High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Lone Pine International was a series of chess tournaments held annually in March or April from 1971 through 1981 in Lone Pine, California. Sponsored by Louis D. Statham (1907–1983), millionaire engineer and inventor of medical instruments, the tournaments were formally titled the Louis D. Statham Masters. The events were seven- to ten-round Swiss system tournaments, with entrance requirements that made them the strongest recurring Swiss tournaments in the U.S. in the 1980s. Former United States Champion and Grandmaster Isaac Kashdan served as the tournament director.