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 767 OF 914 · Later Kibitzing>
Feb-16-16		Jim Bartle: Wait a second. I was wrong. Of the first six in the Cubs' lineup in 1962, <four> are Hall of Famers. One was Rookie of the Year that year, and the last one had a .393 on-base percentage. That looks like a dynamite lineup, although several didn't have real good years. I wonder if any other team in history had four Hall of Famers in the starting lineup and still lost 100 games.

Feb-16-16		Phony Benoni: Not nearly the same but take a look at the last-place 1934 Chicago White Sox: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... Two HOFers in the daily line-up, one starting paitcher, and a part-time player who might be hard to spt. (And it might be cheating to include him!) Plus at least two other players with some credentials.

Feb-16-16		Jim Bartle: Hey, if they an umpire on their team, why didn't they win more?

Feb-16-16		Phony Benoni: I also thought of the 1925 Yankees, who finished 7th. (That was the year Ruth almost killed himself overindulging during spring training.. Three HOF starters (Gehrig, Combs, Ruth), and a starting pitcher (Pennock). It's hard to count Leo Durocher, who only played in two games,. All five did play in the same game once, but were not on the field together: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...

Feb-16-16		Jim Bartle: You are right. That team is loaded with HOFers and still finished 7th. Those Yankees only scored 706 runs? And five other AL teams scored over 800, two over 900. It's funny, growing up and reading baseball books, there was always this image of the Yankees winning every year from the moment Ruth arrived. It was a surprise to me when I finally saw the actual record.

Feb-16-16		playground player: <Phony Benoni> The stealth Hall of Famer on the 1934 White Sox is utility player Jocko Conlan, who was elected to the Hall as an umpire. Hat tip to <Jim Bartle> for spotting it first.

Feb-16-16		Jim Bartle: Actually until today I never knew Conlan had been a player. When the Giants came to San Francisco the already legendary NL umpires were Conlan and Al Barlick. That's all I knew. I really enjoyed umpiring as a teenager and in college. It takes time to get anwhere near competent, though. I remember umpiring a practice game before the Babe Ruth League season. I was calling pitches and one of the pitchers was quite good, threw hard, but I thought he was a little wild. He didn't say anything during the game, but afterwards he (15 years old) came up to me and said, "The corners, ump, the corners. The whole ball doesn't have to cross the plate, just part of it." And I realized he was right, and I called the corners, perhaps excessively so, from then on.

Feb-18-16		WannaBe: <Katie Strang ESPN.com Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez was not at the ballpark today. He is apparently having visa issues. Organization doesn't seem too worried. Manager Brad Ausmus said there was "no concern"> Why, oh why, is it, every year, somebody on some team have visa issue? Francisco Rodriguez have been in the league 14 years, (believe it or not) is this the first time he had to renew a visa? Is this the first time Detroit had a foreign player and had to remind/deal with visa issue? Why can't players/agents/front office of ball clubs get their ducks in a row? Next time I see my SFG friend at the watering hole, I'm gonna ask her.

Feb-19-16		OhioChessFan: <JB: He didn't say anything during the game, but afterwards he (15 years old) came up to me and said, "The corners, ump, the corners. The whole ball doesn't have to cross the plate, just part of it." And I realized he was right, and I called the corners, perhaps excessively so, from then on.> Sounds much easier than it is. I have no doubt my strike zone was too small when I umpired. When I watch the Little League World Series, I realize they've gone way too far the other way, and have a strike zone embarrassingly big.

Feb-19-16		WannaBe: Spring Training!!! So far, no one have been placed on the DL because of a broken finger nail. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page...

Feb-19-16		WannaBe: Odds to win World Series (via Westgate): 4-1 Cubs 10-1 Houston 12-1 NY Mets, Nationals, Dodgers, Giants, Red Sox.

Feb-19-16		Jim Bartle: No chance for Kansas City?

Feb-19-16		WannaBe: <JB> MLB contracted to 7 teams during the off season. You musta missed the mews...

Feb-21-16		playground player: <Esteemed Baseball Mavens> With sports statistics getting more and more belabored and trivial, I'd like to observe that Ernie Lombardi holds the record for most baseballs--seven--held in one hand. Voila... https://www.bing.com/images/search?... Shouldn't that impact his WAR rating or something?

Feb-21-16		Jim Bartle: How many with his nose?

Feb-22-16		Jim Bartle: I stumbled upon the name of Ferris Fain as #15 all-time in OBP, at .424. Looks like he was a pretty good singles hitter and just walked as much as any player ever this side of Barry Bonds. He walked close to 1 in 5 times in his career. Looks like he started late (age 26) because of the war and retired at 34 due to an ankle injury, so his totals are not impressive. Was Fain considered an outstanding player in his time? He made the All-Star team several times and was in the top ten for MVP twice, when he when the batting titles. Did he bat first or second and did people value all the walks he got? He had pretty high RBI totals which suggest he hit in the middle of the lineup. And usually scored about 80 runs in a year, not what I would expect from a player who was getting on base 260 times a year.

Feb-22-16		Phony Benoni: Fain seems to have batted anywhere from 2nd to 5th in the line-up. Thing is, when you're a slow singles hitter, your run total is dependent on the hitters behind you. Most of those Athletic teams he played on were pretty bad. His eye must have been phenomenal -- I saw three years with over 100 walks and fewer than 30 strike-outs. But as a first basement with no power and a persistent injury bug, his career was limited.

Feb-22-16		WannaBe: Cubs are officially jinx'd http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/1...

Feb-22-16		Jim Bartle: <Most of those Athletic teams he played on were pretty bad.> Probably so. He got on base all the time, but nobody behind him was driving him in. Of course many teams don't want a first baseman with no power, no matter how often he gets on base. His name sure does stick out among the all-time top twenty in OBP: Foxx, Speaker, Collins, Fain, Votto, Brothers, Bishop, Joe Jackson... I guess Votto looks pretty odd there as well.

Feb-23-16		perfidious: Was just reading of the 1949 A's, a team which holds the record for most DPs completed. It seems that there were some contributing factors: they had two regular left-handed starters and got 63 starts in all from lefties. Look at the walk totals for their pitchers: only one starting pitcher in that rotation even managed to strike out as many as he walked, a not uncommon phenomenon that season in baseball. Bill James wrote of that on some Yankees pitchers, and they won the dang thing! Fain was an excellent defensive first baseman and a left-hander, which helps with all those baserunners and DP opportunities--unless you are me, in which case terrible with the glove is still terrible! For all that, A's starting pitching was not bad, with three posting ERA+s of 107-110. Fain, Sam Chapman and Eddie Joost were not enough to keep up with Yankees and Red Sawx, though. http://www.baseball-reference.com/t...

Feb-23-16		WannaBe: MadBum took his horse to spring training: http://www.mercurynews.com/giants/c... Not to be out-done, Cespedes took his ride to spring training, too: http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/02/23...

Feb-23-16		WannaBe: (at least) 29 people out there that don't know which team won the Super Bowl. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features... http://www.lastman.us/

Feb-24-16		Phony Benoni: I know one that didn't! https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.co...

Feb-24-16		WannaBe: Nike founder P. Knight donates $400 Million to Stanford. http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/24/new... That's a lot of sneakers.

Feb-24-16		Phony Benoni: I'm sure the Department of Dendrology will use it wisely.

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