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 83 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> Aug-20-09    Jim Bartle: Anybody catch the line for the Cards' pitcher Reyes last night? Came in to start the ninth, hit the batter with his first pitch, and was taken out. Aug-20-09    Phony Benoni: <A.G. Argent> Mantle was incredibly fast as a young player. Remember him being called "The Commerce Comet"? The general legend is that he could get from home-to-first in 3.1 seconds, and Casey Stengel once claimed to have timed him at 2.9. However, no indisputable evidence of this seems to exist. By comparison, Ichiro Suzuki, who is generally considered to be among the fastest down the line these days, has been reliably timed at 3.7. The rational statheads of today doubt that Mantle could have been a full half-second faster, but there's nothing to prove he wasn't either. Aug-20-09    Phony Benoni: This might be the game in the video: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... Mays looks safe to me, but hey, Robinson knew all about being safe at home. Just ask Yogi Berra. Aug-20-09    Phony Benoni: Speaking of which: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XY-... The Dodger hitter, by the way, is <Frank Kellert>. Me neither. Aug-20-09    Jim Bartle: Nice work, PB! Ichiro ought to be quick to first base. Usually looks like he's taken a step or two before he even hits the ball. Aug-20-09    Jim Bartle: Big tiebreak game tonight! Dodgers and Cubs tied at 1014-1014 all-time. Aug-20-09    Phony Benoni: All right! An exciting conclusion to their best-of-2029 series. Aug-21-09    Travis Bickle: I seem to remember Ralph Garr being super fast from home to first. Aug-21-09    Phony Benoni: Ah yes, the Road Runner. Don't forget that Jim Thorpe played MLB for a few years; he would have been right up there, except that he was a right-handed hitter. However, the fastest of all might have been Herb Washington, had he ever had a reason to run from home to first. Aug-21-09    Jim Bartle: The other night I heard some announcer, a former player, say he had never seen a player as fast as Deion Sanders. But his examples were in the field, not on the bases. Said he would misjudge fly balls but just catch up with his amazing speed. In the 60s Willie Davis was generally considered the fastest players in the majors. Aug-21-09    A.G. Argent: Jim Thorpe played baseball? Where? Don't recall that being in the movie. Maybe, being as how Burt Lancaster did all his own stunts, he couldn't hit a curve ball. Aug-21-09    playground player: Jim Thorpe not only played major league baseball--he played for the Giants! His stats aren't all that great, but it was the dead ball era and they probably don't reflect his true value to the team. Aug-21-09    Phony Benoni: <A.G. Argent> Neither could Jim Thorpe. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... He finally seemed to be catching on his last year. Maybe he just couldn't hit wartime pitching. As I recall, he quit baseball when the NFL was formed in 1920. Notice that little blip in 1917 when the Giants sent him to Cincinnati, only to have him returned later in the year? Soon after the transaction, he was involved in the double no-hitter between Fred Toney and Hippo Vaughn on May 2. Both pitchers threw no-hit ball for nine innings, but in the 10th Vaughn finally gave up a hit. The runner reached third base with Thorpe up. He hit a high chopeer down the third base line. According to Vaughn's account, he fielded the ball, but "...knew I couldn't throw out Thorpe at first; he was as fast as a race horse." So he threw home in time to get the runner from third, but the catcher was so surprised to get the ball that he dropped it. Toney then finished off his no-hitter in the bottom of the 10th. Aug-21-09    technical draw: Jim Thorpe? He's lucky he wasn't born in a Spanish speaking country. Aug-21-09    Phony Benoni: Actually, he was born in Prague. Aug-21-09    Jim Bartle: Nice. I had to look it up. Aug-21-09    Jim Bartle: Yankees 20, Boston 11? And the Yankee announcer says, "It was the offense that won this one." Aug-21-09    Phony Benoni: Sharp analysis from the Bronx. Doesn't sound like a defensive struggle. Weren't the Red Sox 8-0 versus the Yankees earlier this year? That seems to be over! Aug-22-09    Jim Bartle: Now 8-5. Aug-22-09    Phony Benoni: Mickey Mantle clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvAH... About 25 seconds in, he beats out an infield hit. No stopwatch, but it seemed under four seconds--and he was hitting right-handed. Mute button recommended. Aug-22-09    Travis Bickle: Mr. Benoni here's a short clip of The Babe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB1Z... Aug-22-09    A.G. Argent: P, yeah, he was literally a blur crossing the frame and first base, wasn't he. Just flyin'. And that is one of THE most inane of all those baseball ditties they ever had that accompanied footage in those days. But just goes to show just how much baseball was ingrained in the pop culture of the era. But where do you think they showed those things? In movie theatres with newsreels and the like? S'pose so. Aug-22-09    playground player: <Phony Benoni> Thanks for the Mantle clip! It brings back memories. Have I misperceived something, or did Mantle hit most of his right-handed home runs to the opposite field? It certainly looks that way in the clip. Very smart thing for a RH hitter to do in the old Yankee Stadium. Aug-22-09    Phony Benoni: <playground player: Have I misperceived something, or did Mantle hit most of his right-handed home runs to the opposite field?> Some quick checking around seems to indicate that might be partially true. Good ol' BaseballReference.com gives some statistics about Mantle's home runs here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/p... Now, Mantle hit 373 HRs against right-handed pitching, which means 373 left-handed, and 163 right-handed. That's a ratio of about 2.29 to 1. Of the home runs whose locations are known, he hit 289 to right or right-center, 117 to left or left-center. That's about 2.47 to 1. If Mantle were a pure pull hitter from both sides, the ratios would be closer. As it is, there seems a slight tendency in favor of right field. However, it should be noted that most of the "unknown" locations were probably from 1951-1953, early in his career. That may affect the question one way or the other. Aug-22-09    Jim Bartle: How far was it to left-center at Yankee Stadium in the 50s? Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 83 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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