Chess Club Names New Grandmaster

The Harvard Chess Club yesterday appointed Boris Gulko, a celebrated chess champion and Soviet dissident, `Grandmaster in Residence' at Harvard University.

Gulko and his wife Anna Achsharumova, who are fellows of Harvard's Russian Research Center, will also coach the chess team and give public lectures.

In addition, the two, who emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1986, announced yesterday that they intend to vie for the World Championship in chess, as representatives of the United States.

They are not making idle boasts. Gulko has won both the Russian National Open and the World Open and Achsharumova won the women's national title twice in the 1970s.

And Gulko has won more games against current world champion Gary Kasparov than he has lost.

Prompted by Soviet policy of anti-semitism, Gulko and Achsharumova first attempted to emigrate from the USSR in 1979. At that time their request was denied.

"We wanted to emigrate for that reason [official anti-semitism], but instead, they put us into a worse class, as refuseniks," said Gulko.

As refuseniks, the couple was not allowed to compete in chess tournaments. But seven years out of the limelight did not destroy the couple's reputation. "The KGB couldn't take away our prestige in the chess world," Gulko said.