Boris Gulko-Iosif Dorfman
Photo: 64 / chesspro Source: web.archive.org

Today is the birthday of Grandmaster Boris Gulko, born in Erfurt, Germany, on February 9, 1947. Gulko grew up in East Germany, where his father was a soldier of the Red Army.
Gulko won the Soviet Championship in 1977. Later, he was arrested as an opponent of the government, and he could move to the USA only at the time of Gorbaciov's "glasnost."
In the US, Gulko won the National Championship twice, becoming the only person to have won Soviet and USA championships.
Gulko's rating peaked in January 2000, with 2644 points, and he was placed 12th in the world in 1989.
Boris participated in ten Olympiads, winning three Team Silver medals (of which one with the USSR), and a Bronze.
Gulko has a degree in psychology and is known for having three wins vs. one loss against Kasparov.

Boris Gulko (2460)-Karen Grigorian (2430), Vilnius (Soviet championship - semifinals) 1971
White to move

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