User Profile: phony benoni

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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.

>> Click here to see phony benoni's game collections.

   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 16 OF 914 · Later Kibitzing>
Dec-02-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW (Composed by M. S. Libiurkin, 1934. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #51.) click for larger view Don't play a good move too soon. <1.e5 Nxe5 2.c8Q Nc4+> White is having a trying time, with all those knight forks in the immediate future or after 3.Ka7 Qg1+. <3.Ka8! Nb6+ 4.Kb7 Nxc8 5.Bd5+ Kg1> click for larger view And now taking the queen allows Black to win by 6...Nd6+. However, that queen does not have a wide choice of moves; maybe if we just leave it there for a moment... <6.Kxc8! Qxd5> Stalemate. Say, we could use a symbol equivlaent to + for check and # for mate for this situation. & doesn't seem to be doing anything, so let's try that again. <6.Kxc8! Qxd5&>

Dec-03-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN (Composed by D. F. Petrov, 1935. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #52.) click for larger view If you remember Petrov from #1 back on September 30, you know what to expect. <1.Qh6+ Kf7 2.Ne5+ Ke6 3.d7 Ke7> click for larger view <4.Qf8+! Kxf8 5.Ng6+ Kf7 6.d8N#>

Dec-04-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN (Composed by S. M. Kaminer, 1935. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #53.) click for larger view Part of the charm of endgame studies is the beautitul positions and combinations that arise. But the true art of the composer is getting the pieces into those positions. <1.h7 Bh5> Now if White queens the pawn, Black counters with 2...Bxg6+ and 3...Be7, with the threat of 4...Bf6+ winning the queen or mating. To counter the threat, White plays one of those absolutely nonsensical looking moves that computers are so good at finding. <2.Nf4!! gxf4 3.h8Q Bg6+ 4.Ka1 Be7 5.Nf3! Bf6+ 6.Ne5+ Ke7> click for larger view About now, you're probably wondering (a) How does White get out of this mess? (b) You still haven't explained 2.Nf4; what was that all about? <7.Qh4!!> The point! 2.Nf4 opened a line for this pin, which wins after: <7...Bxh4 8.Nxg6+ Kf6 9.Nxh4>

Dec-05-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW (Composed by A. O Herbstmann, 1935. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #54.) click for larger view An Indiana Jones study; everytime White solves one problem, another grave source of peril crops up. And there's a surprise ending to boot. <1.Kb4+ Kb6 2.Kc3 bxc1Q+> Chernev uses Descriptive Notation in his book, and this move comes out 2...PxR(B8)(Q)ch. Now there's a mouthful. <3.Rxc1 Bxg3> White has disposed of one passed pawn, but now the second threatens to promote and win. 4.Kd2 Bf4+ is out, of course. <4.Rb1+ Kc5 4.Kd2 e1Q+ 6.Rxe1 Bxe1+ 7.Kxe1 Kd4> click for larger view This ain't over yet! <8.Kf2 Ke4 9.Kg3 Kf5 10.Kh4 Kf4> click for larger view And, just when all seems lost: <11.g6! hxg6> Stalemate saves the day!

Dec-06-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW (Composed by T. B. Gorgiev, 1928. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #55.) click for larger view Now give that to me in triplicate! <1.Qe8+ Ka7 2.Qe7+ Kxa6 3.Qxg7 Nf3+ 4.Kh1> click for larger view OK, so 4...Qxg7 is stalemate. Let's just shove the king around a little. <4...Qe1+ 5.Kg2 Qg1+ 6.Kh3> Aaargh! <6...Qh2+ 7.Kg4 Qg2+ 8.Kh5> Oh, what the heck... <8...Qxg7> and stalemate.

Dec-07-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN (Composed by S. P. Kruchkov, 1926. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #56.) click for larger view Lefty Gomez was an eccentric New York Yankees pitcher in the 1930s. One day, the opposing batter was Jimmie Foxx, known as "The Beast" for his intimidating presence as well as his ability to hit gigantic home runs. Gomez simply stood on the mound and refused to pitch. When his catcher went out to ask what was going on, Gomez said, "Maybe if I stand here long enough, he'll get bored and go away." I imagine that Black feels like that around move 5 in this study. <1.Be5 Bxe5 2.Rxe5+ Kf8 3.Re8+! Kxe8 4.g7 Rg8 5.f6> click for larger view <5...Rf8> This move reminds me of Taimanov's comment on 16...Nc6 in Averbakh vs Spassky, 1956: "I would rather resign the game than play such a move!" <6.gxf8Q+ Kxf8 7.Kd7 Kg8 8.Ke7> And Black is zugged to death.

Dec-08-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN (Composed by L. A. Issaev and S. S. Levman, 1926. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #57.) click for larger view The knight and queen dance merrily for a while, then White gets tired of all that foolishness and wraps things up. <1.a7 Qa4 2.f7 Qa3 3.Nb4> The dance begins. Black must control both a8 and f8 with the queen, so White tries to cut her off with the knight. <3...Qxf3 4.Nd5 Qa3 6.Ne7 Qf3> click for larger view Enough already! <7.Ng6+! hxg6 8.hxg6> And wins. The queen cannot be everywhere at once, and the bishop eliminates any stalemate ideas.

Dec-09-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW (Composed by H. Mattison and J. Behtin, 1924. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #58.) click for larger view A little lesson on the consumer economy. Sometimes, you can have all the choices in the world but they do you no good. <1.h8Q+ Kxh8 2.Kf8 Bd5 3.Nf7+ Bxf7 4.Be5+ Rxe5 5.gxf7!> click for larger view Of Black's 35 legal moves, the only one which does not stalemate White is 5...Re8+, allowing 6.fxe8Q with a drawn ending.

Dec-10-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW (Composed by L. A. Kayev, 1934. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #59.) click for larger view Careful now! <1.Kf8 Kh7 2.Ne5! Nxe5 3.Bc2+ Ng6+ 4.Kf7 Bh5> click for larger view Here's the trick. If White tries a random bishop move like 5.Bd2, Black draws after 5...Kh8 6.Bc3+ Ne5+ (double check!) 7.Kf8 Bg6! as 8.Bxg6 is stalemate and 8.Bxe5+ Kh7 is just a draw. To defeat this, White must eliminate the ...Ne5+ defense with: <5.Bg5! Kh8 6.Bf6+ Kh7 7.Bg7> and Black's bishop must abandon the knight, allowing mate.

Dec-11-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW (Composed by M. Platov, 1914. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #60.) click for larger view Fork, skewer, fork. <1.Nf5+ Kxh5 2.Be8+ Kg4> click for larger view And now for the 1-2-3 punch! <3.Ne3+! Bxe3 4.Bh5+! Kxh5 5.Rxd5+! Qxd5> And stalemate, in combo-bombo style (to steal a phrase from <IMDay>).

Dec-12-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW (Composed by G. M. Kasparyan, 1937. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #61.) click for larger view The queen is used to throwing her weight around. It must be very frustrating when she has a fully open board, yet is unable to frustrate the opponent's plans. <1.Kd7 h5 2.Kc7 h4 3.Kb6 h3 4.Ka5 h2 5.b6 h1Q> click for larger view And there you have it. White is three moves away from stalemating himself, yet after <6.b5> Black is unable to prevent this without giving up the queen! A couple of variations: on move 1, Black must advance the h-pawn or White catches it by the Reti maneuver (2.Ke6). And if 2...Ka7, then 3.b6+ Ka8 (3...Ka6? 4.b5+ and 5.Kxb7) 4.Kd6 h4 5.Kc5 h3 6.Kb5 h2 7.Ka5 transposing into the second diagram.

Dec-13-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN (Composed by G. M. Kasparyan, 1934. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #62.) click for larger view Obviously, Black wants to queen a pawn. Be careful what you wish for. <1.Bh2+ Kh5 2.Rxe2 fxe2 3.Bc7!> Go right ahead! I'll even throw in a check. <3...e1Q+ 4.Kh2 Qf2 5.Bd6> click for larger view Ouch! Most queen moves allow either Bg3# or g3#, and 5...g4 6.Be7+ is also less than inspiring. Black repents of his sin of avarice and resolves to give the queen back. <5...Qf4+ 6.g3+! Qxg3+ 7.Bxg3#>

Dec-14-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW (Composed by F. J. Prokop, 1924. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #63.) click for larger view Imagine this is a blitz game. Black has already grabbed his queen, ready to plop her down on the board at an appropriate moment. <1.Qxb2 e2+ 2.Kb8> Black stops in mid-promotion, noting that 2...e1Q 3.Qc3+ will be stalemate. <2...Bh2+ 3.Kc8> And again Black halts; 3...e1Q 4.Qd2+ leads to stalemate. <3...Bf5+ 4.Kd8 e1Q 5.Qxb5+!> Oh, darn.

Dec-14-06		RonB52734: <PhonyBenoni> I've got my hands on a copy of the 1946 US Open book (we have 2 copies at the Pittsburgh Chess Club). We were discussing this at a recent board meeting and the following question came up, and you might know the answer. Was the 1946 Open the first one after some sort of hiatus due to WWII?

Dec-15-06		Phony Benoni: <RonB52734> No, the US Open (or its predecessors) has been held every year since 1900, without a break. If you have the April 2006 Chess Life, there is a complete list of winners on p.51 (the yearbook section). By the way, I've had to slow down a bit on submitting games from the 1946 Open, but I'm about finished with the eight preliminary rounds. I do have about twenty or so games that I'm not sure of the score, due to the state of my photocopy. If you'd like, I can send or post what I've deciphered so you can check and see if it is accurate.

Dec-15-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN (Composed by A. S. Seletsky, 1931. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #64.) click for larger view A sharp struggle culminating in the "domination" theme, as common in studies as it is rare in practical play. <1.Kg2 Bd3 2.Rd1 Nf2 3.Kxf2 Ba7+ 4.Ke1 Bxg6 5.Rd7 Bb8 6.Rxg7 Kh6 7.Rxg6+ Kh7 8.Re6 Bg3+ 9.Ke2 Kxh8> click for larger view And Black has escaped into a drawn ending--which isn't drawn! <9.Kf3!> And the bishop is trapped! For instance, 9...Bc7 gets swooped by 10.Re8+ and 11.Re7+.

Dec-15-06		RonB52734: I have just recently submitted Ulvestad vs. Steiner from the finals. A very interesting game. I can't wait for it to come online.

Dec-16-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW (Composed by F. Lazard, 1926. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #65.) click for larger view With the rook not getting out alive, White needs to find a perpetual check or something. Fortunately, his knight is perfectly placed for the purpose. <1.Bf5 Bxf5+ 2.Kxf5 e6+ 3.Kxe6 bxa1Q> click for larger view End of prelude. Now the knight gets down to business. <4.Ng6+ Kg4 5.Ne5+ Kf4 6.Nd3+ Ke4 7.Nc5+> Ooops. 7...Kd4 runs right into the forking 8.Nb3+, and the only other choice is going back where he came from. It's a draw!

Dec-17-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW (Composed by A. O. Herbstman, 1939. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #66.) click for larger view A most unlikely position (yes, that's a <White> pawn on g7), in which both sides have problems. Black is currently stopping 1.g8Q by threatening mates after 1...Rxc1+ or 1...Rxa4+, but must keep up the pressure. <1.Kb1 Rxc1+ 2.Kxc1 Rxa4 3.Kd1 Rxd4+ 4.Ke2 Re4+ 5.Kf3 Re8> And Black can relax a bit--but he's not out of the woods yet. <6.Nxd7 Rg8 7.Nf6 Rxg7> click for larger view With the knight and rook stuck in place, it's time for the kings to ride to the rescue with the William Tell Overture playing in the background. <8.Kg4 Kd4> To-the-dump, to-the-dump, to-the-dump-dump-dump. <9.Kxg5 Ke5> To-the-dump, to-the-dump, to-the-dump-dump-dump. <10.Kh6! Kf6> click for larger view And the film comes to a sudden halt.

Dec-17-06		RonB52734: Also Ulvestad v. Elo (I'm mentioning this so we don't duplicate effort).

Dec-17-06		Phony Benoni: <RonB52734> Ooops! I submitted Ulvestad v. Elo earlier today! Just to be clear, so far I've submitted all missing games from rounds 1-5 of the prelims, except for Almgren v. Paas (Game #68, round 5; not sure of the last 10 or so moves). I hope to be able to put in a little more time on this; I've had some work pressures lately. I'll mark Ulvestad v. Steiner to be sure I don't submit it as well. Thanks, and keep me posted!

Dec-18-06		RonB52734: I have a very clear copy of Almgren v. Paal (Game 68). If the problem is that your copy isn't readable, I'll upload it. If the problem is that you think the scoresheet is dubious, then that's another matter. Let me know.

Dec-18-06		Phony Benoni: <RonB52734> My copy is nearly illegible; it will probably be better if you upload it.

Dec-18-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN (Composed by A. P. Gulayev, 1940. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #67.) click for larger view Zugzwang with three pawns against a queen! <1.g7 f2 2.Be7!> Not 2.gxh8+ Kxh8 3.Kf7 f1Q+. <2...f1Q 3.Bf6 Qxf6!> And now 4.exf6 stalemates Black. But what else is there? <4.gxh8Q+! Qxh8 5.d4!!> click for larger view Ouch.

Dec-19-06		Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN (Composed by E. N. Somov-Nasimovitsch, 1936. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #68.) click for larger view Another entry in The Case of the Lone Bishop Murder series. <1.Rf2 Bc4 2.a6 Bxa6 3.Ra2+ Kb5 4.Ka7 Bc8 5.Rb2+ Kc6 6.Rb8 Kd7> click for larger view Is the bishop safe? Don't make me laugh! <7.Rxc8 Kxc8 8.Bxe6#>

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