BPA Chairman Ken Gutermuth (left) has his eye on a different Chairmanship.	The gulag seems well stocked with ladies this year.

We all know the proverb "old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill". This year, the "old guard" in Kremlin found out that that adage doesn't always hold: the Final was won by the youngest player maneuvering the youngest politician to the top of the Politburo.

This year was unusual in several respects. First, there were no "three wave and out" games in any of the heats, even though eight of the 11 heat games were won on waves. The earliest win on waves was by Jeff Pattison, who claimed victory in his second heat with three waves on the fifth turn. This win was nearly enough to get Jeff into the Final, but he was edged out by Ewan McNay on a tiebreaker. In addition, no heat game lasted until Turn 10 1/2; ie, the other three heats were won by depleting the politicians. The most notable of these games was won by Phil Yaure; after an amazing run of purges and death die rolls, an unfilled Politburo ended the game in his favor on a very early Turn 5. Finally, the GM managed to win his first heat with a third wave on Turn 10, thus making the Final (in spite of his poor showing in the other three heats) for the first time since becoming the GM.

The clear leader going into the Final was former GM and defending two-time champion Pete Stein, as the only player who managed to win two heats. It looked like he was starting off strong with (apparent) control of Nestor, but poor Nestor didn't make it through the year. Nor did most of the older members of the Politburo. When the crypt dust settled, Wassily Protzky finished the Replacement Phase as Party Chief.

Lee Rodriguez was not shy about adding years to the young Protzky, reshaping the Politburo to his liking. His first action was to promote Viktor Wasolin from a second level position to KGB Head. The combination of a young and healthy Party Chief and KGB head under Lee's control was too much for the remaining players to handle. A lucky health roll on Turn 2 wounded Protzky and caused a failed wave, but this only set up the ascension of Wasolin to Party Chief on Turn 3, and despite a flurry of card play Lee was able to get two waves in succession, ending the game on Turn 4 with his first Kremlin crown.