The North won the annual North-South team match by a score of 32-27; Vladimir Pafnutieff of the North lost to Herman Steiner of the South.
Henry Gross and Irving Rivise tied for the California State Championship and Sven Almgren won the California Open Championship. The Santa Monica CC beat Long Beach CC in a match by a score of 10.5-9.5.
The Los Angeles County Championship whet to Lionel Joyner after he defeated Morris Gordon 3-1 in the playoff. Here’s a Joyner win from that event.
Lionel Joyner ( 1932 – 2001) was born on the 28th of March 1932 in Montreal, Canada. He was Canada's representative to the first World Junior Championship in 1951.
He scored 5-4, tying for fourth, in the 1952 Hollywood International and in 1958, he played on the Canadian team as alternate at the Chess Olympiad where he scored 7-6.
Joyner shared first place in the 1975 Paul Keres Memorial Tournament in Vancouver. He was Canadian Closed Champion in 1961 and the Canadian Open Champion in 1955, 1957, 1959 and 1960.
He was a strong postal player and won the prestigious Chess Review’s Golden Knights Postal Tournament in 1961-62.
I could not locate anything on his opponent, Morris Gordon, other than he was the Los Angeles City Champion in 1946.
In his annotations Joyner did not think Gordon handled the opening well, but, in fact, the chances were quite equal until move 21 when Gordon launched an ill conceived K-side attack
After a few vicissitudes by both sides Joyner managed to secure a clearly won position. But...at move 37 he blundered when he overlooked a tactical shot that would have won the game for Gordon. As for Gordon, he counterblundered and overlooked the same tactical shot and so ended up losing.
A game that I liked (Fritz 17)
Morris Gordon–Lionel Joyner0–1C0251-52 Los Angeles County Champ1951Stockfish 16
C02: French: Advance Variation 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 The Advance
(sometimes called the Steinitz) Variation offers white no particular advantage.
It's quiet and solid and it's a good choice for players who don’t know a lot
theory on the French or those who prefer strategic battles over tactical ones. c5 4.c3 c6 5.f3 b6 The alternative is 5...Bd7. There's not much
difference between them. 6.e2 6.a3 h6 7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 f5 is
considered the Main Line. Note that the difference between this position and
the one reached in the game after 8... Nf5 is that here white has expanded on
the Q-side which gives him more play. 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 ge7 8.c3 f5 9.b5 9.a4 While white's text move is not bad and is not new, this seems
more precise. a5+ Here white has a choice of equalizing moves: 10.Kf1, 10.
Bd2 and 10.Nc3 9...b4 9...d7 10.xc6 bxc6 11.0-0 c5 12.a4 a5 13.xc5 xc5 14.dxc5 xc5 with equalk chances as in Keitlinghaus,L (2515)-Hoang
Thanh Trang (2360) Budapest 1996 10.xc6+ bxc6 11.0-0 c5 This is
premature because it should have allowed white to seize the initiative and
obtain a strong position on the Q-side. 11...a6 and Black has nothing to
worry. 12.e1 0-0 is equal. 12.a3 White misses a chance to grab an
advantage. 12.a4 c7 13.a3 a5 14.xc5 14.dxc5 threatening to trap
the B is equally good. d7 15.b4 c7 and white is clearly better. 14...b6 15.b4 12...xc3 13.bxc3 a6 14.e1 0-0 15.a4 White wants to occupy
the diagonal and eyes d6 as a potential square for his B. fc8 15...fb8 16.g4 h6 17.xh6 gxh6 as in Kieran,R (2084)-Shaw,D (2165)
London 2004 where white is better. 16.a3 cxd4 17.cxd4 c3 An attemot to
seize the initiative. It succeeds because white doe snot find the best defense.
18.b1 c6 19.c5 d3 20.c1 xa4 21.g5 This is not really a blunder,
but the action is on the Q-side and white really has no more than slender
chances of launching a successfull attack on black's K. 21.a1 c4 22.b2
is equal. Black's extra P on a7 is superfluous. 21...d7 This is
overreaction to a preceived threat! 21...xf3 A clever reply. After 22.gxf3 h6 23.d2 c4 24.a1 b3 25.a3 b8 26.ea1 a6 A dicey position! In
Shootouts white scored +o -2 =3 22.h3 Here ot on the next move Qf4 was a
safer alternative, but white is intent on attacking. c4 23.h2 xd4
This results in needless complications. The straightforward advance of the
a-Pawn was much better. 23...a5 24.g4 c7 24...a4 25.f6+ wins 25.f6+ h8 26.h5 h6 27.f4 The attack has been beaten back anbd black can
proceed with... a4 with a clear advantage. 24.g4 h8 25.xd4 After this white's positionnis clearly inferior. 25.e7 keeps him in
the game. For example... f5 26.f6 gxf6 27.xf6+ g8 28.g5+ draws by
repetition. But not... f8 29.f6 c6 30.xh7+ e8 31.f6+ f8 31...e7 32.ec1 Whits has all kinds of tricks. a5 33.b6 xb6 34.xd5+ 32.h4
with a decisive advantage. 25...xd4 26.e3 d8 27.h5 d3 White is lost
because of the threat ...Bg6 trapping his Q. 28.xd3 Eliminating the B was
his only feasible option. xd3 29.xf7 e8 30.c7 c8 31.f7 g8 32.c7
Of course white cannot afford to trade Qs. Now the attack on black's K is over.
..or is it?! d4 33.b7 a5 34.e7 f4 35.g3 ff8 36.h4 a4 37.h5
Threatens to win with h6. a3 The chess term for this kind of
move is "blundering in a won position." We'v all done it. 37...h6
eliminates all danger. 38.a7 xa7 39.xa7 a8 advances the a-Pawn and
wraps it up. 38.f6 When he annotated this game for Chess Life it's
surprising that Joyner completely missed this move. In fact. he was sure he
was winning and all he had to do was advance yje a-Pawn. 38.h6 ...and wins!
gxh6 39.f6 is mate in f7 40.xf7 xf7 41.xf7 a7 42.xa7 a2 43.xh7# 38...gxf6 Things now are a bit tricky, but black has the
win in hand. 39.exf6 39.b1 holds out a wee bit longer, but it, too, is
hopeless. f7 40.b4 a2 41.a1 fxe5 42.b2 xh5 39...f7 Of
course 39...a2 also wins. 40.xf7 xf7 41.xf7 h6 Even better was 41...a2 42.e7 a2 43.f7 a1+ White resigned 0–1
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