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Paul Johner
P Johner 
source: bidmonfa.com  

Number of games in database: 362
Years covered: 1904 to 1936
Overall record: +138 -139 =84 (49.9%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 1 exhibition game, blitz/rapid, odds game, etc. is excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Queen's Gambit Declined (26) 
    D30 D31 D37 D06 D39
 Orthodox Defense (24) 
    D63 D60 D52 D51 D61
 Ruy Lopez (21) 
    C84 C87 C79 C77 C91
 Queen's Pawn Game (18) 
    D02 A40 D05 E10
 Nimzo Indian (12) 
    E47 E23 E32 E24 E53
 Slav (12) 
    D15 D11 D10 D12 D17
With the Black pieces:
 Ruy Lopez (41) 
    C77 C87 C84 C79 C66
 Queen's Pawn Game (18) 
    D02 D00 D05 D01 E10
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (15) 
    C87 C84 C88 C99 C97
 Orthodox Defense (14) 
    D55 D52 D63 D60 D51
 Tarrasch Defense (11) 
    D33 D32 D34
 Giuoco Piano (8) 
    C50 C53 C54
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   P Johner vs W M Gattie, 1906 1-0
   P Johner vs A Nimzowitsch, 1928 1/2-1/2
   Alekhine vs P Johner, 1911 0-1
   P Johner vs K Havasi, 1925 1-0
   Bogoljubov vs P Johner, 1929 0-1
   Najdorf vs P Johner, 1936 0-1
   P Johner vs Tarrasch, 1923 1-0
   P Johner vs Marshall, 1908 1-0
   Spielmann vs P Johner, 1908 0-1
   Levenfish vs P Johner, 1911 1/2-1/2

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Scheveningen (1923)
   Gothenburg B (1920)
   Trieste (1923)
   Debrecen (1925)
   Berlin BSG (1928)
   Baden-bei-Wien (1914)
   New York Masters (1911)
   Berlin Cafe Koenig (1928)
   16th DSB Congress, Duesseldorf (1908)
   Bern (1932)
   Bad Pistyan (1922)
   Ostend (1906)
   Vienna (1908)
   Karlsbad (1929)
   Karlsbad (1911)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Düsseldorf 1908 - DSB Kongress XVI by Calli
   Gothenburg B 1920 by Tabanus
   Debrecen 1925 by Phony Benoni
   Berlin BSG 1928 by Pawn and Two


Search Sacrifice Explorer for Paul Johner
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PAUL JOHNER
(born Sep-10-1887, died Oct-25-1938, 51 years old) Switzerland

[what is this?]

Paul F. Johner, elder brother of Hans Johner, was born in Zürich. A noted musician (violinist). Won the Swiss Championship in 1907 (joint), 1908 (joint), 1925, 1928 (joint), 1930 and 1932 (joint). However, his most notable victory came in Berlin in 1924, when he won a four-way round robin ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, Richard Teichmann, and Jacques Mieses. Older brother of Hans Johner. He won the Manhattan Chess Club championship in 1907.

He played in many international tournaments. In 1904 he tied for 12-13th in Coburg (DSB Congress, Hauptturnier A). In 1905/06 he took 2nd in New York. In 1907 he took 21st in Carlsbad (Akiba Rubinstein won). In 1908 he took 14th in Vienna (Oldřich Duras, Géza Maróczy and Carl Schlechter won), and took 8th in Düsseldorf (Frank Marshall won). In 1909 he took 4th in Berlin. In 1911 he tied for 19th-21st in Carlsbad (Richard Teichmann won).

In 1916, Paul Johner won the 9th Nordic Chess Championship at Copenhagen. He shared for 1st with Walter John at Berlin 1917, and won at Göteborg 1920 (B tourn).

He was individual best alongside Rudolf Spielmann at the strong Scheveningen tournament 1923, organised to celebrate 50th anniversary of The Royal Chess Federation, above players like Richard Réti, Géza Maróczy, Jacques Mieses, Edgar Colle, Frederick Yates, or young Max Euwe (20 players). A brand new system was introduced in this event, which since then is known as the 'Scheveningen system' after the suburbs of Hague where the tournament took place. Every player from the first team played against every player of the second team (i.e. Foreigners versus The Netherlands). Paul Johner remained the only unbeaten player, scoring 8.5/10.

Paul Johner triumphed at the Trieste International Festival 1923 (organized as a singular invitation tournament), finishing clear first in the top group ahead of 2. Esteban Canal, 3. Frederick Yates, 4. Siegbert Tarrasch, 5. Stefano Rosselli, 6.= Lajos Asztalos, etc. (12 players).

Paul Johner also won the Berlin 1924 tournament, a Quadrangular, ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, Richard Teichmann, and Jacques Mieses.

In 1925, he finished joint second after Hans Kmoch, together with Savielly Tartakower (12 players, including Ernst Gruenfeld, David Przepiorka, Lajos Steiner and Lajos Asztalos) at Debrecen.

He played for Switzerland at second board in the 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936 (+4 –7 =6).

According to the retrospective (historical) chessmetrics ratings, Paul Johner was ranked in January 1921 as number 10 in the world.

He passed away in Berlin, Germany in 1938.

Wikipedia article: Paul Johner

Last updated: 2022-09-10 10:09:37

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 15; games 1-25 of 362  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. P Johner vs Vidmar 0-129190414th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier AC49 Four Knights
2. Tartakower vs P Johner 1-0301906DSB-15.Kongress mB01 Scandinavian
3. Tartakower vs P Johner 1-0291906DSB-15.Kongress mC11 French
4. A W Fox vs P Johner  ½-½491906Fox - Johner mC63 Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense
5. P Johner vs A W Fox 0-1211906Fox - Johner mC87 Ruy Lopez
6. P Johner vs A W Fox 0-1221906Fox - Johner mB72 Sicilian, Dragon
7. A W Fox vs P Johner  0-1541906Fox - Johner mC84 Ruy Lopez, Closed
8. P Johner vs A W Fox  ½-½571906Fox - Johner mC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
9. Janowski vs P Johner 1-0351906OstendD63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense
10. P Johner vs Blackburne 1-0271906OstendD21 Queen's Gambit Accepted
11. Duras vs P Johner  0-1271906OstendA00 Uncommon Opening
12. P Johner vs W M Gattie 1-0441906OstendC11 French
13. Burn vs P Johner 1-0371906OstendD60 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense
14. P Johner vs P Leonhardt  1-0301906OstendD31 Queen's Gambit Declined
15. G Oskam vs P Johner  0-1431906OstendC29 Vienna Gambit
16. P Johner vs Z von Balla 1-0321906OstendD63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense
17. O Bernstein vs P Johner  1-0371906OstendD40 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch
18. P Johner vs Salwe 1-0401906OstendD60 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense
19. P Johner vs Znosko-Borovsky ½-½251906OstendC11 French
20. Maroczy vs P Johner  1-0271906OstendC87 Ruy Lopez
21. P Johner vs E Michell  1-0321907Amateur tC84 Ruy Lopez, Closed
22. B Leussen vs P Johner  1-0411907Amateur tD32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
23. P Johner vs Salwe 0-1401907Ostend MastersD31 Queen's Gambit Declined
24. Teichmann vs P Johner 1-0241907Ostend MastersD02 Queen's Pawn Game
25. Blackburne vs P Johner 1-0361907Ostend MastersD32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
 page 1 of 15; games 1-25 of 362  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Johner wins | Johner loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jan-07-09  thebribri8: Doesn't anyone know this guy's middle name?
Apr-19-09  Sem: I thought the musician was Hohner ;-)
Apr-19-09  WhiteRook48: I thought the musician was Giuseppe Verdi.
Apr-21-09  Sem: He was, WhiteRook, but he produced opera's, not mouth organs.
Jul-30-09  myschkin: . . .

Photo:

http://www.chessbase.de/2009/sgz/PI...

Aug-07-09  whiteshark: Bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_J...
Aug-14-12  Naniwazu: Johner had an awful record against Spielmann (10 to 1 with 2 draws according to CG.com database), but his only win was nice and is annotated extensively in Tarrasch 'The Game of Chess' (Hays Publishing, pp. 263-267).

Spielmann vs P F Johner, 1908

Sep-10-13  JimNorCal: Wait. Brothers Hans and Paul duelled for the Swiss Championship over all those years but there are no games showing them playing each other?
Sep-10-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Tabanus: <JimNorCal> There will be one soon, uploaded for the Game Collection: Berne 1932.
Sep-10-13  JimNorCal: <Tabanus> Thanks! As the Moody Blues song puts it "I know you're out there somewhere" :) Although, being brothers and probably having played against each other all their lives, I suppose it is conceivable that they may have agreed draws or asked TDs for alternate pairings.
Sep-10-13  JimNorCal: For example, I once saw Joel Benjamin and John Fedorowicz in a bar after a round of one of the Pan-Pacific tournaments in SF. They had played an Alekhine's and it seemed to me that White had developed some pressure before an early draw was agreed. When I asked, they essentially said that no, neither one was trying to win and the line was well-known and equal. Benjamin made a comment to the effect "Still, John, after your 12th I was almost tempted to start pushing on you..." I had not been exposed to the concept of the "GM draw" before. But clearly JB and Fed had already played each other enough times over the years and no longer could muster much aggression.
Sep-12-13  JimNorCal: I see that Johner vs Johner game available at 365chess. http://www.365chess.com/view_game.p...

Out of curiosity...365 has no obvious community or commenting but they seem to have more games online. Does anyone know about that site, who runs it, why, what their goal is, ...?

Sep-12-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Tabanus: <JimNorCal> Read the site's F.A.Q. etc.

I believe his name is Alberto Mancuso of Uruguay, but I'm not sure if Mancuso is him :)

Dec-10-13  Karpova: After Mariotti's bad performance at London (1922), the <Federazione Scacchistica Italiana> decided to arrange an International Master Tournament in Trieste, August 30 to September 11, 1923:

1. P Johner 9.5 (+9 -1 =1)
2. Canal 8.5 (+6 -0 =5)
3. Yates 7.5 (+7 -3 =1)
4. Tarrasch 7.0 (+5 -2 =4)
5. Rosselli 6.5 (+5 -3 =3)
6-7. Asztalos 6.0 (+4 -3 =4)
6-7. Seitz 6.0 (+3 -2 =6)
8. Miliani 4.5 (+3 -5 =3)
9. Chancelliere 4.0 (+2 -5 =4)
10. Vecsey 3.5 (+2 -6 =3)
11. Mariotti 2.0 (+0 -7 =4)
12. Singer 1.0 (+1 -10 =0)

Johner lost to Canal and drew Yates.

Alekhine told Reti that he considers Canal to be the currently greatest living chess talent.

Although Tarrasch's result was disappointing, in some games his play was reminiscent of his heyday.

Rosselli played very well and proved that he deserved the Italian Championship title he won against Mariotti in that year. Furthermore, he achieved winning positions against Vecsey and Miliani, but lost both games.

Asztalos hadn't played in a tournament for 5 years, so he was out of practice.

Vecsey was a last minute substitution for Marco, who had passed away on August 28.

Although Leone Singer is known to be a strong player, he ended up last. He organized the whole event (there was also a National Master Tournament and a Main Tournament at the same time) and he even got sick. He lost against Tarrasch, Vecsey and Yates despite reaching winning positions, and also a drawn position against Asztalos.

The Italian Chess Federation announced its intention to arrange an International Master Tournament every two years.

From pages 249-251 of the October 1923 'Neue Wiener Schachzeitung'

Jul-24-14  jerseybob: He won the Manhattan C.C. title in 1907? The one in NYC? Any games from that?
Sep-10-15  dark.horse: Of his games the one I'm most familiar with has P. Johner on the White side of a Nimzowitsch brilliancy at Dresden, 1926.
Oct-19-15  whiteshark: <dark.horse> P F Johner vs Nimzowitsch, 1926
May-08-16  zanzibar: Is he the same guy as the one who won a 10-game match against Herbert Rosenfeld? (Herbert Rosenfeld)

https://books.google.com/books?id=M...

<ACM v10 (1910) p18>

Any of those Oct-Nov 1909 games preserved?

May-08-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Yes and yes. A few of the scores are littered around. But at this moment I'm more occupied with a mouse infestation. This means war!
May-08-16  zanzibar: http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden...
May-08-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Barbed wire laid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel...

DEATH TO ALL RODENTS!

May-09-16  zanzibar: A night at <MissScarlett>'s:

https://youtu.be/IOwinLWrEIw?t=56

May-09-16  Retireborn: A common sight on the tube in London. You'd be amazed how quickly the little bastards can hop about.
May-09-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: I was going to make a joke about Japanese tourists, but on second thoughts...

Anyway, all London members of the <cg.com> massive, are invited around to my place for a musical evening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8z...

Sep-10-18  diagonal: This is the site of Paul Johner.

The Swiss chess master was a solid top twenty player between 1917 and 1926 with a peak ranking as of <no. ten of the world> (Chessmetrics).

Wikipedia gives a good survey of his numerous international tournament achievements:

<In 1916, Paul Johner won the 9th Nordic Chess Championship at Copenhagen. He shared for 1st with Walter John at Berlin 1917, and won at Göteborg 1920 B-tournament.

He was individual best alongside with Rudolf Spielmann at the strong Scheveningen tournament 1923, organised to celebrate 50th anniversary of The Royal Chess Federation, above players like Richard Réti, Géza Maróczy, Jacques Mieses, Edgar Colle, Frederick Yates, or young Max Euwe (20 players).

A brand new system was introduced in this event, which since then is known as the 'Scheveningen system' after the suburbs of Hague where the tournament took place. Every player from the first team played against every player of the second team (i.e. Foreigners versus The Netherlands). Paul Johner remained the only unbeaten player, scoring 8.5/10.

Paul Johner triumphed at the Trieste International Festival 1923 (organized as a singular invitation tournament), finishing clear first in the top group ahead of 2. Esteban Canal, 3. Frederick Yates, 4. Siegbert Tarrasch, 5. Stefano Rosselli, 6.= Lajos Asztalos, etc. (12 players).

Paul Johner also took the Berlin 1924 tournament, a Quadrangular, ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, Richard Teichmann, and Jacques Mieses.

In 1925, he finished joint second after Hans Kmoch, together with Savielly Tartakower (12 players, including Ernst Gruenfeld, David Przepiorka, Lajos Steiner and Lajos Asztalos) at Debrecen.>

Please do not missuse player biographies and in consequence the POTD feature for private chat or non-topic postings! Thank you.

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