Which title was conferred to Boris Gulko in 2004?
Boris Gulko Boris Franzevich Gulko ( ; born February 9 , 1947 ) is a Soviet-American Grandmaster in chess . His peak Elo rating was 2644 in 2000 . Gulko is noted to be the only person to win both the Soviet Chess Championship and the U.S . Chess Championship , and for having a positive score against Garry Kasparov . Life and career . Boris Gulko was born in 1947 to a Jewish family . His father was a soldier of the Red Army and was stationed in East Germany . His family returned to the Soviet Union after a few years . Gulko became an International Master in 1975 , and a Grandmaster in 1976 . He won the USSR Chess Championship at Leningrad in 1977 along with Iosif Dorfman . The Soviets usually would break ties for the title of Soviet Champion with a multi-game match , and 1977 was no exception . However , Gulko and Dorfman were even after the six game playoff , so they shared the title and prestige of Soviet Champion . They finished half a point ahead of a field that included three former World Champions . Shortly after , Gulko applied to leave the country , but permission was refused . He and his wife , Anna Akhsharumova , who is a Woman Grandmaster of chess , became prominent Soviet Refuseniks . As a vehement anti-Communist , he was once arrested and beaten by KGB agents . They werent allowed in top-level chess competition until the period of glasnost arrived , and Gulko was finally allowed to immigrate to the United States in 1986 . Thirty-nine is too old to start playing and training to reach the highest achievement in chess , said Boris , those seven years were a serious blow for my chess career , but I don’t regret them . After moving to the U.S . he won the U.S . Chess Championship in 1994 and 1999 . He is the only chess player ever to have held both the American and Soviet championship titles . Gulko also holds an amazing positive score against Garry Kasparov , with three victories , four draws , and only one defeat , in games played from 1978 to 2001 ( according to ChessGames.com ) . Gulko was subject to anti-semitic discrimination 20 years later . He qualified to play at the 2004 World Chess Championship in Libya . The president of the Libyan Organizing Committee , dictator Gaddafi’s son , announced : “We did not and will not invite the Zionist enemies to this championship.” Gulko and several other Jewish players withdrew from the tournament , and Gulko said in a letter to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov , the president of FIDE : “I implore you not to be the first president of FIDE to preside over the first world chess championship from which Jews are excluded . Our magnificent and noble game does not deserve such a disgrace.” Gulko played for Soviet Union in the Chess Olympiad of 1978 and for the United States in the Chess Olympiads of 1988–2004 . He is still playing chess , although he does not participate in a large number of tournaments . After living in Fair Lawn , NJ for many years , the Gulkos moved to Jerusalem in 2019 . Notable games . Gulko has a plus record against Garry Kasparov He even beat Kasparov with the black pieces in Russia in 1982 : Kasparov vs . Gulko , Russia 1982 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bxc4 e6 5.Nf3 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.e4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.Bg5 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nbd7 11.Nc3 Ne5 12.Ncxb5 Nxd3 13.Qxd3 axb5 14.Rfd1 Be7 15.Qxb5+ Qd7 16.Qb3 Bxe4 17.Nf5 Bd5 18.Nxg7+ Kf8 19.Qh3 h5 20.Qg3 Kxg7 21.Bxf6+ Kxf6 22.Rd4 Bd6 23.Qc3 Kg6 24.h3 Bc7 0–1 External links . - US Chess bio - An Open Letter to the President of FIDE , Mr . Kirsan Ilyumzhinov , from Grandmaster Boris Gulko , from gmsquare.com - Interview With GM Boris Gulko