Phony Benoni Member since Feb-10-06 · Last seen Jun-11-22 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.

Phony Benoni has kibitzed 18634 times to chessgames   [more...]

Jun-11-22 M Blau vs Keres, 1959    Phony Benoni: Not a good recommendation for the DERLD. Out of 59 moves, White makes only three in Black's half of the board. And two of those conist of 3.Bb5 and 6.Bxc6.      Jun-11-22 chessgames.com chessforum    Phony Benoni: Er, it's back. Karpov vs Timman, 1988      Jun-10-22 Orlo Milo Rolo   Phony Benoni: Marco!      Jun-10-22 Lilienthal vs Bondarevsky, 1947   Phony Benoni: Another one for you King Hunters. Black's monarch travels fron g8 to b8, then takes the Great Circle Route back to h3 before calling it a day.      Jun-10-22 GrahamClayton chessforum    Phony Benoni: <GrahamClayton> I've posted a question for you at L T Magee vs J Holland, 1948      Jun-10-22 L T Magee vs E L Holland, 1948    Phony Benoni: <GrahamClayton> The source you cite, <Chess Review, May 1948, p. 24>, gives Black's name as <E Holland> "Chess Life" (June 5, 1948, p. 1) has a table of results giving <E L Holland>. That form also appears in USCF rating supplements for a player fro ...      Jun-09-22 Biographer Bistro    Phony Benoni: SkinnVer Here Among the Fold?      Jun-09-22 Flohr vs Bondarevsky, 1947    Phony Benoni: Black's bishop makes me think of Godzilla emerging from the depths of the ocean to wreak havoc. However, in the end it's his Two Little Friends who steal the show. Well, maybe not so litt.      Jun-06-22 W Ritson-Morry vs G T Crown, 1947   Phony Benoni: it was the last round. Rison-Morry was mired in last place. These things happen.      Jun-06-22 W Adams vs M Kagan, 1947   Phony Benoni: Some more informztion. The game was published in <Chess Review>, March 1948, p. 23. Black's name is given as "M Kagan", and the location as "Massachusetts". There is no other game data, but I think we can now safely assume Black is <Milton Kagan>. Earlier in the ...

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Living in the Past

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 362 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> Mar-27-12    Jim Bartle: I posted this question on the Stumpers page with only one reply so far, thought I'd try it here: On what team (a winning team!) did the leading home run hitter have only five more homers than one of the pitchers? This is post-1920. Actually post-1950 as well. Mar-27-12    WannaBe: Dennis Rodman, broke: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan... Mar-27-12    Phony Benoni: <JB> Wasn't too hard once I started thinking of pitchers who hit a lot of home runs besides Earl Wilson, who wouldn't have accomplished that feat playing for the Red Sox and Tigers. When the right guy came to mind, it was obvious. Post-expansion, for that matter. One player had more steals than the entire team had home runs. I also thought of this team, who had three players tie for the lead in home runs: a pitcher, the manager, and a part-time infielder: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... Mar-27-12    Jim Bartle: Sounds very much like you've got it, PB. Mar-27-12    Jim Bartle: I see that 1908 team had a 20-way tie for fourth place in homers, only one behind the leaders. Mar-27-12    Phony Benoni: <JB> While we're on the topic of home runs by World Series champion teams, here's one for you. Examine this boxscore: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... Nothing unusual. Goose Goslin homers in the first for Washington. So what? Actually, there is something extraordinary and unique about that home run. Care to take a guess? Mar-27-12    Jim Bartle: I'd like to guess, but I don't have a clue. My question makes me think back on the 1965 NL pennant race. We Giants fans were so frustrated that the Dodgers could win with such a putrid "attack," and these lucky bounce hits on the rock hard infield at Dodger Stadium. The Giants seems to have it wrapped up in early September with an incredible 14-game win streak, building up a 4-game lead, which for the NL in the 60s seemed like a 10-game lead today. But the Dodgers then squeaked into a 13-game win streak, often with fluky infield hits or flares, plus great pitching of course, beat out the Giants, and won the World Series in seven on Koufax's famous shutout on two days' rest. It was brutal. Mar-27-12    OhioChessFan: I love the stirrup socks too. Wish everyone would wear them. I despise the long pants dragging on the ground. What a stupid look. Mar-27-12    OhioChessFan: <But the Dodgers then squeaked into a 13-game win streak, often with fluky infield hits or flares, plus great pitching of course> I despised the Braves in the 90's for the same reason. And I could never figure out why their pitcher's ERA's dropped from 2.4 in the regular season to 0.4 in the playoffs. Mar-27-12    Jim Bartle: No, OCF, you just do...not....understand. The Braves could hit, and scored runs legitimately. In the mid-60s the Dodgers just scuffed out runs you wouldn't believe, little popups, infield singles, lucky rallies in the 8th and 9th. Unbelievable stuff. Of course being a Giants fan doesn't color my objective viewpoint in the least. In that 13-game win streak the Dodgers gave up 15 runs total, and 6 of those were in one game. So otherwise--9 runs in 12 games. Yikes. The Dodgers did have a real attack in 62 and 63, but that was pretty much gone on their pennant-winning teams of 65 and 66. Somehow they scored 608 runs, but half of those had to be high-hoppers bouncing over infielders' heads. Mar-27-12    Jim Bartle: Darn it, OCF, I wanted to give it back to you in reverse using the 1975-76 Reds, saying how this these pitchers have such great records when their ERAs were so horrible? It was because they had the luxury of the best team I've ever seen playing behind them and scoring tons of runs. Then I looked, and their starting pitching (relief, too) was pretty darn good. Best teams I ever saw. Mar-27-12    Phony Benoni: <JB> Perhaps this will explain: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... Look at the batting splits for Home vs. Away. Mar-27-12    Jim Bartle: Oh, right, I'm supposed to figure out it was the only homer they hit at home all year! And they still scored more at home than on the road. Mar-27-12    Phony Benoni: Apparently Griffith Stadium was not the House That Ruth Built. They also hit just one home run at home in 1945, when they finished second. Mar-27-12    Jim Bartle: 424 to left in the 20s, with a 40 ft. scoreboard in play. Also 400 ft. down the leftfield line for many years. http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/a... Mar-28-12    WannaBe: As Dr. Evil would say: "Two BILLION dollars..." http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/... Mar-28-12    Phony Benoni: There are five players are in the top 100 lifetime for both triples and home runs. Two you may know; two others might be complete surprises. Mar-28-12    WannaBe: Secretariat and Man o' War. Wait, you didn't say Triple Crown, mis-read there... My bad, sorry. Mar-28-12    Jim Bartle: I would guess Ruth, Mays, Musial, DiMaggio. Mar-28-12    Phony Benoni: Oops, make it six! Somehow, I missed Mays on the triples list. As for the other two: <Lou Gehrig> is #33 on the triples list, #26 on home runs. He was apparently faster in his youth, leading the league with 20 triples in 1926. Or maybe he just hit a lot of balls to center field in Yankee Stadium. The real shocker: <Jimmie Foxx>, who is #89 in triples with 125. I would have never have expected that from a right-handed hitter in Fenway Park, but he was up around 8-11 every year for well over a decade. Mar-28-12    Jim Bartle: The triples leaders are dominated by old-timers more than I'd thought. Among the first 50 Musial and Clemente are the only two I saw play, either in person or on TV (both in person, in fact). Mar-28-12    Phony Benoni: Triples are a dying art. Someday, Musial will rank higher on the triples list than on the home run list. I take back what I said about Foxx. Apparently he was fast enough to be a high school track star; you just don't expect it with that upper body of his. Mar-28-12    playground player: Slugger Luke Gofannon, in Philip Roth's <The Great American Novel>, is asked by his lover, in bed (I skip the preliminaries), what is the best feeling he knows. And his answer, after a pause: "Hitting a triple." Mar-28-12    Jim Bartle: When I first started following baseball the top of the home run list was Ruth, Foxx, Ott and Gehrig, with Ted Williams set to pass Gehrig and Ott. Now Foxx is 17th, and Ott 23rd. Mar-28-12    WannaBe: I did not quite believe it when I first heard it on the radio this morning, so I had to look it up. http://content.usatoday.com/communi... Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 362 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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