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 516 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> Oct-12-13    Phony Benoni: OK, <WannaBe>, you can come out of the shadows now. Oct-13-13    Phony Benoni: Good grief. Since when did 1-0 games go on for four hours? Oct-13-13    Jim Bartle: Or there are 150 pitches in a one-hitter. Oct-13-13    Phony Benoni: Bill Bevens must have thrown upwards of 200 in his one-hitter. And that game only took 2:20. Oct-13-13    Jim Bartle: Wow. They do take more time between pitches today, and between innings. How long would it have taken if the ump hadn't called anything within six inches of the plate a strike? And how many swings and misses did the Sox have? I don't remember seeing that many. Oct-13-13    Phony Benoni: Back in the 50s and 60s, I remember 60 seconds being the standard break between half-innings. Must be closer to three minutes now. Slow pitching has been a complaint for a while. I recall an article from the Reader's Digest in the 1960s titles <"So Throw the Ball!">, blaming pitcher for the trend toward 3-hour games that was killing the sport. And this was well before the Al Hrabowsky Era. Oct-13-13    perfidious: Then there was Mike Hargrove, the Human Rain Delay, who began the now common practice of constantly stepping out while at bat, back in the 1970s. Oct-13-13    OhioChessFan: I can't stand batters stepping out of the box. Watching Joey Votto spending 3 minutes wiping out the batter's box lines and then Jay Bruce backing up to the on deck circle after every pitch is agony. As for pitchers working quickly, if they do, the batters will inevitably step out of the box to "break his rhythm". Nobody ever explains why that hurts only the pitcher's rhythm and not the batter's also, but it's one of those stupid folk legends that nobody ever seems to question. Oct-13-13    Jim Bartle: Also, the quicker the pitcher throws, the more alert the fielders are. Oct-13-13    WannaBe: Was following the game on ESPN Radio, didn't want to jinx anything. I've already jinxed the Dodgers 2 games in a row. Oct-13-13    WannaBe: Oh, my God. Them Lambs are putting a world of hurt on Texans. Time to rally the troops and call John Wayne to save the team! Oct-13-13    Jim Bartle: Speaking of folk legends, why does more time on the field tire out the defense more than the offense? Oct-13-13    WannaBe: Offense can't move when they line up, where as defensive men are jumping, running around trying to fake blitz, only to drop back. Hence, defense get tired faster. Oct-13-13    Jim Bartle: I think, if it exists, it's more psychological. Offensive players more or less know what they're going to do in the play, while defenders have to react and often chase. Oct-13-13    Jim Bartle: Rules question: The other night a Tiger hit a ball which was going to be a home run by about a foot. The Oakland rightfielder jumped and the ball seemed to be heading straight for his glove, but a fan reached out and tried to catch the ball. The umps gave him a home run. But what's the rule? I can understand calling an out if the ball would still be in play. But the rule should say that it cannot be assumed a player would have caught a ball over the fence. He certainly may have caught it, but it shouldn't be assumed. Oct-13-13    Phony Benoni: <JB> There was a little talk about that play around here. I believe the home run was called due to a Comerica Park ground rule. If you remember the the rlay, there was padding on the outfiled wall in that area with a yellow line indicating the top of the padding. The fielder's glove, and the ball were well above that yellow line. At Comerica Park, <A ball that hits above the padding is a home run>. A fielder can still try to catch it, but does so at his own risk; he has no special right to the ball. The situation is the same as a fielder reaching into the stands trying to catch a fould pop-up. The umpires probably knew the facts immediately, and may have been using the replay to be sure the ball was going to hit above the yellow line. So the railing was a red herring in this case. There was no spectator interference because the ball was, by ground rule, "in the stands". http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/det/b... Oct-13-13    WannaBe: Have Denver covered against the spread, yet? Oct-13-13    Jim Bartle: PB: I agree with that rule. You go off the field of play (to catch a home run), you don't have clear right to the ball. Oct-13-13    perfidious: <WannaBe>: Didn't happen, and won't. Oct-13-13    OhioChessFan: <JB: Speaking of folk legends, why does more time on the field tire out the defense more than the offense?> Agreed. There are 5 interior offensive linemen, each of whom is normally heavier than the 4 defensive linemen. The wideouts must begin sprinting from the snap, while the defense backpedals a bit at lesss than full speed as they watch the play unfold. The guys with the ball are the ones who get hit. All added up, I would expect the offense to be more tired. Oct-13-13    WannaBe: Did I mention that there are no hits in the Det-Bos game?! =)) Oct-13-13    WannaBe: Closing seconds of 2nd qtr, 33 seconds on the clock, Redskins have 2 timeouts, did they use one? NO. Players hurried down the field, RG III threw a wild outside pitch, and they had to settle for a FG. I don't understand, I really don't. Why did the Redskins not call a timeout after that first down. Oct-13-13    OhioChessFan: It is mind numbing to see how stupid NFL coaches are with timeouts. Why <not> use them early, so long as you have one left? It is amazing how often a team with 3 timeouts ends up using none. Oct-13-13    WannaBe: <OCF> The thing that I don't get, RG III, is a relatively inexperienced player, coming back from knee injury, the team got a first down, 33 ticks on the clock. Instead of having the team hurrying down the field and run a (previously called) play. USE A TIME OUT! you have 2 of them. I just don't get it. Oct-13-13    WannaBe: Oh, my, grand slam, and T. Hunter is bleeding... Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 516 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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