Phony Benoni Member since Feb-10-06 · Last seen May-23-13 Greetings, O Seeker After Knowledge! You have arrived in Detroit, Michigan (whether you like it or not), and are reading words of wisdom from a player rated 2950--plus or minus 1000 points. However, I've more or less retired from serious play--not that I ever took chess really seriously. You only have to look at my games to see that. These days I pursue the simple pleasures of finding games that are bizarre or just plain funny. I'd rather enjoy a game than analyze it. For the record, my name is David Moody. This probably means nothing to you unless you're a longtime player from Michigan, though it's possible that if you attended any U.S. Opens from 1975-1999 we might have crossed paths. Lucky you. If you know me at all, you'll realize that most of my remarks are meant to be humorous. I do this deliberately, so that if my analysis stinks to high heaven I can always say that I was just joking. As you can undoubtedly tell from my sparkling wit, I'm a librarian in my spare time. Even worse, I'm a cataloger, which means I keep log books for cattle. Also, I'm not one of those extroverts who sit at the Reference Desk and help you with research. Instead, I spend all day staring at a computer screen updating and maintaining information in the library's catalog. The general public thinks Reference Librarians are dull. Reference Librarians think Catalogers are dull. My greatest achievement in chess, other than tricking you into reading this, was probably mating with king, bishop and knight against king in a tournament game. I have to admit that this happened after an adjournment, and that I booked up like crazy before resuming. By the way, the fact I have had adjourned games shows you I've been around too long. My funniest moment occurred when I finally got a chance to pull off a smothered mate in actual play. You know, 1.Nf7+ Kg8 2.Nh6+ Kh8 3.Qg8+ Rxg8 4.Nf7#. When I played the climactic queen check my opponent looked at the board in shocked disbelief and said, "But that's not mate! I can take the queen!" Finally, I must confess that I once played a positional move, back around 1982. I'll try not to let that happen again.

Phony Benoni has kibitzed 12220 times to chessgames   [more...]

May-23-13 Phony Benoni chessforum    Phony Benoni: <Travis> Everything's fine. Some days are just quieter than others. However, I note with some glee that Miguel Cabrera leads Mike Trout in the All-Important WAR stat, 2.6 to 1.9.      May-22-13 E Paljusaj vs M Bosiocic, 2010   Phony Benoni: I guess it's true. Four minor pieces do beat a queen.      May-22-13 Tejada vs A Padros Simon, 1985    Phony Benoni: <3.Ke2> is simply the Steinitz Gambit without all the bother of making some developing moves first. It is surely sound, albeit a rather rude sound.      May-22-13 I Berezovsky vs V Rusel, 1984    Phony Benoni: And just in case you had any doubt, after <12...Be6>: [DIAGRAM] White has 13.Bxg7+ Rxg7 14.Qxg7+ Kxg7 15.Nxe6+.      May-21-13 Korchnoi vs Zsuzsa Polgar, 1994   Phony Benoni: <FSR> The result appears to be correct, so my guess would be time pressure and/or fatigue. It was a blindfold game, after all, with a time limit of G/25 and a 20-second increment per move. That's a lot for anybody, let alone the 63-year-old Korchnoi. After all, he is no ...      May-21-13 Anand vs Karjakin, 2013   Phony Benoni: <norami: I wonder if there has ever been a game where all the pieces were exchanged, but no pawns.> Here are three examples: Movsesian vs Aronian, 2009 , after <33.Kxf1>: [DIAGRAM] J Cuartas Medina vs A Rodriguez Vila, 2010 , after <26...Kxd8>: [DIAGRAM] A ...      May-21-13 M Didier    Phony Benoni: <jnpope> The <Koninklijke Bibliotheek> (National Library of the Netherlands) has (or used to have) a copy of the 1901 brochure. There is a similar brochure from 1925 that is available at the Cleveland Public Library, but might not have information on Didier. There ...      May-21-13 Biographer Bistro    Phony Benoni: You're right; I was probably trying to be too exact. Stick with what people will look for, and put details in the introduction. So it's back up for voting.      May-21-13 Gustave Simonson    Phony Benoni: <Tabanus> I suspect that Sept. 15 Simonson and Sept. 24 Simonson are probably the same person. The New York Times for November 2, 1892, commenting on the game G Simonson vs Lasker, 1892 , notes: <"His vanquisher was Dr. Gustave Simonson, a fellow townsman of Lasker, ...      May-21-13 G Simonson vs Lasker, 1892   Phony Benoni: Promoting to a bishop also wins, but would only have been worth doing a few years later when Lasker was world champion. Why waste it on an ordinary master? If Lasker had been in his prime, White would have promoted to a knight and added to the legend of Lasker's ability to ...

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 409 OF 485 ·  Later Kibitzing> Aug-22-12    WannaBe: Wow, I go and see B. Colon pitch last Saturday, and today he is suspended. Man, I'm <GOOD>!! By the way, this Saturday, I am going to the Atl-SF game at AT&T Park. Aug-22-12    Shams: The last-place Mariners have now won eight in a row, and are closing in on .500. My question is-- suppose they attain a winning record next week while other teams don't regress, would late-August be a record for the furthest into the season that all the teams in one division have a winning record? Aug-22-12    Phony Benoni: <Shams> LeShoure hasn't played in the preseason. He's been bothered with a hamstring injury and missed all last season with an Achilles tendon tear, so they're being cautious. He could show up Saturday in Oakland, which may not be the best place to make a debut. In addition, he's suspended for the first two regular season games because of two offseason arrests for marijuana possession, after failing a drug test while at Illinois in 2009. Definitely one of the character questions I mentioned earlier. Aug-22-12    Phony Benoni: <Shams> No last place team has ever finished the season above .500, although two have finished on that mark. The record for latest date with all teams above .500 goes to the National League East on October 1, 2005: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... This was after game 161. Unfortunately, the Nationals lost their last game and finished at .500. Second place goes to the AL West in 1991. Here are the standings on September 24, 1991, with ten or eleven games to go: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... The Angels then dropped below .500, and didn't get back to that mark until the last day of season. Having seven teams in the division made the feat especially difficult. Aug-22-12    Shams: <Phony Benoni> Thanks. Which do you know more about, chess history or baseball history? Aug-22-12    WannaBe: Neither, he knows Sesame Street History. Aug-23-12    perfidious: <WannaBe> Meself, I always liked the occasional Mad Magazine feature Reality Street. Aug-23-12    Travis Bickle: <perfidious: < Travis Bickle: ....The Chicago Bears #1 pick from Boise State DE Shane McLellan looks pretty good, as does their 45th pick that big wideout Alshon Jeffery from South Carolina.> What did Bears do to help their beleaguered QB avoid death by week six or so? Anything? It seemed a weakness of last year's team, so far as I could tell. Another season with a porous OL would leave Cutler running again, and he isn't as mobile as either Vick or Newton.> That's the number 1 question that was asked in Chicago, why didn't they draft 2 huge stud offensive lineman? It's anybody's guess. It's either frugality to the extreme or former OL coach Mike Tice now Offensive Coordinator thinks these guys can play. Young OT Gabe Karimi was injured last year but he should get better, Jamarcus Webb I'm not so sure on him. P.S. 1 thing's for certain The Bears play The Giants this week & we should get a look at what The Bears O Line can do. Aug-23-12    Shams: <Travis Bickle> Several years ago Sean Locklear was the Right Tackle for the Seahawks, and he was let go due to too many holding penalties since he's too slow in pass protection. Due to injuries I think Locklear is slated to start at <Left> Tackle for the G-men, this weekend and even to start the season. I bet you could totally feast on him, he's not very good. Aug-23-12    perfidious: <Shams> Here's hoping Locklear starts all year for the Government Issue Ants-that should help opponents nail Manning into oblivion and help send the Greatest Team Ever to 6-10 or something similarly wonderful. Giants must be desperate indeed to put Locklear on Manning's blind side. Aug-23-12    WannaBe: <perfidious> Can you believe, I still subscribe to MAD?? 16 years now. My personal favourite is "Snappy Answers to Dumb Questions". Aug-23-12    Shams: <perfidious> Who's your team, Saints? Aug-23-12    WannaBe: Any thoughts on Lance 'throwing in the towel' and not fight the accusations anymore?? Aug-24-12    Shams: <WannaBe> It does seem a bit surprising for him to just roll over, given that his 500 utterances on the subject were identical: "I'm the most tested athlete in history and I've never failed a test." I suppose it was explained to him that things were hopeless, and this way America doesn't see a parade of witnesses explaining in detail precisely how Armstrong cheated. That's my guess. Aug-24-12    tpstar: I find this crackdown on sports cheating to be highly refreshing. It seems like only a few years ago that the ruling bodies were ready to capitulate and make sports into a chemical free-for-all, but the testing processes must have been successfully revamped. I thought part of the excitement from the Olympic track and field events was tarnished, rightly or not. It was like, OK they won, now let's wait for the drug testing results. =) The only athlete I totally trust is Michael Phelps, understanding that he might test positive for marijuana. Aug-24-12    perfidious: <Shams> Cowboys are my favourite and I like Raiders. Aug-24-12    Jim Bartle: Armstrong seems to be taking one of two courses: 1. OK, yeah, I cheated, but the American public loves me, I've done so much charity work, nobody will care. 2. No, I didn't cheat, but I'm tired of fighting this stuff. Let people think what they're going to think. Gotta be pretty tough to have seven Tour de France titles taken away, though. Aug-24-12    Phony Benoni: The sad part is that any exceptional feat will no longer be attributed to the talent and dedication of the athlete, but to doping. Can you imagine what would have been said about Bob Beamon in this era? Aug-24-12    Jim Bartle: True, Bob Beamon, as he'd never come close to that distance (nobody had) and he never did again. Then again, Beamon was pretty skinny and didn't look like a super-elite athlete. Few of the track athletes from that time look anywhere near as developed as those of today. An exception, I think, is Usain Bolt. I don't hear any whispers about him, and he doesn't have that tremendous upper body development that so many sprinters have. He just appears to be a very tall guy who is extremely well-coordinated and very fast. If you want to look for another guy who could be suspected, try Dante Bichette with Colorado in the mid-90s. One year (1995, I think) he came to spring training with his body completely changed and had a huge year. Suspicious, I'd say. Aug-24-12    SwitchingQuylthulg: There are plenty of whispers about Bolt, most of them rather misguided. Topping the pile is probably the argument that he must be doping because of his connection to the notorious Angel Heredia. The web is full of people advancing that notion... which fails on the simplest possible level: there's no connection whatsoever between Bolt and Heredia. It all comes from a complete misunderstanding of one old article that wasn't even about track and field. I doubt a modern-day Bob Beamon would have all that many detractors. For starters, these days the average American wouldn't realize just how unbelievable such an improvement is ;-) There were certainly plenty of dopers around already in the actual Bob Beamon's time, but I'm not going to claim he was one of them - the "argument by huge improvement" isn't all that convincing, especially as the conditions for his jump were pretty much optimal... or maybe even beyond. Practically ever since the competition ended there have been claims his jump wasn't really wind-legal. Aug-24-12    Phony Benoni: Another interpretation of Armstrong's action. This strikes me as level-headed: http://juniormiller1310.blogspot.co... Aug-24-12    Jim Bartle: Hmmmmm. Cabrera and Fielder hit the ball harder and farther than seems humanly possible, and without seeming to swing that hard. Aug-24-12    Jim Bartle: Sports Illustrated is reporting Boston is about to trade Crawford, Gonzalez AND Beckett to the Dodgers, in exchange for Loney and LA's top minor league pitcher, a guy named Rubby. He better be the second coming of Pedro Martinez or it'll look like a salary dump. Headline writers must hope Rubby makes it big in the majors. Lots of possibilities there. Aug-24-12    Phony Benoni: Especially if he pitches on Tuesdays. Aug-24-12    WannaBe: http://espn.go.com/olympics/cycling... 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