Lone Pine, California, has lots of fans in chess world

Little places can loom large in the mental geography of a chess fan. Relatively obscure cities such as Linares, Spain, and Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, have a secure claim to global renown because some great chess has been played there over the decades.

Closer to home, friends at a recent dinner party were discussing a planned trip to Death Valley, including a stay in the tiny (population: a little over 2,000) central California town of Lone Pine. My ears — and nobody else’s at the table — perked up at the mention. Movie fans may know of Lone Pine as the backdrop for scores of classic Hollywood Westerns, but for chess lovers, the hamlet will forever be known fondly as the host for an epic string of top-quality annual Swiss tournaments organized and financed by wealth engineer and investor Lewis D. Statham from 1971 to 1981.

No American city of any size can boast a better run of high-quality tournaments. In its heyday, little Lone Pine routinely attracted strong, deep fields of grandmasters and IMs, competing for record (for the time) purses.

The American stars of the Bobby Fischer generation, including GMs Larry Evans, Arthur Bisguier and Walter Browne, made Lone Pine an annual stop on their calendar. And a rising crop of U.S. players would first gain notice with strong results at Lone Pine during the 1970s, including future greats such as GMs Larry Christiansen, Nick de Firmian and Joel Benjamin.

The increasing prize funds and top-drawer playing conditions began to attract major international talent as well, with Soviet former world champion Tigran Petrosian winning the event in 1976. Danish superstar GM Bent Larsen won two years later and Soviet-turned-Swiss GM Viktor Korchnoi took the final Lone Pine International, held in 1981.

In the 1976 Lone Pine event, held exactly 50 years ago this month, Minnesota master and chess legend Curt Brasket took home the event’s “most interesting game” prize for his sensational mating attack against young IM Anthony Saidy, who is best known today for his popular, long-running column in Chess Life magazine. The game’s Saemisch King’s Indian takes an unusual turn, with Black preparing a promising queenside push only to be blindsided by a White rook sacrifice on the other flank.

Saidy’s 12. 0-0 Qb8!? 13. b3 a5 14. Rb1 Rc8?! seems eminently logical. But his major pieces prove too far from the action when Brasket whips up a mating attack seemingly out of nowhere, starting with 15. g4! c5 16. d5 Bd7 17. Qd2 Qc7 18. f4. Black defends well enough at first, but a misguided pawn recapture allows White to strike.

The game turns on a startling rook sacrifice — 23. f5 Nd7 (gxf5!? 24. Bxf5 Nd7 25. Qe2 Nf8 26. Nd1 Ra3 27. Qf3, with pressure) 24. fxg6 hxg6? (see diagram; the difference seems trivial, but 24…fxg6 had to be played, with Black able to battle on after 25. Be6+ Kh8 26. h4 Qd8 27. h5) 25. Rxf7!! (Qf2? Ne5 holds everything nicely for the defense), blowing up the Black defensive formation.

Reeling, Black unwisely accepts the gift and goes down in spectacular fashion: 25…Kxf7? (bleak but not immediately resignable was 25…Ne5 26. Be6 Nxf7 27. Rf1! Bf6 28. Qg2 Kg7 [Rxb3 29. gxf6 exf6 30. Qxg6+ Kf8 31. e5! dxe5 32. Bxf7 Qxf7 33. Bxc5+ Nd6 34. Rxf6 and wins] 29. Qh3) 26. Be6+ Kf8 27. Rf1+ Bf6? (Nef6 was tougher, but White’s still on the attack after 28. Qg2) 28. Qg2! (Black’s game will be doomed if the g-pawn falls) Ng7 (Kg7 29. Qh3! Bxg5 30. Rf7+ Kg8 31. Qh7 mate) 29. gxf6 Ne5 30. fxg7+ Kxg7 31. Qg5! Rh8 (stopping one mate at h6, but allowing Brasket to serve up one last tactical bon-bon) 32. Qxe5+!!. Black resigned, facing 32…dxe5 33. Rf7+ Kg8 34. Rxe7+ Kf8 35. Rxc7, and White has a huge material edge and the Black king is still caught in a mating net.

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Another future star who attracted early notice at Lone Pine was Washington-state IM (and future multiple U.S. national champion) Yasser Seirawan, who earned a grandmaster norm at the 1979 Lone Pine International before going on later that year to become world junior champion. Just 19 at the time, Seirawan got a major boost by defeating Larsen in a long, tough game at Lone Pine that year.

It’s an intense, intricate positional struggle for advantage through the English Opening’s first two dozen moves, but Seirawan as White seizes an enduring edge after 26. Nb5 Bxb5 27. Qxb5 Qe6?! (unnecessarily weakening the back rank; better was 27…Ne5) 28. Qb8! Bc5 (Rxb8 29. Rxb8+ Qg8 30. Rdd8 h6 31. Rxg8+ Nxg8 32. Bd5 and wins) 29. Rd8 Qg8 30. Rxf8 Qxf8 31. Qxf8+ Bxf8 32. Rb8 Kg8 33. Bb4!? (even stronger was 33. Bf1! Ra1 34. Kg2) Ra1+ 34. Bf1 c5! (a clever defense, as 35. Bxc5 Nd7! is fine for Black) 35. Bc3 — White will eventually win two pawns, but the opposite-colored bishops and the threat posed by Black’s passed c-pawn will prove giant technical challenges to the young Seirawan.

White meets the moment by sacrificing material to ensure that his imposing kingside pawn array survives: 55. Rc8+ Bc7 56. Rf8! c2 57. Rxf6+ Bd6 58. Bxc2 Rxc2 59. g4, and the pawns are ready to roll. Seirawan mixes offense and defense to finally wrest the point from his dogged, more experienced opponent.

Thus: 62. Kg2 Ke6 (with his king cut off from the kingside, Larsen tries ever-more-desperate means to try to corral the h-pawn, but White has one more sacrifice up his sleeve) 63. h6 Bf6 64. e4 Bd4 65. Kg3 Re2 (Rc1 66. g5 Rg1+ 67. Kh2 Rg4 68. f3 Rh4+ 69. Kg3 Rh1 70. f4) 66. f3 Be5+ 67. Rxe6+!, and Black resigns as after 67…Kxe5 68. h7 the pawn cannot be caught.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Brasket-Saidy, Lone Pine International, Lone Pine, March 1976

1.c4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.f3 c6 6.Be3 a6 7.c5 Nbd7 8.Nh3 b5 9.cxb6 Nxb6 10.Nf2 Be6 11.Be2 O-O 12.O-O Qb8 13.b3 a5 14.Rb1 Rc8 15.g4 c5 16.d5 Bd7 17.Qd2 Qc7 18.f4 a4 19.g5 Ne8 20.Ng4 axb3 21.axb3 Bxg4 22.Bxg4 Rcb8 23.f5 Nd7 24.fxg6 hxg6 25.Rxf7 Kxf7 26.Be6+ Kf8 27.Rf1+ Bf6 28.Qg2 Ng7 29.gxf6 Ne5 30.fxg7+ Kxg7 31.Qg5 Rh8 32.Qxe5+ Black resigns.

Seirawan-Larsen, Lone Pine International, Lone Pine, March 1979

1.c4 f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 e5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 d6 6.O-O O-O 7.d3 Kh8 8.Rb1 a5 9.a3 Qe8 10.c5 a4 11.cxd6 Bxd6 12.Nd2 Ra7 13.Nc4 Bc5 14.b3 axb3 15.Qxb3 Nc6 16.e3 Na5 17.Qb5 Qe7 18.Nxa5 Bd7 19.Qb3 Rxa5 20.Qxb7 Qd6 21.Rd1 Bxa3 22.d4 exd4 23.Rxd4 Qc5 24.Bd2 Ra7 25.Qb3 Qe7 26.Nb5 Bxb5 27.Qxb5 Qe6 28.Qb8 Bc5 29.Rd8 Qg8 30.Rxf8 Qxf8 31.Qxf8+ Bxf8 32.Rb8 Kg8 33.Bb4 Ra1+ 34.Bf1 c5 35.Bc3 Rd1 36.Kg2 Kf7 37.Bc4+ Ke7 38.Bxf6+ gxf6 39.Rb7+ Rd7 40.Rb6 Rd6 41.Rb5 Rc6 42.Rb7+ Kd6 43.Rxh7 Rb6 44.Bd3 Rb2 45.Rh4 Kd5 46.Bxf5 c4 47.Rd4+ Kc5 48.Be6 Rb4 49.Kf3 c3 50.Rd8 Rb6 51.Bf5 Be7 52.Rd7 Bd6 53.h4 Rb2 54.Rd8 Kc6 55.Rc8+ Bc7 56.Rf8 c2 57.Rxf6+ Bd6 58.Bxc2 Rxc2 59.g4 Kd7 60.h5 Be7 61.Rf5 Bh4 62.Kg2 Ke6 63.h6 Bf6 64.e4 Bd4 65.Kg3 Re2 66.f3 Be5+ 67.Rxe5+ Black resigns.

• Got a hot tip or a cool game to share? David R. Sands can be reached at davidrsands18@gmail.com.