This tournament, held from March 25 to April 4, was the ninth in the series of annual events held in the small Californian town of Lone Pine. Lone Pine was the home of American millionaire Louis D Statham, and for this tournament he put up a prize fund of more than $45,000, which attracted 27 Grandmasters and 22 International Masters from 18 countries. The final number of participants reached seventy-three.
The lead changed hands a number of times in this nine round Swiss Tournament but in the end four players; Liberzon, Gheorghiu, Gligoric and Hort shared top honours. They each received $8,875 and Gligoric and Liberzon made history by becoming the first players to win twice at Lone Pine. Liberzon was the sole winner of the 1975 event and Gligoric was a joint winner in the 1972 edition. Hans Ree could have joined the leaders, but an oversight in a winning rook ending against Sahovic in the last round cost him a GM norm and dropped him into the second tier of place getters which included Larsen, Gruenfeld, Lombardy, Sahovic and Sosonko. They each received $1008.
Another notable performance was that of the then 19-year-old Yasser Seirawan who played a field that included all four winners and in the process he also defeated Miles and Larsen.
Seirawan and the four winners scored the only GM results. Seirawan, along with DeFirmian and van der Sterren earnt IM titles. Morris, Bradford, Peters and Odendahl achieved IM norms whilst Root and Strauss achieved FM norms.
Rajan Ayyar pulled out after five rounds. Oleg Romanishin and Vitaly Tseshkovsky were slated to play, but when it was discovered that Korchnoi would also be playing, the Soviet authorities cancelled their entries.
Two brilliancy prizes were awarded in each round. The following were the recipients:
Round 1 - Grefe and Barle
Round 2 - Seirawan and Shamkovich
Round 3 - Bradford and Sahovic
Round 4 - Bradford and Gligoric
Round 5 - Reshevsky and Petursson
Round 6 - Gruenfeld and Formanek
Round 7 - Gruenfeld and Shamkovich
Round 8 - Bisguier and Lein
Round 9 - Denker and Browne
This version of the crosstable allows a player's color in a game to be determined. If the result (W, L, D) comes first, the player had White. If the result follows the opponent's number, the player had Black. For example, Gheorghiu's first three results are win with White vs. #47, win with Black vs. #32, draw with White vs. #11.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
01 Florin Gheorghiu W47 32W D11 02D W07 13D D09 05D W18 6.5
02 Vladimir Mikhailovich Liberzon 62W D27 46W D01 W12 06D D11 09W D04 6.5
03 Svetozar Gligoric 55W D45 14D W27 11D 20W D05 W13 08D 6.5
04 Vlastimil Hort 43D W38 45D W14 05D D24 23W W11 02D 6.5
05 William James Lombardy W34 48D D30 40W D04 12W 03D D01 D06 6.0
06 Gennady Sosonko 40W W37 29D D11 35W D02 13D D08 05D 6.0
07 Hans Ree 57W D25 28W D15 01L W36 18D 24W D09 6.0
08 Bent Larsen W49 11L W59 35D D26 30W W16 06D D03 6.0
09 Dragutin Sahovic 66W L35 38W W45 52W W16 01D L02 07D 6.0
10 Yehuda Gruenfeld 31D D16 18D D28 L39 58W 36W W37 26W 6.0
11 Yasser Seirawan 64W W08 01D 06D D03 W25 02D 04L D14 5.5
12 Viktor Korchnoi 17W D14 21W W29 02L L05 45W D20 13D 5.5
13 Julio P Kaplan 28D W70 25D W31 15W D01 D06 03L D12 5.5
14 Samuel Reshevsky W58 12D D03 04L W38 39D 25W D26 11D 5.5
15 Leonid Shamkovich W42 63W D35 07D L13 17D W27 19D D20 5.5
16 Anatoly Lein D50 10D W53 48W W23 09L 08L W46 21D 5.5
17 John A Peters L12 42W W58 24D 18D D15 21D D29 W39 5.5
18 James Tarjan L48 34W D10 69W D17 47W D07 33W 01L 5.5
19 Walter D Morris 37L 47W W63 D26 29D W31 24D D15 D22 5.5
20 Mark Diesen D61 23D W71 36W 25D L03 W52 12D 15D 5.5
21 Arthur Bisguier D59 56W L12 61D W46 52D D17 49W D16 5.5
22 Ludek Pachman 54W D46 27D L23 47L W66 48W W38 19D 5.5
23 Nick DeFirmian 26D D20 W41 22W 16L W29 L04 30D D33 5.0
24 Peter Biyiasas 38L W54 66W D17 37W 04D D19 L07 27D 5.0
25 Anthony Miles W69 07D D13 30W D20 11L L14 34D W47 5.0
26 Gudmundur Sigurjonsson D23 61W D48 19D 08D D35 W34 14D L10 5.0
27 Helgi Olafsson W52 02D D22 03L W72 33D 15L W45 D24 5.0
28 Steven M Odendahl D13 44W L07 10D D41 32D L46 W48 49W 5.0
29 Vitaly F Zaltsman W53 72W D06 12L D19 23L W47 17D D30 5.0
30 Gert Ligterink 51D W67 05D L25 58W L08 50W D23 29D 5.0
31 Walter Shawn Browne D10 50D W43 13L D49 19L 51D W52 46W 5.0
32 Dusan Rajkovic 65D L01 36L W53 34D D28 38L W62 51W 5.0
33 Pal Benko 71D D36 50W L52 48W D27 35W L18 23D 5.0
34 Joseph M Bradford 05L L18 55W 44W D32 W60 26L D25 43D 4.5
35 John Fedorowicz W73 09W 15D D08 L06 26D L33 39L W59 4.5
36 Murray Chandler D41 33D W32 L20 63W 07L L10 55D W60 4.5
37 Andrew Soltis W19 06L D51 59W L24 61D W39 10L 40D 4.5
38 Paul Van der Sterren W24 04L L09 73W 14L W63 W32 22L D44 4.5
39 Miguel Quinteros 46L W62 40L W51 10W D14 37L W35 17L 4.5
40 Predrag Ostojic L06 68W W39 L05 60D 49D D41 44D D37 4.5
41 Larry Christiansen 36D D71 23L D50 28D W62 40D D51 42D 4.5
42 Dragoljub Janosevic 15L L17 64L D54 70W W53 60D W57 D41 4.5
43 Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk D04 51D 31L L58 64W L50 71W W61 D34 4.5
44 Norman Weinstein 70D L28 56D L34 51D W65 59W D40 38D 4.5
45 John A Grefe W68 03D D04 09L D61 59W L12 27L D50 4.0
46 Janez Barle W39 22D L02 D60 21L W71 28W 16L L31 4.0
47 Margeir Petursson 01L L19 54W 67W W22 L18 29L W65 25L 4.0
48 Hans Bohm 18W D05 26D L16 L33 72W L22 28L W64 4.0
49 David J Strauss 08L W64 52L W56 31D D40 61W L21 L28 4.0
50 John Van der Wiel 16D D31 L33 41D D65 43W L30 D60 45D 4.0
51 Douglas Root D30 D43 37D 39L D44 69W D31 41D L32 4.0
52 Marcos Paolozzi 27L Bye W49 33W L09 D21 20L 31L D55 4.0
53 Vincent McCambridge 29L W55 16L 32L D67 42L W68 D56 63W 4.0
54 Bruce Rind L22 24L L47 42D W73 D57 55L 58W W65 4.0
55 Edward W Formanek L03 53L L34 62L Bye 67W W54 D36 52D 4.0
56 Lawrence Day 60D L21 D44 49L 66L W70 D69 53D 62W 4.0
57 John L Watson L07 58L W68 71D L59 54D W72 42L W61 4.0
58 Joel Benjamin 14L W57 17L 43W L30 L10 64D L54 W69 3.5
59 Kamran Shirazi 21D W60 08L L37 57W L45 L44 69W 35L 3.5
60 Salvatore Matera D56 59L W72 46D D40 34L D42 50D 36L 3.5
61 Janos Rigo 20D L26 65W D21 45D D37 L49 43L 57L 3.0
62 Mikhail Zlotnikov L02 39L L67 W55 68W 41L W63 32L L56 3.0
63 Stanimir Nikolic 67W L15 19L W64 L36 38L 62L W71 L53 3.0
64 Paul Whitehead L11 49L W42 63L L43 68D D58 66W 48L 3.0
65 Michael Wilder L32 69D L61 W70 50D 44L W66 47L 54L 3.0
66 Calvin Blocker L09 73W L24 72L W56 22L 65L L64 70W 3.0
67 Perry Youngworth L63 30L 62W L47 53D L55 70L D68 71W 3.0
68 Arnold Denker 45L L40 57L Bye L62 D64 53L 67D W72 3.0
69 Jeremy Silman 25L D65 70W L18 71D L51 56D L59 58L 2.5
70 Rosendo Carreon Balinas, Jr. D44 13L L69 65L L42 56L W67 72W L66 2.5
71 Jay E Whitehead D33 41D 20L D57 D69 46L L43 63L L67 2.0
72 James E Thibault Bye L29 60L W66 27L L48 57L L70 68L 2.0
73 Rajan Ayyar 35L L66 Bye L38 54L *** *** *** *** 1.0
The Tournament Director was Isaac Kashdan.Thanks to <Calli> for finding the dates when the rounds were played.
The main source for this collection was the Lone Pine Tournament 1979 booklet by Murray Chandler.
PREVIOUS: Lone Pine (1978).
NEXT: Lone Pine (1980).
Original collection: Game Collection: Lone Pine 1979, by User: Benzol.
Kibitzing
