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 18637 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 43 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> Feb-23-09    Phony Benoni: Well, I take it the intended solution is 1.Ba3 Kxh6 2.Bc1+ Bg5 3.Rf4, and the cook is 1.Be7+ Kxh6 2.Bxh4 c5 3.Rxd5 or 3.Rf4 or 3.Ra4 or 3.Kf6, for that matter. But not 1.Bb4 Be1 2.Bxe1 h4. Feb-23-09    SwitchingQuylthulg: Other mates include 1.Be7+ Kxh6 2.Rxh4 any 3.Kf6 any 4.Bf8#, and (simplest of all) 1.Kg7 any 2.Be7#. Feb-23-09    Phony Benoni: Cooked, broiled, baked, deep-fried, barbecued and fricaseed! Feb-24-09    Phony Benoni: Tartakower had a sense of humor. Here's a position from his game against P. Johner at Vienna, 1908: click for larger view Perhaps 37...Kc8 is the best move, but Tartakower, no doubt with a devilish glint in his eye, played <37...Qe7>. Johner plunged right in with <38.Rg7> and Tarty hit him with... Feb-25-09    whiteshark: ... a cross-pin? :D (could be as hard as a racket - otb) Feb-25-09    Phony Benoni: Cross-pin indeed. After <37...Qe7 38.Rg7 Rg8!!> click for larger view 39.Rxg8 Qxh7 40.Rxa8 Qb1+ picks up the bishop. Johner tried <39.Qxg8 Rxg8 40.Rxg8>, but <40...Qh7> worked out to be the same. While assemblining a collection for Vienna 1908, I'm finding a number of fascinating games (such as this one) that aren't yet in the database. Watch for them coming soon! By the way, I'm enjoying the games of Paul F Johner. Even though he doesn't win often against the top players, he's never intimidated and always goes right after them. Feb-26-09    whiteshark: A bit late for the <happy helpmate week>, but in the following position (white just has moved <48.Kg4-f4> in respondence to <47...Ne5+>) click for larger view Black's slackening senses for imminent danger created a miniature... Feb-26-09    Phony Benoni: <48...Nf7> is the obvious move; you have to keep your pieces protected in the endgame. Is there a problem with it? Feb-26-09    Phony Benoni: Another interesting position from a Vienna 1908 game not yet in the database. It's Teichmann v. Mieses, after <20...Qg5>: click for larger view Care to guess White's move? Feb-27-09    SwitchingQuylthulg: A draw offer? Feb-27-09    Phony Benoni: That was probably his best choice. Teichmann actually resigned, unable to find a good defense to the threat of 21...Bxg3. Feb-28-09    eightsquare: <phony benoni> nice game collections. Feb-28-09    Phony Benoni: <eightsquare> Why, thank you! I just wish I could stay focused on one long enough to finish it. Feb-28-09    Phony Benoni: And, speaking of finishing, I'm done with the preliminary work on Game Collection: Tournament: Vienna 1908; now just waiting for the 55 missing games to come in. Mar-01-09    eightsquare: all the best for finishing your game collections.you can check mine too. Mar-02-09    Phony Benoni: Wow, it's been almost twenty years since I pulled off this swindle. That's no excuse for showing it to you, but, hey, this is my forum and I can stuff it with whatever swill I please within the boundaries of decency. (Although my opponent might question whether this passes that test.) click for larger view It's <White to play>, and he's in a bit of a pickle, what with Black having a bunch of positional advantages and the threat of ...Ba6 to boot. Still, I figured that <1.b4> was worth a try, and my opponent cooperated with <1...Qa4?>, keeping his threat alive. (1...Qe5 looks best.) That gave me the chance to get in <2.h5>, and after <2...Ba6??> it was all smooth sailing: <3.Nxg6+ hxg6 4.hxg6+ Bh6 5.Rxh6+ Kg7 6.Nf5+> click for larger view And with 6...Kf8 7.g7# coming up, Black resigned. You see the point of 1.b4, don't you? Black's queen had to be lured away from guarding f5! Mar-03-09    eightsquare: right.what is your rating by the way,phony? Mar-03-09    Phony Benoni: <eightsquare> Depends on who you talk to. The USCF thinks I'm around 1950. FICGS says around 1550. GameKnot says around 1725, QueenAlice about 1900, and SchemingMind says I'm above 2000. When I played on ICC, my Standard rating was 2000, by blitz 1800, my bullet 1600. Apparently, my opponents get bored during long games. Speaking of my opponents, the ones I beat say I'm a 950 player who is continually lucky. That seems accurate to me. Mar-03-09    suenteus po 147: <Phony Benoni> Take a looksee and tell me what you think: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1963 Mar-05-09    technical draw: Hi, <Phony>. Thanks for that nice friendly draw in our Shadrach tournament game. Of course I don't like these grandmaster draws but what can I do?! Good luck in your other games. Mar-08-09    great uncle bulgaria: hi <Phony Benoni> i was just wondering what your comment on the game polugaevsky - gulko 1978 (d86) 1/2-1/2 was meant to mean. had you found a better continuation ??? thanks Mar-08-09    Phony Benoni: <great uncle bulgaria> I've answered you on the game page at Polugaevsky vs Gulko, 1978 Sometimes I like to present these as puzzles rather than giving the solution immediately, and this one seemed especially nice. Mar-08-09    Phony Benoni: And speaking of puzzles, here's a little one from a game not yet in the database. Lisitsin - Kasparian, Soviet Championship, 1931. <21...?> click for larger view Mar-08-09    great uncle bulgaria: 21..qxn 22 pxq be3 and.. really havent thought any further ive isolated the knight on h4 as the defender needing to be removed then a black bishop on e3 can assist the knight in a windmill sort of foray. then with the g file open the black rook can trundle into the fray and help checkmate. is this kind of close ?? Mar-08-09    Phony Benoni: <great uncle bulgaria> You've got the idea again, but the better order of moves is to play 21...Be3! Now, if 22.Bxg4 we get an unusual sort of seesaw: 22...Nxg4+ 23.Kh1 Nf2+ 24.Kg1 Nxd1+ 25.Kh1 Nf2+ 26.Kg1 Nxd3+ 27.Kh1 Nxe1, with two rooks and bishop for the queen. Black missed this and played 21...Qe6. He won in a few more moves, but it looked more like a time scramble than logical chess. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 43 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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