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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.

>> Click here to see Phony Benoni's game collections.

Chessgames.com Full Member

   Phony Benoni has kibitzed 18634 times to chessgames   [more...]
   Jun-11-22 M Blau vs Keres, 1959 (replies)
 
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 (replies)
 
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 (replies)
 
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 (replies)
 
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 (replies)
 
Phony Benoni: SkinnVer Here Among the Fold?
 
   Jun-09-22 Flohr vs Bondarevsky, 1947 (replies)
 
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 ...
 
(replies) indicates a reply to the comment.

Living in the Past

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 371 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Apr-24-12  Jim Bartle: PB: I made a claim on the Stumpers page I'm not so sure about, or would at least like to know the rule.

I said, after a timeout has been called, time is in again only when the pitcher has the ball on the mound and the home ump gives him the sign to play. In other words, play can't start with the first baseman secretly holding the ball waiting for the runner to take a lead. (Of course they can do this after a play in the field, or a pickoff attempt, if time has not been called.)

Also, I believe a pitcher cannot stand on the rubber without the ball. Correct?

When I was umpiring kids were constantly trying the hidden ball trick and I almost always disallowed it, saying time was still out.

Also, a few years ago in the minors, with a runner on third, the catcher caught a pitch, then fired a potato over the third baseman's head, then tagged the runner out as he came trotting in to score. What's the proper ruling?

Apr-24-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: There really is no way for the hidden ball play to work legally. If the pitcher stands on the rubber without the ball, that's a balk.
Apr-24-12  Jim Bartle: Depends on your definition of hidden-ball trick. Certainly if a guy hits a double and then the second baseman fakes throwing the ball back to the pitcher, the pitcher acts as if he's got the ball but doesn't go to the rubber, the second baseman can tag out the runner if he leaves the base.

Or the most popular, when the first baseman just fakes throwing the ball back to the pitcher after a pickoff try.

Apr-24-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: http://m.espn.go.com/ncf/story?stor...

Arkansas just love to hire people who turned their back on others...

Apr-24-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: The first thing to look at is the definition of "Time" from rule 2.00:

<"TIME" is the announcement by an umpire of a legal interruption of play, during which the ball is dead.>

The resumption of play when the ball is dead is covered in 5.11:

<"After the ball is dead, play shall be resumed when the pitcher takes his place on the pitcher's plate with a new ball or the same ball in his possession and the plate umpire calls "Play". The plate umpire shall call "Play" as soon as the pitcher takes his place on his plate with the ball in his possession.">

(They call the rubber the "Pitcher's Plate" these days. Guess they got tired of all the double entendres.)

Next, it is a balk if (8.05i):

<"The pitcher, without having the ball, stands on or astride the pitcher's plate...">

So, if time has been called and the ball is dead, the hidden ball trick cannot be used. A runner cannot be put out while the ball is dead, play cannot resume without the pitcher standing on the "pitcher's plate", and if he does so without the ball then it's a balk.

So when does Time get called? I don't see anything that states it has to be called at the end of a play. As long as Time hasn't been called, the HBT is still on. But it seems routine, if not automatic, to do so.

Apr-25-12  Jim Bartle: That's pretty clear. Play only starts with the pitcher with the ball on the mound.
Apr-25-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: <Phony Benoni> at a baseball game: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-b...

You can take the librarian out of the library, but you can't take the book out of his hands!

Apr-25-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: Actually, I often brought a book with me to games, though I limited my reading to a couple of pages between innings when nothing was happening on the field.

Once, my sister and I were sitting in the right field corner at Tiger Stadium, just behind the Visitors' bullpen. It was the middle of the sixth, so I whipped out my trusty paperback copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's <The Two Towers> and was enjoying the antics of Gollum and His Friends when a voice shouted from the bullpen, "Look out!" I glanced up just as a ball which had gotten loose smashed into the front cover of the book and rebounded about ten rows behind me.

My sister was disconsolate, and kept wailing, "You coulda hadda ball! You coulda hadda ball!"

I showed her the mangled cover of the book. "Look what that would have done to my hands if I had tried to catch it!"

Didn't matter. "You coulda hadda ball! You coulda hadda ball!"

Sheesh. Sisterly sympathy.

Apr-25-12  Jim Bartle: Arthur Ashe sometimes read a book during changeovers. Don't know what sort of books they were.

Concerning losing the ball, I won't repeat the story of my mother getting a huge bruise on her leg, courtesy of Leon Wagner during batting practice at Seals Stadium, while my father watched the flight of the ball with binoculars.

Apr-25-12  Jim Bartle: Paul Konerko hit his 400th home run. I had no idea he was anywhere close.

I'm surprised sometimes that players can reach the majors and not know the rules, though in this case maybe the guy just panicked. An A's runner on first took off while the pitcher (a righthander) was just holding the ball in the stretch. The pitcher just stepped toward first and faked the throw, then threw to second. A clear balk.

You'd think major league pitchers would be drilled in the minors (and before) that they have to step off the "pitcher's plate" first, then throw or fake a throw.

Apr-25-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Dang, I remember Paul as a Dodgers when he first came up!
Apr-25-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Wooooo... Madden curse?? http://sports.yahoo.com/news/lions-...
Apr-26-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Did we talk about the Cinc. Red's pitcher, starter, named 'Homer Bailey'??

He is facing Ryan Volosong of the Giants today.

Apr-26-12  Jim Bartle: I wonder if Ryan Vogelsang is a distant relative of former Nets guard Otis Birdsong.
Apr-26-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Cousin of Lynn Swan and Larry Bird, too.
Apr-26-12  Jim Bartle: And Rory Sparrow and Tony Hawk?

"Did we talk about the Cinc. Red's pitcher, starter, named 'Homer Bailey'??"

Now all we need is a hitter named "Whiff" or known by his initials D.P.

By the way, I saw the Dodgers run into an unusual double play the other day. Ethier hit a single with Kemp either on first or second. After hesitating Kemp gets thrown out at the plate, then Ethier gets thrown out trying to get back to first. How many times do you see a double play on a hit?

And in yesterday's game against the A's, the one with Konerko's 400th, in extras Adam Dunn (!) led off with a double, was replaced by a pinch-runner, who was picked off by the catcher after a missed bunt attempt. Must have been a long, slow run back to the dugout.

Apr-26-12  Jim Bartle: Say, did Jim Gott ever pitch to Tim Teufel?
Apr-26-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: Of course he did! Here's their first encounter:

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...

That was beginner's luck. As this chart shows, those two hits were the only ones Teufel got against Gott.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...

Apr-26-12  Jim Bartle: Teufel homered off Gott in his first at-bat. The evangelical community must have gotten nervous.
Apr-26-12  King Death: The authore tries to make a case for Mel Stottlemyre in the Hall Of Fame, is anybody here buying it?

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/five-f...

Here are his career stats: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/five-f...

Apr-26-12  Jim Bartle: Stottlemyre was a good pitcher, better than I remember. But if he's a Hall of Famer, another hundred pitchers need to go in with him.
Apr-26-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: <JB> Just the ones who understand German, the others didn't have a clue. =)
Apr-26-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: When one of your most convincing arguments for a pitcher is "He was an innings eater", you've got a weak case.

Not bad stats, but 0.8% votes for the HOF sounds about right based on his career.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/p...

Apr-26-12  Jim Bartle: "When one of your most convincing arguments for a pitcher is "He was an innings eater", you've got a weak case."

I noticed that, too. "Aside from winning 25 games a year and having an ERA of 2.10, Koufax was a real innings-eater."

Apr-26-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: If "innings-eater" was an important criterion, Mickey Lolich and Wilbur Wood would have been in the Hall years ago.

But what's really comical is that in Stottlemyre's time, good starting pitchers were expected to be innings-eaters; it wasn't an HOF credential.

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