A Lucky Win for Lionel Joyner

    In California in 1952, Larry Evans retained his US title when he smashed his predecessor Herman Steiner 10-4 in a match. Yugoslav GM Svetozar Gligoric won the Hollywood International. 

    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.

[Event "51-52 Los Angeles County Champ"] [Site "?"] [Date "1951.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Morris Gordon"] [Black "Lionel Joyner"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C02"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "1951.??.??"] {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 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 {The alternative is 5...Bd7. There's not much difference between them.} 6. Be2 (6. a3 Nh6 7. b4 cxd4 8. cxd4 Nf5 {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 Nge7 8. Nc3 Nf5 9. Bb5 (9. Na4 {While white's text move is not bad and is not new, this seems more precise.} Qa5+ {Here white has a choice of equalizing moves: 10.Kf1, 10. Bd2 and 10.Nc3}) 9... Bb4 (9... Bd7 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. O-O c5 12. Na4 Qa5 13. Nxc5 Bxc5 14. dxc5 Qxc5 {with equalk chances as in Keitlinghaus,L (2515)-Hoang Thanh Trang (2360) Budapest 1996}) 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. O-O c5 {This is premature because it should have allowed white to seize the initiative and obtain a strong position on the Q-side.} (11... Ba6 {and Black has nothing to worry.} 12. Re1 O-O {is equal.}) 12. a3 {White misses a chance to grab an advantage.} (12. Na4 Qc7 13. a3 Ba5 14. Nxc5 (14. dxc5 {threatening to trap the B is equally good.} Qd7 15. b4 Bc7 {and white is clearly better.}) 14... Bb6 15. b4) 12... Bxc3 13. bxc3 Ba6 14. Re1 O-O 15. a4 {White wants to occupy the diagonal and eyes d6 as a potential square for his B.} Rfc8 {[%mdl 32]} ( 15... Rfb8 16. g4 Nh6 17. Bxh6 gxh6 {as in Kieran,R (2084)-Shaw,D (2165) London 2004 where white is better.}) 16. Ba3 cxd4 17. cxd4 Rc3 {An attemot to seize the initiative. It succeeds because white doe snot find the best defense. } 18. Rb1 Qc6 19. Bc5 Rd3 20. Qc1 Qxa4 21. Qg5 {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. Ra1 Qc4 22. Qb2 { is equal. Black's extra P on a7 is superfluous.}) 21... Qd7 {This is overreaction to a preceived threat!} (21... Rxf3 {A clever reply. After} 22. gxf3 h6 23. Qd2 Bc4 24. Ra1 Qb3 25. Ra3 Qb8 26. Rea1 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.} Bc4 23. Nh2 Nxd4 { This results in needless complications. The straightforward advance of the a-Pawn was much better.} (23... a5 24. Ng4 Qc7 (24... a4 25. Nf6+ {wins}) 25. Nf6+ Kh8 26. Nh5 h6 27. Qf4 {The attack has been beaten back anbd black can proceed with...} a4 {with a clear advantage.}) 24. Ng4 Kh8 25. Bxd4 {[%mdl 8192] After this white's positionnis clearly inferior.} (25. Be7 {keeps him in the game. For example...} Nf5 26. Bf6 gxf6 27. Qxf6+ Kg8 28. Qg5+ {draws by repetition. But not...} Kf8 29. Nf6 Qc6 30. Nxh7+ Ke8 31. Nf6+ Kf8 (31... Ke7 32. Rec1 {Whits has all kinds of tricks.} a5 33. Rb6 Qxb6 34. Nxd5+) 32. h4 { with a decisive advantage.}) 25... Rxd4 26. Re3 Qd8 27. Qh5 Bd3 {White is lost because of the threat ...Bg6 trapping his Q.} 28. Rxd3 {Eliminating the B was his only feasible option.} Rxd3 29. Qxf7 Qe8 30. Qc7 Qc8 31. Qf7 Qg8 32. Qc7 { Of course white cannot afford to trade Qs. Now the attack on black's K is over. ..or is it?!} Rd4 33. Rb7 a5 34. Qe7 Rf4 35. g3 Rff8 36. h4 a4 37. h5 { Threatens to win with h6.} a3 {[%mdl 8192] 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. Ra7 Rxa7 39. Qxa7 Ra8 {advances the a-Pawn and wraps it up.}) 38. Nf6 {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. Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:04] is mate in} Rf7 40. Qxf7 Qxf7 41. Rxf7 Ra7 42. Rxa7 a2 43. Rxh7#) 38... gxf6 {Things now are a bit tricky, but black has the win in hand.} 39. exf6 (39. Rb1 {holds out a wee bit longer, but it, too, is hopeless.} Qf7 40. Qb4 a2 41. Ra1 fxe5 42. Qb2 Qxh5) 39... Rf7 {[%mdl 512] Of course 39...a2 also wins.} 40. Qxf7 Qxf7 41. Rxf7 h6 {Even better was 41...a2} 42. Re7 a2 43. f7 a1=Q+ {White resigned} 0-1