Phony Benoni Member since Feb-10-06 · Last seen Dec-12-19 Greetings, O Seeker After Knowledge! You have arrived in Dearborn, Michigan (whether you like it or not), and are reading words of wisdom from a player rated 2938--plus or minus 1000 points. However, I've retired from serious play--not that I ever took playing chess all that 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 US 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.

Current net-worth: 328 chessbucks [what is this?]

Phony Benoni has kibitzed 17798 times to chessgames   [more...]

Dec-07-19 Rubinstein vs Teichmann, 1908   Phony Benoni: One of Irving Chernev"s "Curious Chess Facts" comes to mind. This version is from <Chess Review>, April 1933, p. 9: <"In the eighth edition of a popular handbook by Dufresne and Mieses the following line of play is given: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e5 ...      Dec-05-19 Spielmann vs E Eliskases, 1932   Phony Benoni: Spielmann's oppoonents seem to have had a knack for this sort of thing: Spielmann vs Stoltz, 1930      Dec-02-19 Flohr vs G A Thomas, 1932    Phony Benoni: In the Better Late Than Never Category: <Feb-24-05 rochade18: Why didn't Thomas take the g-pawn with the queen (move 27-29)? I assume the g-file would be too promising for a white attack!?> Because it wasn't hanging. There's an error in our score; White actually played ...      Dec-01-19 Fine vs N Feldman, 1933   Phony Benoni: By the way, the ACB report on the Metropolitan Hungaria Chess Club was in the November 1932 issue, not 1933.      Nov-27-19 Dake vs Fine, 1933   Phony Benoni: After <23.Qa4> [DIAGRAM] <23..>Qc5> looks wrong, as White simply picks up an exchange with <24.Ne4> to go with his collection of fine pawns. Instead, <American Chess Bulletin> (July / August 1933, p. 12) gives <23...Qf3> which seems more likely.      Nov-26-19 Prins vs E Paoli, 1949    Phony Benoni: It's possible th epuzzle should begin at White'ss 3rd move: [DIAGRAM]      Nov-25-19 Elbert Addison Wagner   Phony Benoni: I would guess this to be <Elbert A Wagner>, future President of the United states Chess Federation in the 1940s and native of Chicago, where the exhibition was held.      Nov-20-19 S Takacs vs Noteboom, 1930   Phony Benoni: Doubling rooks on the file: generally a good idea. Doubling rooks on the rank: not a bad idea. Doubling rooks on the diagonal: not so hot. Case in point. If 42.Kxf3 Qe4+ and both White rooks drop off.      Nov-18-19 R Willman vs Kupchik, 1933   Phony Benoni: Abraham Kupchik was a quiet man who lived a quiet life and played quiet chess. This is not the path to glory. The world rarely grants a person more notoriety than they demand. Instead, He was a grind-'em-down player with a flair for positional play. So it's a pleasure when he ...      Nov-18-19 Tylor vs L Steiner, 1932    Phony Benoni: <Sargon> Thanks for letting me know.

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Living in the Past

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 900 OF 900 ·  Later Kibitzing> Mar-27-19    Tabanus: <PB> You can also thank me by voting YES :) Apr-20-19    SBC: <Phony Benoni> Do you have a copy of the American Chess Bulletin (vol.43) Jan. 1946? If so, would it be possible for you - if you are amenable - to scan several pages, 65-67, for me? If not, it's no problem. Apr-21-19    Phony Benoni: <SBC> I do have a physical (not digital) copy of the American Chess Bulletin (vol. 43) 1946. Unfortunately, I don't have a scanner myself, but I may be able to work something out. However, I would ask that you check your reference. Pages 65-67 are from the May / June issue (not January) and contain games from a Santasiere - Seidman match and a report on the match between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Having seen your recent article about Abraham Kupchik., I'm wondering if you are interested in the photos from Pittsburgh 1946 on p. 74-76 of the July / August issue. These include a group photo on p.74 with pictures of both Kupchik and his wife. By the way, I want to thank you for the Kupchik article. He's always been a special interest of mine; and 250-300 of his games in the <CG> database are my submissions. At one point I had some extensive files on him, but lost everything in a computer crash and never felt like restoring it. So I'm glad you've done the work instead! Apr-21-19    SBC: <Phony Benoni> Thanks. My rather nebulous source (Google Book/snippet view) revealed there is an article on the Women's Chess Club of NY (with a photo of the founders, including Eliza Foot and Harriet Worrall on those pages of "vols.43-46.". The snippet actually shows the pages are correct (I just assumed it was vol.3 and January due to the page numbers see: https://content.screencast.com/user...) That article and the photo are what I am looking for. Of course a photo of Kupchick and his wife from such a sharp publication as the ACB is like icing on the cake. Apr-21-19    Phony Benoni: <SBC> It's from v.46, May / June 1949. I've contacted a friend who may be able to supply scans of those pages, as well as the photo from Pittsburgh 1946. A word of warning. Instead of the original, we both have a photocopied reprint of ACB. The photographs in this reprint are of very poor quality, and you may not be able to use them, Apr-22-19    SBC: <Phony Benoni> Thank you so much. BTW, I've already cited you in the article-to-be since I used your digitized game scores from the ACB 1907 and 1908 saving me the work. Apr-22-19    Phony Benoni: <SBC> that's very gratifying. I've reached the point where I'm no longer interested in writing or publishing, but am perfectly content to make the lives of those do a little bit easier. Apr-22-19    SBC: <Phony Benoni> One thing I've always liked about the chess community in general is the number of unselfish individuals willing to contribute in all different fashions, even with little specific appreciation, for the benefit of everyone. Apr-24-19    SBC: <Phony Benoni> Here's the result: https://www.chess.com/article/view/... Thanks for your help! Apr-24-19    Phony Benoni: <SBC> Thanks for the link and the kind words. One little corrections: the article was from the <May / June 1949> issue of ACB, not 1946. (That was volume 46 of ACB). My apologies if I misled you. Apr-24-19    SBC: <Phony Benoni> Thanks. I believe that was my original misconception and I was stuck in that paradigm. May-08-19    mifralu: I Gudju vs Bogdanovsky, 1927 (kibitz #52) May-13-19    Tabanus: Did PB end Andrea Peterson 's career? May-13-19    Phony Benoni: I suspect it was about to end anyway. Puberty has robbed chess of more potential Masters than the Four Horseriders of the Apocalypse. May-19-19    Phony Benoni: I'm moving into a retirement community, and may be out of touch for a few days. Jun-22-19    mifralu: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1929 The 6th USSR Championship was held in Odessa from < October 2-20, 1929 >... < September 2-20 > https://chesspro.ru/book/rc29.shtml Jun-22-19    Phony Benoni: <mifralu> Thanks. I probably took my information from De Felice (who gives October), but your source looks more authoritative. Aug-22-19    thegoodanarchist: < Phony Benoni: As a matter of fact: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3b... So Howard can play! Wow, thanks for the link. I am surprised. I'd say he plays at a "Class A" level or better. Aug-23-19    Phony Benoni: <thegoodanarchist> I had a vague memory of hearing that somewhere. It's probably a good thing that "celebrities" don't play in real tournaments. Can you imagine the media circus if, say, Charlie Chaplin or Humphrey Bogart showed up to play/ The playing conditions would be impossible for everybody, not just them. Aug-23-19    thegoodanarchist: Especially in this era, with smartphones, uploading to instagram, twitter and facebook. If Brad Pitt showed up to a tournament today it would be mayhem in under 20 minutes. Nov-03-19    spingo: I thought I had seen Ostend 1906 up as a full tournament page. Am I mistaken, or was it put up and then removed? Nov-03-19    whiteshark: Good question! Ostend (1905) and Ostend (Championship) (1907) are already there but not Game Collection: Ostend 1906 Nov-03-19    spingo: <whiteshark: Good question!> By some distance <Ostend 1906> is the most difficult of all tournaments to present coherently. It had numerous stages and a huge number of games: about 400, I think. THAT'S why I am sure I remember the page being there as a cg.com tournament page. (Not just as a Game Collection, because I remember that people had kibitzed.) I think the page may have existed for a short time, but then been withdrawn for some reason. Perhaps the complex formatting created bugs on the page. Nov-05-19    Phony Benoni: <spingo> As far as I know, Game Collection: Ostend 1906 was never a tournament page. I certainly did not nomicate it because I don't consider it finished. Besides introductory material, ti needs careful proofreading and formatting. At the moment, I am not interested in doing this work. It would take a large amount of time and be very difficult for me. Any one who would be willing to borrow my information and finish it up as their own collection is welcome to do so. Nov-11-19    spingo: Many thanks for your answer <PB>. Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 900) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 900 OF 900 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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