User Profile: Fusilli

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Fusilli
Member since Aug-09-04 · Last seen Oct-16-25

Mariano Sana, Argentinian by birth, in the US since 1995. Naturalized US citizen. I hold a PhD in Demography from the University of Pennsylvania, and I am an associate professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University: https://as.vanderbilt.edu/sociology.... Previously, I was at Louisiana State University (2003-2009).
My published academic work can be seen here: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/Mar.... My review of Gary Alan Fine's "Players and Pawns" is here: https://www.academia.edu/69647923/P....
My avatar comes from a cartoon of mine drawn by a friend. My username, besides the pasta, is my late cat's name (he died in March 2021, age 19), inspired by this cartoon: https://condenaststore.com/featured....
My first tournament was at age 12 in 1979. I finished 8th in the Argentine junior championship in 1985. So, I was good enough, but not great. (That same evaluation might still be apt today, on a good day.) Unfortunately, no game scores survived from those years. I started to play again after grad school. I play between 0 and 4 tournaments per year.
I won the Louisiana State Championship in 2007. I lost the first game and then won six in a row. This was my last round win, where I got lucky after playing the opening pretty terribly: J Rousselle vs M Sana, 2007.
I also won the under 2200 section of the US Open in 2014. Again, Swiss gambit. Lost the first one, then won five in a row, lost game 7 (M Sana vs J Sheng, 2014, a rather atypical game), and won games 8 and 9. My last round win was featured as a Tuesday puzzle: K Gulamali vs M Sana, 2014. (Try it! Black to play at move 29. But you can also do black to play at move 22 as a principled-move puzzle.)
I'd say that I am essentially a good but inconsistent player. My playing style is a mix of strategic and tactical. I'm usually very willing to sac a pawn or allow positional weaknesses in exchange for active piece play. For years I hovered around 2200, down to mid 2100s a few years ago after a disaster and a 50-point loss at the 2019 World Open. (Aging and MS fatigue had much to do with that.) On good days, I have had nice wins: T Bartell vs M Sana, 2009, R Burnett vs M Sana, 2012, M Sana vs C Blocker, 2014, M Sana vs R Burnett, 2015. But on a bad day, I can play horribly and lose against whoever is sitting in front of me.
I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2011, but it didn't cause me trouble until 2018/9. I have a weak right leg (I often use a cane now) and I fatigue easily. Medication, well-timed naps, and exercise help.
I play blitz games on chess.com under the username RealFusilli.

My participation on this website goes through ebbs and flows, and the majority of my posts are about chess. I often post on my own forum just to keep records for myself. Everyone is welcome to visit and share! (But please don't post about politics here.)

>> Click here to see Fusilli's game collections.

   Fusilli has kibitzed 6255 times to chessgames [more...]

   Oct-07-25 Hikaru Nakamura

Fusilli: Back in the day, I would sometimes resign by picking up my king and placing it in front of my opponent. And one day I read that a GM (I think Sosonko) did the same thing, while saying, "here's, it's yours." So, sure, one for the crowd, why not.

   Sep-15-25 L Mendonca vs M Yilmaz, 2024

Fusilli: <perfidious> <There have been POTDs presented by <cg> which have featured positions which were analogous to practical games rather than guess the move> Not sure I follow. To me, Guess-the-Move games do reflect practical play, since you have to make every move, ...

   Sep-12-25 Leon Mendonca

Fusilli: Mendonca, no doubt originally spelled with a c-cedilla instead of a c, is a Portuguese surname, a reminder that Portugal colonized parts of India since as early as the 16th century.

   Sep-12-25 A Mittal vs Y K Erdogmus, 2025

Fusilli: <FSR: Insane! The kid is a genius! I say he's a future world champion.> I share your enthusiasm but not your evaluation. The combination is absolutely beautiful but not hard to see for a strong player. It's a straight set of forced moves. I think it would be a Friday puzzle ...

   Sep-10-25 Fusilli chessforum

Fusilli: <OCF> I'm kind of proud of myself I got it. The word puzzle was apt! Where did you source it from?

   Sep-07-25 Karpov vs K Rogoff, 1971

Fusilli: Vintage Karpov gives a lesson on superior positional play. Every piece going to the right square at the right time. Or pretty close to that.

   Sep-07-25 S Marangunic vs K Rogoff, 1971

Fusilli: <FTB> OK, here we go. I thought 16.Bxf6 was dubious. Why give up the bishop pair in a fairly open position? 16.Ne3 looks better to me. I was wondering what could be wrong with 23.Nb5. It turns out that after 23...Bf8 24.Rxd7 Rxd7 25.Nxa7 meets ...Bc5 followed by ...Rd2, which ...

   Sep-07-25 Fridrik Olafsson

Fusilli: <perf> oh, right, I see

   Sep-06-25 Peter Enders

Fusilli: <He died on his birthday :( > Very sad. It reminded me of this demographic research article I saw decades ago: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/143... Abstract: <This study of deaths from natural causes examined adult mortality around the birthday for two samples, ...

   Sep-03-25 So vs D Gukesh, 2025

Fusilli: <beatgiant> Because I didn't see it? Or I like complicating things, especially my life? Who knows!

indicates a reply to the comment.

My Facerook Wall

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 10 OF 112 · Later Kibitzing>
Feb-02-10		Fusilli: I went over Miguel Najdorf 's games at Bled 1950, a tournament he won. His most exciting game from that tournament must be: Tartakower vs Najdorf, 1950 Also interesting are these crushing wins, in which Najdorf elegantly combines his tactical and positional skills: Najdorf vs Ivkov, 1950 Najdorf vs A Matanovic, 1950 G Pfeiffer vs Najdorf, 1950 Najdorf wiggling his way out of trouble and winning: Najdorf vs Pirc, 1950 Najdorf getting out of SERIOUS trouble and winning: Rellstab vs Najdorf, 1950 And Najdorf plainly outplaying his opponent: B Kostic vs Najdorf, 1950

Feb-03-10		hms123: <M> Here's a game of Malthrope's (aka Alan Benson, click on the link for more information about the game) in the French: [Event "ICCF Master Class World Cup-52--1971-1972"] [White "Rudolf Kammerau"] [Black "Alan Benson"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2100"] [BlackElo "2300"] [Opening "French Defense: Tarrasch"] [ECO "C05"] [Time Control "30 days/10 moves"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ndf3 Qa5 8. Kf2 b5 9. Bd3 b4 10. Ne2 Nb6 11. g4 bxc3 12. bxc3 Na4 13. Qe1 cxd4 14. cxd4 Bb4 15. Bd2 Nb2 16. Bb1 Ba6 17. Qc1 Qb5 18. Ng3 Bxd2 19. Qxd2 Nc4 20. Qe2 Qb6 21. Qd1 Qb2+ 22. Bc2 Nb4 23. Rc1 Na3 24. Ne1 Rc8 0-1

Feb-03-10		Russian Grandmasters: What ho <Fusilli>! It's Jess here. I invite you to stop by the new shrine I'm building to honor the legacy of <Mikhail Tal, Efim Geller, and Paul Keres>. <Big Crawdaddy> is helping me and we have lots of goodies to look at and feel free to comment in the forum. I think there may be a few burritos left even.

Feb-03-10		Fusilli: Thanks, <H>, will look at it. Sure, <Jess>, I'll visit. Thanks for the invite. I love "Soviet" chess.

Feb-04-10		Ragh: <Fusilli: On Kidambi Sundararajan page, <Ragh> posted the following link to a Chessbase.com article that explains Indian names: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... (scroll down to "What's in a name?") I found it very enlightening.> Anand and Kidambi come from a southern state, where there is a long standing practice of using father's name as their lastnames. This state is the only exception in all of India. Because for the rest of India, the practice is similar to many western countries, in that, the lastname is always the family name that stays the same for many generations that follow. That article I've linked is actually just a snippet of a larger article that appeared 6 years ago on the same chessbase.com site.. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... (has the full article)

Feb-08-10		jessicafischerqueen: I think it's quite wonderful that you can combine work and chess-- What a fascinating research topic. I will buy a copy when you make it into a famous book.

Feb-08-10		NakoSonorense: The challenge would be to combine work, chess & Argentine tango dancing! How would you do that?

Feb-08-10		jessicafischerqueen: LOL <Nako>

Feb-08-10		jessicafischerqueen: <Fusilli> In that vein, are you a fan of <Miguel Najdorf>? I'm curious- as a Canadian, I'm not a fan of <Duncan Suttles> or <Kevin Spragget> particularly- certainly not out of a nationalistic affinity. Although I do enjoy the games of <Suttles>, due to his unusual "coiled snake- defend- come and get me- then strike like a vicious badger" playing style.

Feb-08-10		crawfb5: <Jess> Najdorf was born in Warsaw. He was playing for the Polish team in the 1939 Buenos Aires Olympiad when Germany invaded Poland at the start of WWII. He decided to stay, began using the name <Miguel> for his simul displays in 1940 (he was born Moishe Mendel Najdorf), and started selling insurance for a steady income. None of his family survived the war, and he decided to stay in Argentina and build a new life with a new family.

Feb-08-10		Fusilli: Hi <Jess>, <crawf>, <Nako>! Thanks for dropping by. And thanks <Ragh> for the follow up on Indian names. I am a fan of Najdorf, yes. He was such a larger-than-life personality. I recently had an exchange with Paul Albert concerning books about Najdorf on this page: Larsen vs Najdorf, 1973 I wish we could post pictures on chessgames.com. There are some nice ones in "Najdorf by Najdorf", the book that Liliana Najdorf wrote about her father (actually, "Najdor por Najdorf"; the book is in Spanish). (They are likely copyrighted, but Liliana Najdorf is quite generous and would probably not object.) I will post some excerpts from that book on the Najdorf page sooner or later. What I like the most about Najdorf is his resourcefulness and tactical prowess in double-edged positions. I will combine chess, migration research and tango dancing in a book when I write my autobiography! Otherwise, as far as I know, the sample size = 1 makes research difficult... :-) More seriously... that research is stagnant. I hope I can resume it and I hope it becomes a book one day, but one (serious) problem I found was being blatantly ignored over and over again by a man who is the data czar of the USCF. My research was approved by the USCF Ratings Committee (which watches over privacy issues and such), and Bill Hall promised cooperation during a nice 2-hr meeting that I had with him in October 2008. But then Bill Hall told me to talk to Mike Nolan (the data czar), and in the 12 months after that meeting with B.H. I sent Mr. Nolan eight emails, tried to reach him indirectly via Mark Glickman (the Ratings Committee Chair, who as a fellow researcher understands my plight), and called his phone unsuccessfully several times (not even an answering machine picked up)... He contacted me only one day that we had what I thought was a miraculous email exchange. He seemed to take note of what I needed (a database on tournaments and a random sample of USCF members for a mail-in survey). After that, he went into radio silence mode again. I've been quite polite with everyone at the USCF, but have never in my career been treated with so much disrespect before. B.H., btw, also stopped picking up my calls or answering my emails. And I swear I did nothing to alienate these people. Of course I am among their lowest priorities. I understand that. But they ignore me even though they agreed that my research would be useful to American chess fans, and even though I offered to pay Mr. Nolan for his time. Plus I would pay my survey subjects with a voucher to be redeemed when they renew their USCF membership, which is an incentive to renew and therefore beneficial to the organization (B.H. was actually happy about this idea.) I don't think B.H. knows that Mike Nolan ignores me, but if he does not respond my emails or calls me back I cannot let him know. Maybe he'll read this, or somebody will read this, and let him know. I got tired of trying, at least for now. I am a busy guy, and if this line of research dies, I have plenty other research to keep busy. So that's the (very much) abridged story. At some point I gave up on them. One day I might just contact the USCF Board about this. One day I might just mail all the board members a complaint letter, on Vanderbilt letterhead. On the one hand, I don't want to alienate anybody who could help me with data, but on the other hand, what do I have to lose?

Feb-08-10		Fusilli: BTW, in addition to "El Viejo", also Gideon Stahlberg, Herman Pilnik, Erich Eliskases, Jiri Pelikan, Enrique (Heinrich) Reinhardt, Albert Becker, Paul Michel, Ludwig Engels (who later moved to Brazil), Moshe Czerniak (who moved to Israel in 1950) were playing the Olympiad in Buenos Aires and stayed there when WWII began. (I am probably forgetting a bunch.) I am pretty confident this was the largest case of sudden chess migration in history, albeit forced. This gave an unquestionable boost to chess in Argentina.

Feb-08-10		Fusilli: OK, here're my omissions: Paulino Frydman, Victor Winz, Zelman Kleinstein, Ilmar Raud, Marcos Luckis, Karel Skalicka, Franciszek Sulik (moved to Australia later), Jakob Adolf Seitz, Chris De Ronde, Aristide Gromer, Sonja Graf-Stevenson (moved to the U.S. later), plus a few others on this list (http://ar.oocities.com/carloseadrak...) that I could not find on chessgames.com. BTW, according to that source, Pilnik had already moved to Argentina in 1930.

Feb-09-10		crawfb5: I have the other Najdorf book, <Najdorf: Life and Games>. Liliana wrote the forward for it. I knew someone who worked at USCF. Unfortunately, that is past tense, so I doubt that would be any help. As you may know, the organization has had various political and financial struggles that I'm sure have been distractions.

Feb-09-10		Fusilli: Well... the USCF person who paid most attention to me was Jerry Nash, but he got fired. :-(

Feb-11-10		Fusilli: Ehlvest vs M Bluvshtein, 2003 click for larger view Puzzle question: Can White play 41.Bxg6?

Feb-14-10		jessicafischerqueen: Happy Valentine Day <fusilli> and to your Cat Fusilli too.

Feb-17-10		Fusilli: Follow up on Ehlvest vs M Bluvshtein, 2003. The answer is yes, White can (and should) play 41.Bxg6! winning. If 41...fxg5 and 42.Bxh7 then Black has 42...Rxh6. But White has 42.Rc1! and wins, which is what Ehlvest played.

Feb-28-10		Fusilli: If a dog can dance, so can you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MUh...

Mar-28-10		Fusilli: Quiz questions: What percent of men age 40+ in the United States do not have children? (Or at least believe they don't) What percent of women age 40+ in the United States do not have children? In both cases, the question refers to children ever born alive, regardless of whether they are alive today or not.

Mar-28-10		thegoodanarchist: <Fusilli> Do you have a "Fusilli Jerry" statue?

Mar-28-10		Fusilli: <thegoodanarchist> lol. I looked it up. I have not seen that episode (or most, actually) of Seinfeld. Now I will have to!

Apr-03-10		Albertan: Follow up on Ehlvest vs M Bluvshtein, 2003. The answer is yes, White can (and should) play 41.Bxg6! winning. If 41...fxg5 and 42.Bxh7 then Black has 42...Rxh6. But White has 42.Rc1! and wins, which is what Ehlvest played. 40...f6? was a bad mistake which allowed 41.Bxg6! winnning. Instead Bluvshtein could have simply waited with a move like 40...Bd3. Perhaps Bluvshtein's 40...f6? was the last move before the time control and he was in time trouble? click for larger view If you haven't seen Bluvshtein at his best then look at this game he played against Shirov, which I witnessed in person: Shirov vs M Bluvshtein, 2005

Apr-03-10		Fusilli: <Albertan> I just looked at it. Shirov vs M Bluvshtein, 2005 is a great game. Particularly impressive of Bluvshtein to beat Shirov that way. Final position, after 23...Rf3: click for larger view 0-1 If, for example, 24.Nc3, what I see is 24...Qh1+ 25.Ke2 Rxe3+ 26.Kxe3 Qxe1+ 27.Ne2 Bxf2+ and in the next move Black brings in the rook from a8 with check. Black has recovered the piece and has two extra pawns and what looks like a killer attack.

Apr-04-10		Albertan: Mariano, what I found really interesting about the Shirov-Bluvshtein game is that the game was main line Petroff's defense until Bluvshtein uncorked a novelty,(apparently he had been saving this novelty to spring on Shirov).Of course, Shirov knows the Petroff's well because he had to prepare for in when he played his match against Kramnik. What I find amazing is that I cannot find the game in Chess Informant!! Shirov's game against Irina Krush from the Canadian Open is in Chess Informant but not the Bluvshtein game!

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