Seattle Man, 26, Wins U.S. Chess Championship

Yasser Seirawan, a 26-year-old grandmaster from Seattle, won the 1986 U.S. chess championship Wednesday in Estes Park, Colo.

Seirawan, who was undefeated in the invitational tournament among the country’s top 16 players, was awarded more than $5,500. He tied for first place in the 1981 championship.

In this year’s competition, Seirawan played to six victories and nine draws for a score of 10 1/2-4 1/2. Behind him were the defending champion, Lev Alburt, 41, of New York, and Joel Benjamin, 22, of New York, at 9 1/2-5 1/2.

The three men will advance to the interzonal competition, scheduled for next year. The winner of that event will be the 1988 world championship challenger.

Former champions Larry Christiansen, 30, of Pasadena, Calif., and Lubosh Kavalek, 43, of Reston, Va., were tied for fourth place with scores of 8 1/2-6 1/2. They will play a match to determine the fourth American representative in the interzonals.

Inna Izrailov, 22, of New York, won the concurrent U.S. women’s chess championship tournament of 10 players. She scored 7-2, one point ahead of Liz Neely, 18, of Santa Cruz, Calif.