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 156 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> Feb-27-10    chancho: <Jim> did you feel the tremors over in Peru? Feb-27-10    Jim Bartle: No, not at all (thanks for asking). But we made sure to check for tsunami warnings before going to the beach. There was a warning early, but it was called off. Feb-27-10    chancho: <Jim> We get mild tremors here from time to time. The last major earthquake to hit Puerto Rico was in 1918. It was followed by a tsunami that hit the western side of the Island. 118 deaths attributed to it. Feb-27-10    A.G. Argent: Ok, Jim, here ya go - Mr. Baseball and Miller Lite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc3U... With a couple of Tonight Show appearances in the '80s to choose from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qDK... or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5wR... One of the very best dead-pans of all time. Feb-27-10    Jim Bartle: So thoughtful of you, AG, to leave the 49ers 37 Redskins 24 shot after the Great Seats Eh Buddy! Uecker is legitimately funny. I think I've noted this before, but when asked for a testimonial for Mike Shannon for 50 years with the Cardinals, he said, "He's done a great job with the Denver Broncos." Feb-27-10    Jim Bartle: When I tried to open the first Carson clip, it said... "An error occurred." Somehow fitting. Feb-28-10    playground player: <Jim Bartle> Even Willie Mays needed a breather sometimes. Unless <Phony Benoni> beats me to it, there must be a box score showing all three Alous in the outfield--even if only for an inning or two. Feb-28-10    Jim Bartle: Mays didn't take many games off, at least through 1966. He was out there every day. I do believe the three Alous played together for one inning in September 1963. Feb-28-10    Phony Benoni: Well, since you asked... The only time the Alou brothers were all teammates was September of 1963, when Jesus was a late season call-up by the Giants. Felipe was dealt to the Braves before the 1964 season, and they never got together again. I couldn't find an example of all three starting a game, and only three games where they were in the outfield at the same time: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... (9/15; 8th inning) http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... (9/17; 9th inning) http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... (9/22; 7th inning) All three games were similar situations; blowouts for the Giants, and the Alous that didn't start were inserted as pinch runners or defensive replacements. It was hard to get them in, since Mays played every day and McCovey had to play the outfield with Cepeda becoming a full-time first baseman. Plus Harvey Kuenn, an occasional cameo from Tom Haller, and the Giants had also brought up José Cardenal for his major league debut that month. Feb-28-10    Phony Benoni: Extra feature: In the third game (9/22), all three Alous batted for the Giants in the bottom of the 7th. Also, Cardenal had also played a few games back in April. Sorry about that. Feb-28-10    Jim Bartle: The Giants reliever in that game, Bob Garibaldi, was one of the phenoms who never made it. He was a local hero who had pitched for Santa Clara University and had been MVP of the College World Series. Big, big expectations and not much in the way of results. He became a long-time Pac-8 and Pac-10 basketball referee. Feb-28-10    Jim Bartle: Looked at the list of College World Series MVPs, and there are four at most who became major league All-Stars, and only one Hall of Famer (Winfield). Feb-28-10    Jim Bartle: Opinions on this review by Pete Hamill of the new biography of Willie Mays? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/b... Seems shallow and cliched to me. Mar-01-10    Phony Benoni: The review or the book? Neither one seemed particularly special to me. That picture of Mays from 1973 is sad. Most players tend toward paunchiness as they get older. He looks emaciated. Mar-01-10    Jim Bartle: I meant the review. The story of a Brooklyn kid, the Dodgers leaving, Mays was great, all seems so bland and predictable. Mar-01-10    Travis Bickle: Hey JB maybe the author should have told a few juicy lies in the book. ; P Mar-01-10    Jim Bartle: Not talking about the book, Travis, just the review. How would you like a review of a Ernie Banks biography which said, "It was so great to go out to those day games, see the poor Cubs try, and their great shortstop struggling against the inevitable, always so upbeat he wanted to play two"? Wouldn't you want something a little more original? Mar-01-10    Phony Benoni: Of course the reviewer wasn't being original. Nostalgia was the whole point. Mar-01-10    Jim Bartle: Yes, but it just seems so mundane, nothing surprising, nothing different than we've heard fifty times before ("we" meaning the typical baseball fan). So he refused to follow baseball after the Giants and Dodgers left. So what? Mar-01-10    Phony Benoni: <JB> This one really seems to be sticking in your craw. Is that as a baseball fan, or is it a professional judgment as a writer? Mar-01-10    Jim Bartle: Not really. More as a writer, I guess. Hamill writes unremarkable stuff but tries to present it as much more, touching on legends, shared history, etc. Imagine a review written by another NYC newspaperman, Jimmy Breslin. That would have been worth reading. Mar-01-10    Phony Benoni: An Early battery: http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1941... Mar-01-10    Jim Bartle: I didn't realize Wynn was pretty much an average pitcher for a number of years, basically until he was traded to Chicago. Wonder what the Senators thought about his big years as soon as he left Washington? Don't know the players Washington got in the trade, but they better have been good in exchange for Wynn and Vernon. Mar-01-10    Phony Benoni: Wynn and Vernon were originally traded by Washington to Cleveland after the 1948 season. The Senators got Ed Klieman (an undistinguished reliever who pitched only sporadically for a couple of years), Joe Haynes (a solid and consistent starter, but past his prime), and Eddie Robinson (a fairly good hitting first baseman with more power than Vernon). As it turned out, Vernon didn't work out in Cleveland and was back in Washington by 1950. As a matter of fact, his career is kind of weird: .257 1939 WAS A .158 1940 WAS A .299 1941 WAS A .271 1942 WAS A .268 1943 WAS A .353 1946 WAS A .265 1947 WAS A .242 1948 WAS A .291 1949 CLE A .189 1950 CLE A .306 1950 WAS A .281 1950 TOT A .293 1951 WAS A .251 1952 WAS A .337 1953 WAS A .290 1954 WAS A .301 1955 WAS A .310 1956 BOS A .241 1957 BOS A .293 1958 CLE A .220 1959 MIL N .125 1960 PIT N After two part-time years, he shoots up in .299 in 1941. Then a couple of mild slumps in 1942 and 1943, he spends two years in the military, comes back in 1946 and leads th league in hitting. Then two more slumps in 1947 and 1948, and he gets traded to Cleveland. Good year in 1949, stinks up the joint in 1950 and goes back to Washington in mid-season--where he hits over .300 the rest of the year. Good year in 1951, bad year in 1952, leads the league again in 1953. Decent seasons in 1954 and 1955, but the Senators figure he's due for a slump and ship him off to Boston. First year in Boston is fine, second year stinks. Off to Cleveland--and once again he does well the the first year in a new city! He's also 40 years old, though, and the Indians dump him as aga finally catches up for good the last two years. Mar-01-10    Phony Benoni: José Pagan's finest offensive game as a Giant, going 4 for 5 with two home runs: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... And nobody noticed. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 156 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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