Irene Vines, Mystery Lady

     Irene Vines won the Louisiana State Championship in 1956 when she topped a strong field of 47 players with a score of +5 -0 =1. She was undefeated until the last round when she met the strong Tennessee player Robert S. Scrivener. 
     Vines was from New Orleans and in 1953 she tied for 1st place in the"C" section of the New Orleans Championship ahead of her husband, a doctor, who finished fourth. In 1954 she finished 7th. 
     Her finish in the 1954 U.S. Women's Open qualified her a spot in the 1955 U.S. Women's Championship. After six rounds she was leading the even with a score of 5-1, her one loss being against Willa Owens. After that she began to fade and the battle became a race between the 1954 US Women's Champion, Gisela Gresser of New York City and Nancy Roos of Los Angeles who ended up tied at 9-2 and were declared co-champions. Third place was taken by Mona Karff, fourth by Jacquelyn Piatagorsky. Vines finished fifth with a score of 7.5-3.5. 
     On the 1955 USCF rating list her rating was 1916. After the '55 US Women's championship she seems to have disappeared from the national chess scene and I wasn't able to uncover anything else about her.