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 768 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> Feb-24-16    luftforlife: <Phony Benoni> <Jim Bartle>: I hope I'm not intruding, but I couldn't resist sharing the following: "Some ballplayers exist in my memory not so much for the wonder of their accomplishments on the playing field as for the tenuity of their baseball cards. Ferris Fain, for example, was a ping-hitting first baseman for a number of teams in the American League who, through a mysterious set of contrary circumstances, managed somehow to win the American League batting championship in consecutive years 1951 and 1952, with averages of .344 and .327, even though he had never hit over .291 in any full major league season before or since. This, plus the fact that he had been an amateur boxer in his younger days in Walnut Creek, California and was nicknamed -- rather cruelly I always thought, but nonetheless justifiably -- "Burrhead," was all I knew, or quite frankly cared to know, about Ferris Fain. It was his somber and blurred representation on this 3 x 5 piece of wilted cardboard laminate that aroused my adolescent enthusiasm far in excess of his own dreary, pedestrian reality. The year after he won the batting championship for the first time -- 1952 -- Ferris Fain was absolutely impossible to get in the greater Boston area." Brendan C. Boyd and Fred Harris, The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book (Boston: Little, Brown and Company 1973), at 117. Best wishes. ~ lufty Feb-24-16    Jim Bartle: I had that book. I think it was the one with a baseball card for Clyde Kluttz with the comment, "There was never a baseball player named Clyde Kluttz." Feb-25-16    luftforlife: <Jim Bartle>: "Despite all apparent evidence to the contrary, there has never been, nor could there ever be, a major league ballplayer named Clyde Kluttz." Boyd and Harris at 57. Feb-25-16    Jim Bartle: Thanks. The book was great. Kluttz became better known as a scout, especially for discovering Catfish Hunter. Feb-25-16    luftforlife: <Jim Bartle>: Wow! I didn't know that Kluttz discovered Catfish Hunter. I'm a lifelong, diehard Red Sox fan, but even I had to tip my cap to Catfish. The book is one of my all-time favorites, in any genre. I read it every year, cover-to-cover, and I refer to it often during the season -- especially when Jerry Remy mentions a player who is covered in the book. I find it side-splittingly funny and endlessly enjoyable. Pretty informative, too. Best, ~ lufty Feb-25-16    Jim Bartle: <luft> Maybe you'll like the song "Van Lingle Mungo." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKz... Feb-25-16    luftforlife: <Jim Bartle>: Thanks, that was enjoyable. Reminds me of "Spahn and Sain and a day of rain . . . ." Feb-25-16    Jim Bartle: The song evokes a different era, when most of the best athletes played baseball. The sport dominated completely. The only player in the song I saw play is Johnny Antonelli, and I saw Early Wynn on TV. I saw Max Lanier's son play many times. Even saw him get a hit once or twice. Feb-25-16    luftforlife: <Jim Bartle>: "The Braves paid 65 Gs for young Mr. Antonelli's John Hancock on a standard National League contract in 1948 and were rewarded for their generosity with records of 2-3 in 1949, 6-9 in 1950, and 5-8 in 1953. Convinced of the error of their ways, they finally shipped him off to the New York Giants in 1954, where he proceeded to win 26 games, a pennant, and a world championship for Horace Stoneham." Boyd and Harris at 85. I hope you saw him in his more successful days! I eagerly await the first Grapefruit League game on March 2nd. Will Pablo Sandoval ever be able to touch his toes? Will the Hanley Ramirez experiment prove an exploding cigar, so Travis Shaw can take his rightful place playing first base? Will Clay Buchholz seize up like a '58 Edsel? These are the nagging questions that occupy what is left of my mind. Some Red Sox housecleaning is definitely in order. Feb-25-16    Jim Bartle: I saw Antonelli pitch a couple of times for the Giants in SF in 58 and 59, when he was their best pitcher. He began to fade then, and the team made a great trade, sending him to Cleveland for Harvey Kuenn, a key player on their 1962 NL champion. Feb-25-16    luftforlife: <Jim Bartle>: I bet it was a real treat to see Antonelli pitch in person. I remember Kuenn from the days of "Harvey's Wallbangers" back when the Brewers were still in the American League. He struck me as a take-no-prisoners old-style manager, and I admired him for that, despite the punishment his bruisers often inflicted. Feb-25-16    Jim Bartle: I was too young to know back then. I did see Warren Spahn pitch a couple of times back then, and my father was just going nuts to see such a great player. Also saw Whitey Ford pitch in Yankee Stadium in 1961, in obstructed view, upper deck seats. Outfield of Mantle, Maris and Berra. Feb-28-16    WannaBe: C. Kershaw will make his 6th opening day start for the Dodgers, only two pitchers have done it more (both have the same numbers of opening day starts) Anyone care to venture a guess?? Since this is team specific, not a general baseball trivia, I'll leave you the link where I got the info: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/1... Feb-28-16    WannaBe: This is probably everything you'd want to know about opening day, the midgets story is absolutely hilarious, and the story on Dodgers Stadium is quite a chuckle. http://baseballhall.org/discover/op... Feb-28-16    Phony Benoni: I'm thinking Justin Verlander is one. And he's scheduled to do it again this year. Feb-28-16    WannaBe: <Phony Benoni> That Kershaw question should have been 'more' specific, he will make 6th Opening Day start for Dodgers, two other pitchers have made 7 starts for <DODGERS>, who are they. Sorry if the question was not clear, and it's my fault. Feb-28-16    Jim Bartle: One can't be Koufax, since he was the top pitcher the year before only four times. Drysdale probably didn't do it that many times because of Koufax. So I will guess Don Sutton in the 70s, and Valenzuela in the 80s. Feb-28-16    WannaBe: <Jim Bartle> NAILED IT!!! I was surprised by the names. Mar-02-16    Phony Benoni: The key to winning at baseball is assembling Star Players. If you can manage, say, to have seven future Hall-of-Famers on your team and play them all in the same, game, you're sure to win. Right? http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... Well, these things can happened when the other team's pitcher is Johnson. Mar-02-16    Jim Bartle: The A's sure loaded up on Hall of Famers that day. Five in the starting lineup and two others pinch hitters. All legit HoFers, not a single marginal one. Yes, you almost had me fooled with that Johnson pitching, but then I realized Walter Johnson never pitched for the Yankees. That was Johnson's only shutout that year. Mar-02-16    Phony Benoni: <JB> Hope you don't mind, but I removed the first of your double messages. Mar-02-16    Jim Bartle: Sure, I thought I had deleted the first one. Mar-02-16    OhioChessFan: I had a double message today and I absolutely didn't send twice. Mar-02-16    Phony Benoni: Well, it's getting close to Easter. Bunnies and all that, propagating out of nowhere. Mar-02-16    WannaBe: Bunnies?! Where?? Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 768 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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