At the conclusion of World War II, Kalme and what was left of his family fled Latvia, lived for years in a refugee camp in Germany and finally arrived in Philadelphia in the United States in 1951.
Kalme won two gold medals, one for the team and the other for his individual result on board two.
Kalme also represented the United States twice more in team play at this level: Helsinki 1961 and Kraków 1964.
Kalme played the World Chess Champion to be, Robert Fischer (1972), three times.
He sometimes played as a partner of Michael Lawrence, who was a member of the world champion bridge team, the Dallas Aces.