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 108 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> Oct-06-09    hangingenprise: phoney, how do the red wings look this year? you will be on equal footing with that guy from chicago and his blackhawks. Oct-06-09    Phony Benoni: <hangingenprise> Probably the same as usual: devastating in the regular season, erratic in the playoffs. They're off to a bad start, though, with two losses in Sweden. They've also brought in some muscle this year, which concerns me--I always take that as a sign the team is a bit short on talent. Oct-06-09    YouRang: Condolences. I was rooting for the Tigers. Of course, that probably cursed them. :-o Oct-07-09    Jim Bartle: I have a pet peeve with baseball announcers: if a pitch is hit, it was a poor pitch, if it wasn't hit it was a good pitch. When Kubel hit his homer, the announcers said "He got that pitch too far up." Well, Porcello had been striking guys out and popping them up for innings with that same high fastball, and the announcers were praising him. Turns out a guy finally hit one. Oct-07-09    Travis Bickle: Phony I feel bad The Tigers went so far but couldn't get that 1 break to advance. As a lifelong Cubfan nobody knows more than me how much it hurts. Hang in there, your pal Travis. P.S. Now can you console me? I lost a chess game last night where my opponent had only 1 fluke move for a defense or I had the win. I was so furious & upset after the game I was worried about a stroke as my grandfather and dad died of cerebral hemmorages. How do you handle losing at chess? Oct-07-09    Phony Benoni: <Travis> I don't lose. However, that is not a viable solution if you're going to insist on continuing to play. Seriously, I doubt a person's reaction to losing at chess is much different than their reaction to any other frustrating situation that pops up in their life, and has to be handled in the same way. Me, I try not to take things too serioiusly. That Tigers game last night got me more wound up than I've been in years, and reminded me that I need to remember that these are ultimately games, and not important in the grand scheme of things. I'm ususally pretty good about shrugging off defeat with that attiture. You may need stronger medicine. Like a GM title, or the Cubs in the World Series. Oct-07-09    playground player: <Phony Benoni> What a difference 500 points in ratings makes. You seemed to be in charge all the way, in your game with Triplett; but I began to get a bad feeling for that Nakamura game somewhere around Move #5. And yet the moves, early on, were almost the same in both games. When did you begin to sense that Nakamura had your number? Of course, instead of resigning in the usual way, you could have carved out a niche for yourself in chess folklore by jumping up from the table and screaming, "Why must I lose to this idiot???" (Oh, that's already been done, you say? My bad...) Oct-07-09    Phony Benoni: <playground player> Whenever I wrote down "2342" for the opponent's rating on my scoresheet, I pretty much figured they had my number. And then when this 10-year-old kid shows up, and all I could think was that he was probably still improving fast... Well, there weren't too many illusions at that point. By the way, that tournament was in Hawaii, and I got the chance to see Judit Polgar in a bathing suit. Very modest and demure one-piece bathing suit, I must add. Unfortunately, I also got to see a lot of regular chess players in bathing suits. I'm still not sure I want to go back to Hawaii. Oct-07-09    WannaBe: You say that, in mid Jan. in Mich., when it's 10 below... Oct-07-09    Travis Bickle: Mr Benoni I don't know what your opening repertoire is but that said I would like to ask your opinion on one. Like most patzer American players lol I got interested in the Ruy Lopez, and the super complex systems of the KID and also the Gruenfeld. My question is with all the knowledge on The Najdorf Sicilian is it worth playing this system with tons and tons of theory on it, (I have 2 dvd's by Kasparov on The Najdorf)? ; P P.S. For starters I am a walking contradiction. I dont like playing the standard reply to the Sicilian, I like the Alapin. Any advice would be appreciated. Oct-07-09    Travis Bickle: <Phony Benoni: ... By the way, that tournament was in Hawaii, and I got the chance to see Judit Polgar in a bathing suit. Very modest and demure one-piece bathing suit, I must add. Unfortunately, I also got to see a lot of regular chess players in bathing suits.> I would have loved to have seen Judit even in a modest swimsuit! ; P Oct-07-09    Phony Benoni: <Travis Bickle> I don't like to recommend specific openings. If you're at the "patzer" level, my suggestion is to keep playing what you enjoy playing. Any lack of familiarity with the formal theory will be made up for by the increased "feel" you develop by constantly playing the type of positions your systems produce. Of course, the higher your level, the more you have to prepare. The really good players don't let you off the hook as easily. But I'm the wrong person to ask. Let me explain by telling you how I started playing the Marshall Gambit as Black against the Ruy Lopez. I long sought a good defense to 1.e4. The Sicilian fits my style, but I just didn't feel comfortable with the positions I got. The Caro-Kann and French never seemed to work either. In fact, the only defense I felt good about playing was 1...e5. However, White would always play the Ruy Lopez and I would always find a way to lose a pawn within the first ten moves. I got so desperate that I even took up the Latvian Gambit for a while. Then it hit me. If I'm going to lose a pawn in the Ruy, why don't I just go for the Marshall and sacrifice it instead? Yes, I adopt a very rational attitude toward selecting my openings. Oct-07-09    Phony Benoni: Seeing an article about the oldest living major league player turning 100 led to the following list: http://www.whosaliveandwhosdead.com... Sobering to realize there are fewer than twenty players left who played in the 1930s. Oct-08-09    dzechiel: Well, the Dodgers looked good enough tonight. Their pitching was what made the difference. Now to see how the Angels do tomorrow. Oct-08-09    Jim Bartle: Who's the oldest living Hall of Famer? Oct-08-09    dzechiel: <Jim Bartle: Who's the oldest living Hall of Famer?> Lee MacPhail Oct-08-09    WannaBe: The oldest living Hall of Fame, is Jimbo 'Fischerman' Bob Jones, of the South East Kentucky Incorporated Area... (Hey, you didn't say which h.o.f.) Oct-08-09    Phony Benoni: The oldest living member of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York (OK, WB?) to have been a player is <Bobby Doerr>. From the same site mentioned above: http://www.whosaliveandwhosdead.com... Oct-08-09    Jim Bartle: Bob Feller 90; Stan Musial 88. Pretty much two opposites in personality. Oct-08-09    A.G. Argent: Yes, Dave Z, Dodgers in three. Cos that's the way its to be. And you heard it from me. Burma shave. Oct-08-09    playground player: <Phomy Benoni> Nakamura was 10 years old when you played him? Ugh! Couldn't you have distracted him with a video game or a comic book? Oct-08-09    Jim Bartle: Albert Hitless Again Doubtful Burma Shave Oct-08-09    A.G. Argent: Nope, Jim. Mr. Fatalism here. It's a month long swoon and won't go away. Not just him. It's a huge team-wide tank job. Gut feeling. Felt the vibe weeks ago. Go Angels. Or Phils. Oct-08-09    A.G. Argent: And of course, you know that's all a defense mechanism, preparing myself for disappointment. Or is it a bit of Murphy's law? Oct-08-09    Jim Bartle: What a poor play by the Rockies, though it didn't hurt them. One out, runners on second and third (the pitcher). Deep fly to left, the pitcher jogs in from third (can't tire out pitchers!), no chance to get him. But the runner on second tags up as well, and barely beats the tag. If he hadn't made it, the run wouldn't have counted. Bad play. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 108 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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