The tournaments were sponsored by Louis D. Statham (1907–1983), a millionaire engineer and inventor. Hence, the formal title: the Louis D. Statham Masters.
Statham lived in Lone Pine and his many patents laid the groundwork for his company, Statham Instruments, which he founded in 1943.
His inventions ranged from instruments to measure strain and pressure in oil exploration to devices used to keep the country's space shots on course. For medical use, he developed a blood-flow meter, patient monitoring systems and catheter instruments that are placed in the heart.
Statham died after a long illness and his failing health forced the cancellation of the tournaments after the 1981 event.
The tournaments were seven- to ten-round Swiss system tournaments, with entrance requirements that made them the strongest in the country in the 1980s. Isaac Kashdan served as the tournament director.
Beginning is 1971 the winners were:
Larry Evans, Svetozar Gligoric, Arthur Bisguier, Walter Browne, Vladimir Liberzon, Tigran Petrosian. Then in 1977 the tournament was a between Yuri Balashov, Dragutin Sahovic, Oscar Panno and Nona Gaprindashvili. The following year Bent Larsen won and in 1979, Svetozar Gligoric, Florin Gheorghiu, Vladimir Liberzon and Vlastimil Hort tied for first. The 1980 was won by Roman Dzindzichashvili who was then playing for Israel. The final event in 1981 was won by Viktor Korchnoi.
The last game (Byrne-Stein) featured a position that had a material imbalance that lead to great complications. Here's another one from Lone Pine 1976.
For this sixth Statham Tournament, the rating requirements were slightly loosened, with the lower limit for adult USCF masters being dropped to 2300. A total 57 players participated, with an average rating of 2371.
The 1976 event was seven-rounds which at the time meant it was not a FIDE-ratable tournament, but the results were submitted anyway and the tournament rated after all. In the future, the tournaments were nine-rounders to meet FIDE rules regarding ratings and title norms.
Here are the leading scores:
In the following game the position after black's 19th move was very interesting because black sacrificed had the double exchange in order to get attacking chances against white's's King.
Silman wrote that during the game Petrosian showed great interest in the position, thinking black was doing well. After the game the two of them analyzed together and they played several blitz games from the position and Silman was able to demonstrate the superiority of his position much to Petrosian's amazement.
As expected, these days powerful engines like Stockfish and Komodo reveal hidden resources that change some of the evaluations, but that doesn't matter because Silman's instructions still have value because against humans they work.
Jeremy Silman–John Fedorowicz1–0B77Lone PineLone Pine, CA USA1976Stockfish 14.1
Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack 1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 g6 6.e3 g7 7.f3 0-0 8.d2 c6 9.c4 d7 10.b3 My database shows
13 different moves that black has tried in this position. c8 11.0-0-0 e5 12.g5 c4 13.xc4 xc4 14.b3 Most often played is 14.e5 xc3 This
sacrifice is frequently seen in the Dragon, but in this position it does not
get a stamp of approval from the engines. 14...e6 This is the the
preferred move. 15.e5 e8 16.exd6 xd6 17.b5 c8 18.xd6 exd6 Black has
the advantage. Nino,J (2010)-Salazar,A (2184)/Medellin 2011 15.bxc3 e6
White's K is quite safe as black has not yet gotten his pieces into position
to carry out an attack. 16.e5 Taking advantage of the pin. e8 16...dxe5 17.xd8 xd8 18.xd8+ f8 19.h6 17.h6 17.he1 is less precise. c7 18.d4 xa2 19.b3 Shutting out the B. dxe5 20.b2 d6 21.xa2 b5 22.e3 17.exd6 allows black to equalize. xd6 18.xe7 xe7 19.xd6 g5+ 17...xe5 17...xh6 18.xh6 c7 19.he1 dxe5 20.e3 d6 21.xe5
A difficult position, but white is considered better. In Shootouts white
scored 4 wins and a draw. 18.xf8 xf8 19.he1 f6 Here is a most
interesting position. Stockfish gives white a +/- advantage. Silman explains
the position as follows. One advantage of having a material advantage is that
you can return it (or part of it) to quell as attack. Here black's position
has no weaknesses and with his next move Silman eliminates an important black
piece, creates a weakness in black's camp and goes on the attack. In a
Shootout white scored +2 -0 =3, so black does have some drawing chances. 20.xe6 After this both Stockfish and Komodo 14 evaluate the position as only
slightly in white's favor (+/=). 20.e3 if Stockfish's preferred move with
the following continuation. c7 21.g4 xc3 22.xa7 f6 23.e3 d5 24.xc3 xc3 25.d3 with about a one Pawn advantage. 20...fxe6 21.e3 Attacking
the Ps on a7 and e6. c8 Black defends the more valuable center P and at the
same time attacks the P on c3. 22.d3 22.xa7 would not be a wise
decision because after xc3 23.xb7 d5 24.b8 f7 Black is generating
threats against white's K. The preferred line runs... 25.f4 g5 26.g3 d6 27.d3 b2+ 28.d1 b1+ 29.e2 h5 and white is on the run. 22...c7 23.d4 This increases the pressure on e6. a6 23...e5 This illogical looking
move blocking the B keeps the chances even. 24.b3 e6 equals. 24.f4
Part of his plan of attacking the e-Pawn. g8 Better was 24...Kf7 defending
the e-Pawn. 25.h3 Here black has to either give up the e-Pawn or give up
his nice B sitting on the long diagonal. d5 Fedorowicz makes the wrong
choice. 25...xd4 26.xd4 White could eliminate his doubled Ps, then
black's N take up a nice post on d5 where is also attacks the f-Pawn. b5 27.e4 c7 28.c4 Black's position is very passive. In Shootouts he lost 5 out
of 5 games. 26.xe6+ xe6 27.xe6 xc3 As Silman pointed out,
superficially black looks OK, but white proceeds to demonstrate this is not
the case. Stockfish is already giving white a winning advantage of 4.5 Ps. 28.d2 xa2 29.b3 b5 30.c7 b4 31.d5 Even better was 31.Nxa6 a5 32.xf6+ exf6 33.d3 Silman did not comment on this move, but Stockfish slapped two
question marks on it and dropped its evaluation to not quite one P. 33.e3 f7 33...c3 confines black's K and white dominates the position. 34.e7 34.d3 c3 35.c4 Black's K is cut off. 33...c3 34.e3 Silman gave
himself a ! for this move claiming that the K takes up an active position. It
gets a ? from Stockfish which recommends 33.Re3 d5 Question mark! 34...a4 35.f3 35.xd6 b3 36.cxb3 axb3 37.d8+ 37.b6 d5+ 37...g7 38.b8 b2 39.g4 39.xb2 d1+ 39...b1 40.xb1 xb1 wins. 35...f7 36.f5 a3 37.xd6 e7 38.a6 d7 39.fxg6 hxg6 Neither side can make progress and 5
Shootouts were drawn. 35.d4 Now white's active K is decisive. f7
Rather pointless. 35...e2+ offered better chances, but after 36.c5 xf4 37.d2 f7 38.g3 e6+ 39.b5 e7 40.xa5 d6 41.xb4 e5 In Shootouts
from this position white scored 4 wins and a draw, but the wins were long and
tedious. 36.e3 Cutting off black's K. a4 37.e1 Quicker was 37.Kc5 a3 This offers no resistance. 37...h6 Holds out longer in a tough ending.
Here's a Shootout at 23 plies... 38.c5 b3 39.cxb3 axb3 40.d4 b5+ 41.d3 a3 42.c3 c2 43.b1 43.g1 d4+ 44.xb3 e3 45.b4 e6 with a likely
draw. 43...g5 44.fxg5 hxg5 45.g3 e6 46.xb3 e3 47.d3 f5 48.b8 e7 49.e8 d7 50.a8 d6 51.e3 e5 52.f3 e6 53.e8 d7 54.a8 e6 55.h4 gxh4 56.gxh4 f5 57.e8 g6 58.g3 f4 59.g8 h5+ 60.f3 f4 61.g4 h5 62.d4 e5 63.d1 f5 64.g1 f6 65.g8 d4 66.h8 g6 67.d8 d3 68.xd3 f6 69.d2 g7 70.g2+ f6 71.g8 g7 72.h8 g6 73.f4 e6+ 74.e5 c5 75.g8+ h5 76.c8 e4 77.f4 g6 78.g8+ h7 79.f8 g7 80.xf5 38.c5 The remainder of the game is technique, but it's worth observing how Silman
concluded the game, a2 39.a1 e6 40.xb4 e2 41.g3 d4 42.xa2 f3 43.c3 d4 44.f2 e1 45.e2+ Black resigned. 1–0
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