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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.

Chessgames.com Full Member

   Phony Benoni has kibitzed 18634 times to chessgames   [more...]
   Jun-11-22 M Blau vs Keres, 1959 (replies)
 
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 (replies)
 
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 (replies)
 
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 (replies)
 
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 (replies)
 
Phony Benoni: SkinnVer Here Among the Fold?
 
   Jun-09-22 Flohr vs Bondarevsky, 1947 (replies)
 
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 ...
 
(replies) indicates a reply to the comment.

Living in the Past

Kibitzer's Corner
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Jun-23-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: <OCF> Okay, I can kinda see that, but if the throw goes to third, and the third baseman steps on the bag, throws to second, and the second baseman steps on the base, does the run still score?

Or, the better (re-phrased) question, in the scenario that I proposed, you have 2 runners that did not tag, (3rd and 2nd base runners), if the ball is thrown to third on appeal (regardless if the first base runner is standing there, or not)

Are both runners that took off from third and second both out? If only the third base runner is out, can the ball then be thrown to second and appeal there?

Jun-24-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: <Wassabi: Okay, I can kinda see that, but if the throw goes to third, and the third baseman steps on the bag, throws to second, and the second baseman steps on the base, does the run still score?>

No.

<Or, the better (re-phrased) question, in the scenario that I proposed, you have 2 runners that did not tag, (3rd and 2nd base runners), if the ball is thrown to third on appeal (regardless if the first base runner is standing there, or not)

Are both runners that took off from third and second both out?>

No.

< If only the third base runner is out, can the ball then be thrown to second and appeal there?>

Yes.

Jun-24-14  TheFocus: <Phony Benoni> Thought you would be interested in this:

From Mechanics Institute Newsletter #672

Abraham Kupchik – The Greatest Manhattan Chess Club Champion Some might have been surprised by the induction of Abraham (Abe) Kupchik (1892-1970) into the US Hall of Fame this past May, but those well-versed in US chess history were not. IM Walter Shipman, one of the most knowledgeable people in the United States on chess played in this country from 1900-1950, believes that following the death of Henry Nelson Pillsbury in 1906 until the emergence of Isaac Kashdan in the late 1920s, a strong argument could be made that Kupchik was number two in the United States, after Frank Marshall (roughly 1913-1928).

Kupchik did not play much overseas excepting an outstanding result on board three for the gold-medal-winning US Olympiad team in 1935, but he dominated the Manhattan Chess Club Championship for several decades at a time, when that was one of the strongest events held in the United States.

The records for the winners of this event are surprisingly poor and online information is not to be trusted, nor is that in The Bobby Fischer I Knew by Arnold Denker and Larry Parr, where on page 62 they write that “Kupchik won the Manhattan Chess Club Championship nine times outright and once jointly.” Also wrong is the May 1949 issue of Chess Review (page 133), which notes that Kupchik “won the Manhattan Club Championship at least ten times!”

This two references, while not identical, are at least close, but now read the following. Chess Review August-September 1945 (page 5) quotes Kupchik himself, who says he won the Manhattan CC Championship “fifteen or sixteen times.” This is quite a discrepancy.

The great chess archivist Jeremy Gaige and his successor Gino Di Felice provide some help, but many crosstables for Manhattan Chess Club Championships are missing. Using books by these gentlemen, supplemented by the American Chess Bulletin and Chess Review (from 1933 forward) I was able to piece together the following, although a few questions remain.

What emerges is that between 1913–14 and 1936–37 Kupchik won 13 times, finished second or equal second 4 times, and fifth once in 18 tries—a truly remarkable record. Note there are a few years (1922–23 and 1930–31) that I was unable to determine whether Kupchik participated, but other people are listed as the winner.

According to Arnold Denker in The Bobby Fischer I Knew, Kupchik was shorter than Reshevsky—just a few inches over five feet—but that didn’t stop him from being a great player.

Denker also writes that Kupchik had a passive style and played as if he was afraid, but IM Shipman (who knew both men well) tells me “solid” is much more accurate description. He adds that Kupchik beat Denker in a very nice game in the 1936 US Championship, and had a lifelong plus score against him.

Tarrasch D34
Abraham Kupchik–Arnold Denker
US Championship (11) 1936

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0–0 0–0 9.Bf4 Bf5 10.dxc5 d4 11.Na4 Ne4 12.Rc1 g5 13.Nd2 Nxf2 14.Rxf2 gxf4 15.Rxf4 Bg6 16.Bxc6 bxc6 17.Nf3 Bf6 18.b3 Bg7 19.Rc4 Qe7 20.Nb2 Rfe8 21.Kf1 Rad8 22.Nd3 Qe3 23.Nh4 Bh5 24.Rc2 Rd5 25.Nf5 Rxf5 26.Rxf5 Qe4 27.Rf3 Bxf3 28.exf3 Qf5 29.Nf2 Re3 30.Kg2 Rc3 31.Ne4 Rxc2+ 32.Qxc2 Qd5 33.Nf2 Bf8 34.b4 f5 35.Nd3 Bh6 36.a4 Kf7 37.b5 cxb5 38.axb5 Ke7 39.Qa4 1–0

Abraham Kupchik’s record in Manhattan Chess Club Championships:

1913–14 Abraham Kupchik (1)
1914–15 Kupchik (2)
1915–16 Kupchik (3)
1916–17 Kupchik (4)
1917–18 Oscar Chajes (Kupchik did not play)
1918–19 Kupchik (5)
1919–20 Chajes and Kupchik (no playoff) (6)
1920–21 David Janowski, Roy T. Black (Kupchik did not play)

1921–22 Morris A. Schapiro (Kupchik did not play)
1922–23 Schapiro (I could not determine if Kupchik played)

1923–24 1. Chajes 2. Kupchik (7)
1924–25 Kupchik (8)
1925–26 Kupchik (9)
1926–27 1. Maroczy =2-3. Kupchik and Kashdan
1927–28 1. Kupchik (10) in a 5 player double round robin with Horowitz, Pinkus, Steiner and Kashdan

1928–29 1. Kevitz 2. Kupchik
1929–30 1.Kashdan 2. Kupchik
1930–31 Kupchik (11)
1931–32 Kashdan (I could not determine if Kupchik played)

1932–33 Kupchik (12) and Willman tied (Kupchik won the playoff)

1933–34 Willman (Kupchik did not play)

1934–35 Kupchik (13) and Kashdan tied (Kupchik won the playoff) 1935–36 Kevitz (Kupchik did not play) 1936–37 1. Kashdan =5.Kupchik 1937–38 Kashdan (Kupchik did not play)
1938–39 Moskowitz (Kupchik did not play)
1939–40 Denker (Kupchik did not play)
1940–41 Albert Pinkus (Kupchik did not play)
1941–42 Sydney Bernstein and Fred Reinfeld (Kupchik did not play)

Jun-24-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <TheFocus> Thanks. I have thought for some time that Denker's own extroversion colored his portrait of Kupchik.
Jun-25-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: That's some hot dog. Next time toss an Italian Sausage or a bratwurst.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireSt...

Jun-25-14  Jim Bartle: Another no-hitter for Lincecum.
Jun-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: The latter phase of Lincecum's career has been passing strange; two no- hitters in recent seasons, but little else since 2011.
Jun-26-14  hms123: Here's every baseball player's dream: Hitting the game-winning home run in the last game of the (College) World Series.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...

Go Vandy!

Jun-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: Here's my favorite student/athlete from Vanderbilt:

http://www.holyturf.com/wp-content/...

Jun-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: What a lovely gal!
Jun-26-14  hms123: <OCF> <WannaBe>

There are many such at Vanderbilt.

This young lady was in my class:

http://www.titansonline.com/team/ch...

http://www.titansonline.com/media-c...

Jun-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: <hms123> Not getting any images from those links. Have to contact our system administrator to see why.

Hey <WannaBe> I am not seeing any pictures, fix the firewall!!

Jun-26-14  hms123: <WannaBe> Obviously the links work for me. Odd.
Jun-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNIZ...
Jun-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: <OCF> Streaming is now allowed, have to talk to my systems administrator to fix that.

Hey, WannaBe, fix the youtube link!

Jun-26-14  playground player: <Phony Benoni> In your capacity as a library wizard, maybe you can explain this to me.

My local public library does not have Lord Tennyson's <Idylls of the King>. When I asked the librarian at the desk about it, he looked at me like I was trying to get him to eat a fistful of gravel. "Didn't you have that in high school?" I asked. "Sorry--never heard of it," he said. "What kind of idols?"

"Not 'idols.' 'Idylls'. I-d-y-l-l..."

Now he thinks I'm crazy or something, so I just say thank you and walk away.

What gives?

Jun-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: What's a library?
Jun-26-14  Jim Bartle: A place where you go to be alone with thousands of books.
Jun-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <playground player> First of all, that was entirely unprofessional behavior on his part. You probably got an information scientist instead of a librarian.

Or you may have gotten a person without any professional training at all. To save money, many library systems prefer to hire non-professionals to answer such questions. In the old days, he probably would have been shelving books rather than answering questions. You might have had better luck if "Idylls of the King" was a video game you were trying to install.

Like it or not (and I think I know your opinion) libraries are moving away from being repositories to becoming computer centers, information gateways, and meeting places. Being a classic is no longer a guarantee that a physical copy of a work will be available; currency and popularity are more important considerations. I know of libraries that will not keep any book on their shelves that is more than five years old.

<WannaBe>'s remark, though facetious, is a common attitude. Since everything is available online, why do we need this expensive building with all those expensive books and expensive librarians? As a result, libraries barely get enough funds to stay open, much less expand.

I don't the trend as all bad. The concept of a library's collections being available 24/7 from any location is actually a good one. But transitions never come without pain and nostalgia.

Jun-26-14  Travis Bickle: Hey Phony, The Cubs never did take no stuff from no damned White Sox!! ; P

http://youtu.be/Tivag5pOBhM

Jun-26-14  playground player: <Phony Benoni> If I had wanted to take the time to fill out a form, I could have ordered <Idylls> from another library in the system. That's a good thing. Something about the guy behind the counter not having the foggiest idea what I was talking about made me lose heart and go away.

Our library used to have, on its own shelf with wheels on it, a collection of the world's great and influential books from Homer to Hegel, et al. The library board decided to sell off the books for 25 cents each, just to get rid of them. The director was sick over it, but she couldn't talk them out of it.

I do understand that the building simply isn't big enough to keep everything. But some of the books they've thrown away were worth a lot more than most of the books they kept.

And yes, they're strapped for money and they aren't buying any new books at all, for the foreseeable future.

They won't even buy my books. The philistines.

Jun-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: <playground player> Gutenberg project:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/610

Jun-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <playground player> We had a Gift of the Magi situation with our Rare Book Collection.

For years it sat in the Conference Room under sentence of mildew because the Library was not air conditioned and could not provide proper climate control to preserve the books. Before it got too bad, they sold off the collection for $250,000.

And used the money to buy--you guessed it--air conditioning.

Jun-27-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <My local public library does not have Lord Tennyson's <Idylls of the King>. When I asked the librarian at the desk about it, he looked at me like I was trying to get him to eat a fistful of gravel. "Didn't you have that in high school?" I asked. "Sorry--never heard of it," he said. "What kind of idols?"

"Not 'idols.' 'Idylls'. I-d-y-l-l...">

<playground player> That's funny. I'm reading <The Swerve>, about the rediscovery of Lucretius' De rerum natura in the 15th century. I was typing a note in my Kindle about the Palatine hill, which is where Nero et al. built their palaces and where, in fact, our word "palace" comes from.

As a time-saver, Kindle suggests words while you are typing. It suggested "palace," of course, but never "Palatine." When I got close, it suggested "Palpatine." I'm sure your librarian would have done the same.

Just days before, I had been standing on the actual Palatine. No point in mentioning this. I just wanted to boast that I'd recently spent two weeks' honeymoon in Italy. I suspect life will be all downhill from here...

Hearken to wannabe, though. Gutenberg (and Google books) is an amazing resource.

Jun-27-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: First thing I do on my devices, is to turn OFF auto-correct.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technol...

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