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 782 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> May-02-16    Jim Bartle: <wb> and <OCF>: I really don't know the rule, or if the ones I cited mean a batter can't swing. But it seems to me, IF a batter can swing at a pitch while a runner is trying to steal home, that it would be extremely easy either to steal home, or get catcher interference. May-02-16    OhioChessFan: What's the difference if they are stealing home or second when the batter swings? The catcher can't get in the way. May-02-16    Jim Bartle: <What's the difference if they are stealing home or second when the batter swings? The catcher can't get in the way.> That's exactly why I asked the question. But look at the Robinson steal, as a typical play. Berra clearly interferes with Keller if he wants to swing. Yet I have never seen a batter swing. Then there's the case of the suicide squeeze, which really is the same, right? The batter always gets to try to bunt, the catcher doesn't come out to the plate to catch the ball. May-02-16    Penguincw: Random, unrelated question: does anyone know the name of the Phillies play-by-play announcer? He works for CSN. Here's a sample of his voice (he makes the homerun call): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFo.... Thanks! May-02-16    OhioChessFan: <Berra clearly interferes with Keller if he wants to swing.> No question. < Yet I have never seen a batter swing. > One of those things the "experts" will figure out long after the amateurs like us wondered about it. I get why it's so hard for a hitter to swing with a teammate rushing down the line. One easy thing they could do, and some do it on normal steals of second or third, is to lay the bat flat as if bunting, while pointing it back at the catcher to keep the catcher from getting forward momentum into the pitch. May-02-16    YouRang: <Jim Bartle> Here's a page from a site that calls itself "Umpire's Bible". It makes it sound like the batter had best not be swinging *IF* the runner is attempting to steal home on the pitch. This agrees with your observations. https://www.umpirebible.com/rules/b... May-02-16    YouRang: More examples of stealing home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNG... May-02-16    WannaBe: Dodgers' pitcher Josh Ravin suspended 80 games!! http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/1... May-02-16    Jim Bartle: Terrible! Dodgers forfeit 1988, 1965, 1963 and 1959 championships. They get to keep 1981 because it doesn't really count anyway. May-02-16    WannaBe: Wow, did J. Votto hit that ball far, 425 ft.?! Give or take... May-02-16    WannaBe: Giants gave up 12 runs in NY in one inning, can they top that in Cincy?? Stay tuned. May-02-16    Jim Bartle: Votto is sort of the forgotten star. He's in the top 20 all-time in OBP, and with power. May-02-16    OhioChessFan: If Votto played on a different team, people would see how good he is. He should lead the league in runs scored by a mile. But with the feeble lineup around him, he just stands on first after getting htere. May-02-16    WannaBe: Don't forget to take a try on my trivia question, will post answer Wednesday morning. May-02-16    Jim Bartle: So nobody from UCLA, but you said <PB> wasn't eligible. Therefore it is probably a Tiger. Most steals is Ty Cobb, so he's my guess. May-02-16    WannaBe: Congratulations to <JB>, one day supply of Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat!!! http://www.baseball-almanac.com/rec... Don't forget to pick up your prize! =)) May-02-16    Jim Bartle: I saw Lou Brock steal 4 bases in a game in 1974, leaving him with 98. Impressive. May-02-16    WannaBe: Wow, ESPN's web page is totally screwed up... It was down for about 15 minutes, and now all the scores are out of whack. It's like a time loop... May-02-16    Jim Bartle: What's this at ESPN? Brooklyn 6 NY Giants 4 May-03-16    luftforlife: <Phony Benoni>: Not sure if this is helpful (hope you don't mind the piecemeal approach), but from his own colorful recollection, it appears George Mirijanian competed in the 65th U.S. Open Chess Championship held at Boston in August 1964: http://www.chessbanter.com/48129-po.... As the late Emil Reubens of Boylston Chess Club in Massachusetts was partly responsible for bringing the tournament to Boston, and as he was an honorary Chairman of the Committee (tournament committee?), according to this memorial commemoration on the Club's weblog, http://boylston-chess-club.blogspot..., perhaps the Club might have a tournament table, or other records. I will reach out to the Club's Secretary to see what I can find. It is further noted in the commemorative blog entry on Reubens that the U.S.C.F. was in 1964 celebrating the silver anniversary of its founding, and so I wonder if the U.S.C.F. might have some archival material on the tournament that wasn't published contemporaneously in Chess Life. Perhaps you've already inquired of them; if so, please disregard this observation. Kind regards. May-03-16    Phony Benoni: <luftforlife> Thanks for the information. Boston 1964 needs a lot of work, simply because the records are lacking. I was informed that USCF actually discarded the records for that and other tournaments. Knowing USCF I can believe that, but I don't know it for a fact. If you could reach out to the Boylston Chess Club, that would be great. I can use all the help I can get in finding and making such contacts I could have guessed that George Mirijanian played at Boston 1964, but didn't know it for a fact. We met at quite a few US Opens, and played at Columbus 1977 (I won a hard-fought game when he missed a draw on his last move.) Again, thanks for your support. May-03-16    WannaBe: You know you have it made: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/1... When the engagement ring have more carrots [sic] than your ERA. Oh wait, he's got a 5.46 ERA... May-03-16    Jim Bartle: I was watching Game 5 of the 2004 Yankees-Red Sox series. In the bottom of the 14th Ortiz came up with two outs and runners on first and second. McCarver and the announcer seriously discussed whether the Yankees would walk him intentionally. Were they nuts? To win Ortiz needed a hit, a .300 probablity, maybe .260 if hits which wouldn't score a runner from second are omitted. The next hitter, Mientkewicz, had a .330 on-base percentage. (And maybe they had someone better on the bench.) Which is preferable, .260 or .330? Ortiz hit a game-winning single, but it was still the right thing to pitch to him. May-03-16    luftforlife: <Phony Benoni>: You're welcome. Happy to help. I did reach out to Boylston Chess Club, and we'll see what they say. Meanwhile, I'll keep researching Boston '64. Belated congratulations on your victory over George Mirijanian at Columbus '77! I looked under your player page, and under your game-collection for the 78th U.S. Open, but I didn't see the game in either location. Would you please consider uploading or posting the PGN if you have the game-moves? I'd like to come to know this game better. Thanks very much. May-03-16    perfidious: Always odd seeing references to George Mirijanian playing rather than directing, but he was quite competent, making expert level. Knew George well even in those days; he directed many of the major events in Massachusetts held outside Boston, along with friend Stephan Gerzadowicz in the early days. Decent guy but did not put up with any grief. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 782 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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