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 ...

indicates a reply to the comment.

Living in the Past

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 115 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> Oct-19-09    Jim Bartle: The Angels better wake up or their October is going to be cut short. Oct-19-09    Jim Bartle: Six runs scored so far, every one on a homer. Oct-19-09    technical draw: Fire the coach who gave the steal go ahead! Oct-19-09    Jim Bartle: Should have flagged that pigeon for offsides! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yztN... Oct-19-09    Phony Benoni: Abreu thrown out 8-6-3. Announcers say it's only the second time there has been such a put out in postseason history. Here's the first. Yankees' 4th. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... Oct-19-09    Jim Bartle: Can't tell from reading. Teixeira tagged him out at which base? Oct-19-09    playground player: <Jim Bartle> You're right--Gossage was scary, especially when you're sitting close enough to the field to hear the ball explode when it hits the catcher's mitt. He could demoralize you, just taking his warmups. <Phony Benoni> I always argue with success! Why else would I hate Queen-pawn openings, the Sicilian Defense, and modern pitching? If you can't be a romantic in chess or baseball, where can you be one? Up Fred Haney! Down Whitey Herzog! Leo Durocher lives! May "quality starts" be forever banished to the Lower Regions! Surely, as a Mickey Lolich conoisseur, you can appreciate the sentiment. Oct-19-09    Jim Bartle: Up Fred Haney? The guy who had Joe Adcock at first base, and decided to platoon him with Frank Torre? Oct-19-09    Phony Benoni: I think this is an example of what they call over-managing. Oh, <JB>, Teixeira tagged the runner out as he tried to return to second. Good hustle by a first-baseman. Oct-19-09    Jim Bartle: Haney's starting lineup for 1959 playoff game with LA: Bruton cf .289 BA, .395 SA Mathews 3b .306, .593 Aaron rf .355, .636 (!) Torre 1b .228., .304 Maye lf .300, .436 (Logan ss, Crandall c, Mantilla 2b, Burdette p) On the bench: Adock .292, .535 Oct-19-09    Jim Bartle: Sandy Koufax in the house! A very rare sighting. I'll bet there's no interview with him. Oct-19-09    Phony Benoni: Yes, I remember his abortive attempt at broadcasting after retirement. More miscasting than broadcasting. Oct-19-09    Jim Bartle: Who's that in the Manny disguise in left field? Oct-19-09    Phony Benoni: Probably Ron Swoboda. Oct-19-09    Phony Benoni: That's even worse than losing 11-0. Oct-20-09    Jim Bartle: Exactly what I was thinking. An absolutely devastating loss, after the Dodgers seemed so clearly in control after Kemp's homer. Oct-20-09    SwitchingQuylthulg: <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!"> Compare lightbishop c5e6's Game Collections, last collection (I'm not allowed to link to it directly because this site doesn't like the name...), Game No. 1. Oct-20-09    Jim Bartle: I'm just now reading about the AL game last night. So Girardi went to the mound with a 2-2 count on Guerrero, and he hit the very next pitch out? I like Girardi, but really. But who knows, maybe it was necessary. Pettite and Posada are young players who sometimes need help with strategy. Oct-20-09    YouRang: What was weird about last night's AL game was in the last inning, after Yankee right-handed pitcher David Robertson got the first two Angel batters out easily. With two out, he was about to face the 3rd batter, right-hand hitter Howie Kendrick. But then, inexplicably, Yankee manager Girardi comes out to the mound. He takes this successful Robertson out of the game and brings in Alfredo Aceves -- thus replacing one right-handed pitcher with another! Of course, the move blew up in his face. Kendrick hit a single off Aceves to make Girardi look stupid, and that was followed by Mathis' game winning double to make Girardi look like a complete imbecile. If the Yankees lose this series, Girardi will look like target practice for Yankee fans. Why did Girardi do it? My best guess is that he likes the "Ace" in Aceves name. :-\ Oct-20-09    Phony Benoni: He probably saw something in the percentages or in the way Aceves pitches that made him think that was the way to go. But it looks like a clear case of overmanaging, pushing buttons just because there are buttons to push. A couple of innings before, Mathis had led off the inning with a double, and the announcers wondered that Sciosia didn't put in a pinch runner for his catcher. Whatever the reason, Sciosia wound up looking like a genius. I know somewhat how Girardi may have felt. For most of my tournament days, I oscillated between Class A and Expert, and almost invariably played better with the Class A rating. When I was an Expert, I couldn't stop feeling that now I had to play like an Expert to justify the rating. So I overthought everything, didn't trust my instincts, and often wound up looking like an idiot. Oct-20-09    keypusher: <I know somewhat how Girardi may have felt. For most of my tournament days, I oscillated between Class A and Expert, and almost invariably played better with the Class A rating. When I was an Expert, I couldn't stop feeling that now I had to play like an Expert to justify the rating. So I overthought everything, didn't trust my instincts, and often wound up looking like an idiot.> Great post! Oct-20-09    Jim Bartle: At least with the Yankees, Joe Torre always seemed content just to let his team play, making the few changes which were necessary. Of course maybe it was easier with that roster in the 96-03 years. Oct-20-09    Jim Bartle: Description at Si.com: "Damon flied into a double play, center fielder Tor.Hunter to first baseman K.Morales to third baseman Figgins, Swisher out." Glad I'm listening on radio. Oct-20-09    keypusher: How many times has Brett Gardner been caught stealing in this playoff? Oct-20-09    Phony Benoni: Looks like C.C. gets another AA rating. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 115 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific user only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

You are not logged in to chessgames.com. If you need an account, register now; it's quick, anonymous, and free! If you already have an account, click here to sign-in.