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 95 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing> Sep-14-09    A.G. Argent: Name me a bigger upset in the U.S. Open finals. Taking into consideration Federer's record in the finals and his over-all scorched-earth march to get to this final. You have to consider this one of of the greatest upsets in Grand Slam history. But then again, the way Del Potro rallied after looking so very cowed in the first set, there can be no denying him his due. The kid was unbelievable. He has arrived. Of course he got some breaks; the controversial call of the ball that was out in the third set (?) as well as Federer's many double faults and over-all errors in the first two sets that McEnroe kept saying just might add up but after all is said and done, Del Potro deserved the title because he played great tennis. The 105 MPH forehand kinda came into play as well. This guy is amazing. Sep-14-09    Jim Bartle: Bigger upset? Have to go back a ways: Orantes over Connors 1975. Sampras over Agassi 1990. Sep-15-09    WannaBe: <Jim Bartle> I believe, the unseeded Andre Agassi's victory was a bigger upset, unfortunately, my brain cells don't remember the year or the opponent. But I do remember that Andre was unseeded, much like Clijster this year. On a diff. note, just like I predicted, it was going to go 5 sets... :-)) Sep-15-09    Jim Bartle: Agassi defeated Todd Martin in 1999. He was unseeded because his game had cratered for a year or two, but was on the road back. By the time of the final, though, I don't think a win over Martin was a big surprise. Sep-15-09    suenteus po 147: Sampras over Agassi doesn't sound like an upset to me, nor does Agassi over Martin. Orantes over Connors sounds more on the money. Sep-15-09    Jim Bartle: In 1990 Sampras was a total unknown, and Agassi was already ranked in the top five. Though Sampras had already beaten Lendl and McEnroe in the tournament, so people knew he could play. The Orantes win over Connors was a total shock, not only because he won so easily, but because Orantes had wrapped up a five-set win over Guillermo Vilas at 1:30 in the morning and had to play Connors at 3:00 in the afternoon. Orantes made probably the greatest comeback in the history of the majors against Vilas, coming back from two sets to one down and losing 0-5 in the fourth set. Sep-15-09    Phony Benoni: Down two sets to one and 0-5 in the fourth set? That's not a comeback; that's a revolution. Sep-15-09    playground player: <Phony Benoni> Would you (or anyone else here) be interested in serving as an official in an online chess tournament, for charity, run by Chessfordollars.com? Your role would be to confirm that the games were actually played (organizer wants to get into the Guinness Book of Records). I'm told it would take less than an hour of your time. If you'd like to do this, or just find out more about it before you decide, please email me at leeduigon@verizon.net . And I'll put you in touch with the guy running the show. Thanks. Sep-15-09    WannaBe: Woo... Woo!! I can do a Serena, and threaten to shove my King down his throat? Please? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeese?? Sep-15-09    Phony Benoni: <playground player> Thanks for thinking of me, but I learned long ago that I am unsuited for any sort of an administrative or supervisory job, including running chess tournaments. Those of you familiar with the Peter Principle will understand. Sep-15-09    Jim Bartle: Ichiro now has 2,000 hits in the '00s. How many other players have done that? Rose did, Cobb didn't. Sep-15-09    Jim Bartle: I'm looking at a table of the decade hitting leaders. If you take out A-Rod because of years of steroid use, Albert Pujols is very close to a '00s Triple Crown. He leads in batting avg. at .334, but is only a point ahead of Ichiro. He's ahead in RBIs but only by 3 over Manny Ramirez, and trails Jim Thome in HRs by only two (386-366). I wonder if Ted Williams had a Triple Crown for the '50s. Sep-15-09    Phony Benoni: Here's one result I've found: Rogers Hornsby -- 2085 in the 1920s Sam Rice -- 2010 in the 1920s Pete Rose -- 2045 in the 1970s Ichiro gets a very strong asterisk, though: he got his 2000 hits in only 9 years. And the leaders by decade: 1900s Honus Wagner 1847 1910s Ty Cobb 1948 1920s Rogers Hornsby 2085 1930s Paul Waner 1959 1940s Lou Boudreau 1578 1950s Richie Ashburn 1875 1960s Roberto Clemente 1877 1970s Pete Rose 2045 1980s Robin Yount 1731 1990s Mark Grace 1754 Mark Grace blows my mind on this list. Not so much Lou Boudreau, as he didn't serve in the military in WWII and played all 10 years in the 1940s. Sep-15-09    Phony Benoni: I doubt Williams would win a Triple Crown for the 1950s. He lost two years in Korea, plus considerable time to injuries. Sep-15-09    Jim Bartle: Hornsby--I should have thought of him. I see that Livan Hernandez has the most innings this decade. I would never have guessed. Andy Pettite most wins, Rivera most saves (duh). Todd Helton and Bobby Abreu (!?) most times on base. Sep-15-09    Phony Benoni: They were talking about Abreu on the Fox game I watched Saturday. In his younger days he was an on-base machine, regularly hitting around .300 while walking over 100 times a year. May do it again this year (.299 BA, 88 walks so far). Sep-17-09    Jim Bartle: QUESTION FROM GUEST: What’s the most bizarre supreme court opinion you’ve ever read? JEFFREY TOOBIN: I am a noted Bush v. Gore obsessive, and I think it’s a bad and bizarre opinion. Harry Blackmun’s opinion in the Curt Flood case, when the justices upheld major league baseball’s exemption from antitrust law, is bizarre. It’s written as if by a dewy-eyed fan—and it totally and outrageously screws the players. It’s bizarre. From a New Yorker online chat. Sep-17-09    suenteus po 147: <Phony Benoni> Another Hastings tournament for the index: Game Collection: Hastings B 1924/25 Sep-17-09    Jim Bartle: I guess I'm a sucker for this sort of thing, but I thought John Stockton's acceptance speech at the Hall of Fame was just great. He made it plain how many people have to support an athlete to be successful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxJc... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCsA... Especially compared with Michael Jordan's strange ego-fest in his speech. Sep-18-09    playground player: <Jim Bartle> Didn't Harry Blackmun write Roe v. Wade, too? Complete with umbras and penumbras and emanations. Who put that clown on the Supreme Court? I didn't know he wrote the Curt Flood decision, too! I agree that Curt Flood in particular and baseball players as a class got totally screwed by the reserve clause. Sure took a long time for the free market to break into baseball. Sep-18-09    keypusher: Wrong sport, I know, but the Showtime documentary on the AFL (done by NFL Films) is a lot of fun. <playground player> Blackmun did write for the majority in Roe v. Wade, but the penumbras and emanations are found in William O. Douglas' opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griswo... Sep-18-09    Jim Bartle: Whoa, somebody knows his Supreme Court decisions! I'd love to see a documentary on the AFL, but don't get Showtime. Lance Alworth, Ernie Ladd, George Blanda, Cookie Gilchrist, Buck Buchanan, Bobby Bell... Sep-18-09    DrCurmudgeon: By the way, Blackmun was nominated to the court by Richard Nixon. Draw what conclusions you wish. Didn't Messersmith and McNally start the whole free agency circus just a few years later? Sep-18-09    keypusher: <Who put that clown on the Supreme Court?> Blackmun was one of Richard Nixon's many crimes. Jim, I'm sure there will be a DVD out at some point. Sep-18-09    Jim Bartle: As I remember it, Messersmith played out his option, pitching for a season without a contract, then claimed he was a free agent. (Not sure exactly where McNally fit in.) The case went to an arbitrator named Peter Seitz, who ruled that the contract between baseball and the players did not bind players to a team after the single option year. The architect of the players' claims was Players Association director Marvin Miller. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 914) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 95 OF 914 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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