User Profile: Phony Benoni

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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.

   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 ...

indicates a reply to the comment.

Living in the Past

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 766 OF 914 · Later Kibitzing>
Feb-08-16		Jim Bartle: Awards voting can be so ridiculous. I found myself looking at the 1962 NL MVP vote. Henry Aaron, .323, 1.008 OPS, 127 runs, 136 RBIs, 45 HRs Frank Robinson, .342, 1.045 OPS, 134 runs, 136 RBIs, 39 HRs Tommy Davis, .346, .910 OPS, 120 runs, 153 RBIs, 27 HRs Willie Mays, .304, .999 OPS, 130 runs, 141 RBIs, 49 HRs, and the Giants won the pennant. Four fantastic years, each worthy of the award. The winner was Maury Wills: .299, .720 OPS, 130 runs, 48 RBIs, 6 HRs. So Wills won despite being far weaker in all the main categories except runs scored, where he scored basically the same number as the other four. The others were outfielders while he played shortstop, a more important and difficult position. But he was not a particularly good shortstop, really just average. He won because he stole 104 bases, plain and simple. But what is the value of a stolen base? It increases the chance of scoring a run, and Wills did not score more runs than the others. There is no way he was more valuable than any of the other four.

Feb-08-16		WannaBe: During post Super Bowl interview, P. Manning mentioned Budweiser and Bud Light, and here's why: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-p...

Feb-10-16		Phony Benoni: <JB> The voters in 1962 probably did overreact to Wills' record performance, but I wouldn't denigrate the award because it was based on stolen bases rather than Traditional Triple Crown numbers. Different teams need different players to succeed, and it's a mistake to say that any set of criteria always indicate the most valuable player in any situation. Which is not to say I don't think Tommy Davis had a better case for MVP that year. But how many of those 153 RBIs were due to Wills being on second base all the time? I wonder what would have happened had the Giants and Dodgers switched shortstops (Jose Pagan for Wills). The Dodgers would certainly not have contended. But would the Giants been improved significantly? There wouldn't have been as much need for Wills to run all the time, so his contribution might have gone down.

Feb-10-16		WannaBe: <Phony Benoni> Never knew that SFG had another Pagan until I saw your post, according to baseball reference's page, there are three Pagans listed. Angel, Jose, and Dave. Go figure.

Feb-10-16		Phony Benoni: <WannaBe> There are no atheists in dugouts. Especially when Koufax was pitching.

Feb-10-16		Jim Bartle: <pb> I would agree with your point if Wills had scored significantly more runs than the other players did. The only value of stealing a base (aside from staying out of a double play, a minor advantag) is to score more runs. Wills scored a very high 130 runs. But Mays scored the same number and Robinson scored more. So where was Wills better? Now this is more subjective, but an NL umpire said Jim Gilliam took a lot of pitches he could have hit in order to let Wills steal. I certainly think it is bad strategy to intentionally take a pitch because a player is stealing. You only get a few pitches and if there's one that's hittable you have to swing at it.

Feb-10-16		Jim Bartle: Jose Pagan was the Giants' shortstop in the early 60s. Pretty ordinary, as was second baseman Chuck Hiller, but he did get MVP votes in 1962. Giantss had another pretty good infielder in those years named Joey Amalfitano, but he didn't hit. He was selected by Houston in the expansion draft, then the Giants traded Manny Mota to get him back. Angel Pagan is of course one of the greatest baseball names ever.

Feb-10-16		Jim Bartle: I understand the sentiment, and I know players didn't want to be embarrassed by Koufax. I remember Cubs pinch hitters were trying to hide in the bottom of the ninth to avoid having to "hit" in the 9th of his perfect game. But the manager found Harvey Kuenn. But players didn't physically fear hitting against Koufax, because he never threw at anyone. Maybe he would have been even better if he had. The story runs that the Marichal attack on Roseboro occurred because the Dodgers were upset with Marichal but Koufax didn't want to throw at him. So Roseboro threw the return throws to the mound past Marichal's ear instead, and that's what got him so upset.

Feb-10-16		WannaBe: Re: Angel Pagan, yes, if you pronounce his name as "English Way". Me and my friends down at the watering hole always have fun when he's at the plate. "There's that Angel non-believer guy hitting again." =)) Amalfitano and Mota, of course, are two of (most) beloved Dodgers, in my book. That Marichal/Roseboro story is true, at least from all the articles I read/posted here on the anniversary of the incident. (Think I posted it last year, at this forum, too lazy to go back and dig the link up)

Feb-10-16		Jim Bartle: <Angel Pagan, yes, if you pronounce his name as "English Way".> It's "pagano" in Spanish. Not much difference.

Feb-11-16		Phony Benoni: <JB> Well, Mays had a head start in the run scoring department because of his 45 extra home runs. In fact, the list of single season run scorers shows that, since 1900, the sluggers like Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Williams and the like predominate. You don't see a lot of lead-off hitters surpassing Wills' 130. Rickey Henderson, for one, but he was also hitting 20+ home runs in addition to stealing bases. The key to big run scoring totals seems to be power, and getting on base a lot with good hitters behind you. Wills had do make do with speed. But I'm not going to win any stat battle here. Wills probably won because of his record, but the idea should be honoring the player with the greatest positive impact on his team's success. That's why there are occasional statistical anomalies, like Kirk Gibson in 1988. An MVP who couldn't even make the All-Star team? Or Marty Marion in 1944? http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...

Feb-11-16		Jim Bartle: So you're suggesting Musial was a better choice?

Feb-11-16		WannaBe: Mich. St. Univ. player awarded "Best Name": http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebask... Gonna name my son Arnoldschwarnegger

Feb-11-16		WannaBe: Sports book expect SFG to be the team to beat in 2016: http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id...

Feb-11-16		Phony Benoni: Of course the SFG are the team to beat in 2016. Them and 28 others.

Feb-12-16		keypusher: I'm in Dallas for work, and by coincidence there's a chess tournament going on at the hotel. I was watching some of the games last night, and I noticed a young girl, looked about 12, playing a man in his 20s on one of the lower boards. She was down the exchange in the early going. "Poor girl," I thought, "she's losing already" and went off to look at other games. I came back later and thought, "hey, it doesn't look quite so bad." I came back later and realized she was winning, thanks to some impressive positional chess. I finally thought to check the pairings. Turns out her name is Akshita Gorti and she's rated about 2250. This is a very strong tournament. A few GMs, IMs, etc. This page seemed like the right page to post about it given all Phony has done to compile US tournament collections.

Feb-12-16		WannaBe: <keypusher> You're in Dallas instead of Northeast and freezing?! And a chess tournament to boot! Lucky you!!

Feb-12-16		WannaBe: New pitchers' protective head gear: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/1...

Feb-12-16		Phony Benoni: The only gear guaranteed to protect pitcher's heads: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images... <Keypusher> That was one lucky chess tournament. Most of the hotels I stayed at during tournaments booked weddings, brass bands, or Beatlemania Conventions.

Feb-12-16		Jim Bartle: <The only gear guaranteed to protect pitcher's heads:> Or just face the 1965 Dodgers.

Feb-12-16		Phony Benoni: Hey, some of those bunts were pretty darn vicious! Especially the ones that made it as far as the pitch.

Feb-13-16		keypusher: <<wannabe> You're in Dallas instead of Northeast and freezing?! And a chess tournament to boot! Lucky you!!> Unfortunately I'm back in the big city already and it's COLD. First time I had seen a tournament since I met you in Las Vegas back in 2008. Where do the years go?

Feb-15-16		Jim Bartle: I looked at a Cubs box score from 1962. First six hitters: Brock Hubbs Williams Banks Altman Santo That's three Hall of Famers, one HOF candidate, one up and coming star who died young. Yet the team was at the bottom of the league in runs scored, and went 59-103, behind the first-year team the Houston Colt .45s.

Feb-16-16		Phony Benoni: Altman had a decent year,leading the team in hitting and stealing more baes than Brock (19 to 16). It was his last really good year, though.

Feb-16-16		Jim Bartle: I don't know. I think Brock had several more good years.

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