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 120 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> Oct-28-09    Jim Bartle: "(Unless his name is Bob Gibson and the manager wishes to live through the series.)" That's the truth. Gibson started nine Series games and finished every one. Yet he got lit up a couple of times and almost any other pitcher would have been pulled. "I had a commitment to his heart" and all that. Oct-28-09    Phony Benoni: By the way, I wasn't making up the bit about the broken ankle: http://books.google.com/books?id=RV... Oct-28-09    keypusher: <Jim Bartle: Opinions on where the NY infield rates? The best I can remember are from the 70s, the Reds (Perez, Morgan, Concepcion, Rose) and Dodgers (Garvey, Lopes, Russell, Cey). The 1964 Cardinals (White, Javier, Groat, Boyer) got a lot of attention when all were named to the All-Star team, but I'd say they're a notch below. Same with the Orioles of Powell, Johnson, Belanger, and Robinson. Looks to me as if today's Yankees are right up there.> Bill James took a look at this in his 2001 statistical abstract, using his win shares system (sorry to bring up James again, but he's all I know about baseball). The top infields were the Philadelphia Athletics "$100,000 infield" of 1910-1914. The other really high rating infield was the Pittsburgh Pirates of 1908, basically because of Honus Wagner. 1908 was the deadest of dead ball years, so making adjustments for overall scoring, in modern terms Wagner was a gold glove shortshop who hit better than Barry Bonds on steroids (sorry). That's a pretty valuable guy. Of the modern teams, the 70s Reds infield rated the highest. James allowed that they might well be the best of all, since it's likely that the overall level of competition had gotten higher since the days of Home Run Baker. The 70s Dodgers played together longer than any infield ever, but none of them was a true superstar. Similarly, the Orioles were as good defensively as any infield ever, but Belanger was a terrible hitter and Brooks Robinson wasn't a great one. The 80s Orioles infield, with Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray, didn't make the top either. Today's Wall St. Journal points out that the Phillies wanted to draft Mark Teixeira in 2001 but passed because they figured (no doubt rightly) that they couldn't afford him. Imagine an infield of Teixeira (at third), Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins. Oct-28-09    Jim Bartle: Yes, Honus Wagner clearly the best SS in history. Don't know much about the other infields from the early 20th century. One that I forgot was the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers: Cooper, Gantner, Yount and Molitor. Yount had one of the best years of any shortstop. And Molitor and Cooper were excellent hitters. Oct-28-09    hangingenprise: gee how do the fans feel in cleveland land seeing both their pitchers in the world series? lee is zoned Oct-28-09    Jim Bartle: Matsui fell asleep. Not a Yankee type play. Oct-28-09    hangingenprise: and utley just joined him Oct-28-09    keypusher: Not looking good for the evil empire. <phony benoni>, if you can't travel, that's fine, and thank God and Darpa for the internet. But if you want to, I am sure your B.C. can be tracked down and a passport issued. Oct-28-09    Jim Bartle: My prediction of the Yankees in three is not looking good. Oct-28-09    Phony Benoni: <keypusher> Oh, I'm just being lazy about it. I know it's available for the asking (and a small fee), even though I was born in Arkansas. Oct-28-09    Phony Benoni: A bad night for the Yankees, but hardly a disaster. The key to the game was Cliff Lee's phenomenal pitching, and the shaky Yankees bullpen. Sabbathia didn't pitch that badly; he just needs to rememer to walk Chase Utley intentionally. Oct-29-09    chessmoron: I see another win for Phillies tomorrow. Oct-29-09    Phony Benoni: I can predict with 100% certainty that the Phillies will not win tomorrow--unless the game gets postponed until Friday, in which case they will have a chance. Oct-29-09    chessmoron: AJ Brunett was horrid in his lost to the Angels and Pedro Martinez is going to stifle NY Yankees again unless Phillies manager pulls Pedro out too early. Oct-29-09    Phony Benoni: <chessmoron> Well, maybe. But again I would remind you that the game is scheduled for tonight, not tomorrow. Oct-29-09    chessmoron: <Phony> I live in the West Coast. 3 hour difference. :D Oct-29-09    Phony Benoni: Ah! I thought you might have been behind the times! Which reminds me that it's time for my semiannual rant about Davylight Saving Time. Now don't get me wrong. I'm in favor of an extra hour of sleep, any time, any place. But why in the world set back the clocks on Sunday morning? 97% of Americans already sleep late on Sunday, so it's just wasted. What we ought to do is set back the clocks at 2:00 AM Monday morning, when people can really use an extra hour of sleep! We do this, and you can get rid of all those annoying public service announcements since nobody will forget to set their clocks back. Oct-29-09    A.G. Argent: Czar, is the WS format the same as the LCS; 2-3-2? Or do they change it to 2-2-1-1-1? Oct-29-09    Phony Benoni: <A.G. Argent> 2-3-2, with days off following Games 2 and 5. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/ps.... Oct-29-09    playground player: <Jim Bartle> Don't forget Connie Mack's famous "$100,000 infield" of Stuffy McInniss (1B), Eddie Collins (2B, HOF), Jack Barry (SS), and Frank "Home Run" Baker (3B, HOF), Philadelphia Athletics, 1911. I wonder how much that infield would cost today. You could barely get Johnny LeMaster for $100,000 today. Oct-29-09    keypusher: The other interesting dead ball infield is the 1906-1910 Cubs. Tinker, Evers and Chance are considered some of the weakest players in the Hall of Fame, there only because of the silly poem. But the Cubs in those five years were the winningest franchise in the history of baseball, by a wide margin. So they must have been doing something right. Oct-29-09    Jim Bartle: Chance in particular got undeserved credit in the poem, since the first baseman has little or nothing to do with the quality of the double plays. I have to say the Phils' infield looks pretty good at the moment, with three All-star types and only average at third base. Oct-29-09    technical draw: I don't like what's going on with the Yankees now. It may even appear that the Phillies actually have a chance to win this series. Although the Yanks can, and have, won four in a row, I have this heavy feeling in my gut that the Yankees have peaked and the Phillies are peaking. Anyway, a weak, go Yankees! Oct-29-09    Deus Ex Alekhina: I would hope that the Phils put Cliff (Space Cadet) Lee in tonite's game on defense just to see what wackiness he will come up with. Oct-29-09    Phony Benoni: Don't know about that psychoanalysis, <td>. At the moment, I think the Yankes are feeling considerably more piqued than the Phillies. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 120 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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