Fusilli Member since Aug-09-04 · Last seen Mar-30-26 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.)

Fusilli has kibitzed 6474 times to chessgames   [more...]

Mar-29-26 Chessgames - Literature   Fusilli: <That film's name was "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and was a rather faithful adaption of the book, I think.> Great film, and packed with top acting talent.      Mar-28-26 Fusilli chessforum    Fusilli: Hey fellas, I know we are mostly men over certain age around here. Or I assume so. So, I have a question that may or may not resonate. I like religion. I like the idea of God. I grew up in a practicing Catholic household. I went to a Catholic school 1-12. Growing up in Argentina, ...      Mar-25-26 Van der Wiel vs Kasparov, 1982   Fusilli: <Whitehat1963: What happens after 23. Nh6+ Kf8 (or Kh8) 24. Nf4?> <mertangili: <whitehat1963> i think after your line; 24...Qg5 25. Nxd3 cxd3 and the knight on h6 is lost> After 23.Nh6+ Kf8 24.Nf4 Nxf4 25.Kxf4 Qh4 and it looks like mate is coming, isn't it? (Or ...      Mar-25-26 Jacob Murey    Fusilli: He made GM at 46. Rather late in life, but maybe not so much at the time?      Mar-25-26 J Murey vs V Malakhov, 2000    Fusilli: Wow, this guys knows how to attack. Relentless.      Mar-25-26 Botvinnik vs N Sorokin, 1931    Fusilli: <perf> <So far as I know, in FIDE-rated events one is no longer allowed to write a move on their scoresheet before making it; is this the one exception?> That's an excellent question. And probably not a question we can solely answer based on rules, since the rules are ...      Mar-23-26 F Rhine vs D Sprenkle, 1981   Fusilli: <Mednis may have put in a good word for me with Informant, I don't know. But Informant did publish the game! In the next issue, I was shocked to learn that Informant's panel of judges had also voted it one of the 10 most theoretically important games in Volume 32.> No doubt a ...      Mar-23-26 Kenneth Rogoff    Fusilli: Great to know, <FSR>. I think starting your message the way you did is not just good strategy, but it is kind. You are showing him you care and appreciate his accomplishments. I'm not even 1/100th as famous as Rogoff, but as a university professor at a renowned place, I do get      Mar-22-26 Navara vs Wojtaszek, 2016   Fusilli: <I meant to include that perhaps Black overlooked that after 28...Bxf2+ 29. Kg2, 29...Rd7 would enable 30. Rf1 to be met by 30...Qc5!> That's my guess too. Maybe black played a tad too quickly there. In the old days, one could be really low on time by move 30 and mess up ...      Mar-16-26 Panno vs W Hug, 1973    Fusilli: Fun game.

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 115 OF 121 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jan-31-26    Fusilli: And, as part of my return to normality, here's a position from a blitz game I just played on chess.com. I am white. click for larger view Black just played 20...Re8-e6. The question is, can I take the b7 pawn? If I do, does black have Re7 and I lose a piece? Feb-03-26    OhioChessFan: Per the puzzle, I got it but no chance I'd work it out fast enough for blitz. Losing electricity just shows you how fragile modern life is. We had about a foot of snow here two Saturdays ago. I kept my house really warm and had a solid water supply. Electric stayed on so it wasn't too bad. Feb-04-26    OhioChessFan: It sounds like you saw the good side of people during the snowstorm. I have a pretty cynical view of my fellow man but it looks like you had a really nice human response to a really ugly nature provocation. Feb-05-26    areknames: A while ago there were some good posts about literature. Alongside chess and music, that of course is one of my passions. So, what is everyone's 1) favourite novel? 2) favourite novel where chess is a major theme? My answer to both questions is the same: Elias Canetti's <Auto da Fe'> (Die Blendung in the German original). It was first published in Vienna in 1930 but only became widely known when Canetti won the Nobel in 1981. One of its main characters is named Fischer(le), a destitute chess playing midget whose greatest desire is to travel to New York to challenge Capablanca for the WC title. My favourite novel of all time. Feb-06-26    Fusilli: <OCF> We surely depend, big time, on electricity. And then on fuel. We are very vulnerable when the systems go down. You are right, I got to see the good side of many people, at least on my street. I am not too pessimistic about human nature, but not very optimistic either. I think a lot depends on context. Here the context invited solidarity. Feb-06-26    Fusilli: <areknames> I confess I don't read that much fiction. 95% of my reading (of books) is nonfiction. And I don't think I ever read a novel that featured chess in any relevant way. My favorite may be One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I read in Spanish. I must also say I almost never read the same work of fiction twice, as I almost never watch the same movie twice. I have discovered this is odd. I didn't know! I go back to re-reading works of nonfiction often, but mostly because I have to read a lot of nonfiction for work, and keep a lot of it fresh in my mind. Feb-06-26    Fusilli: OK, this one is insane, and amazing. The good thing is that it is largely a single sequence of moves. Not many variations to keep track of, but visualization is needed. White to play and win click for larger view I saw it on Instagram, with no attribution. I think I have seen it before. Feb-07-26    Fusilli: OK, here we go. click for larger view 1.Nc6. If a2, Nb4+ so, 1…Kxc6 click for larger view 2.Bf6. Threatens the d-pawn. If d3, cxd3 (c3 or c4 win too), and if Kc5, Be7+ captures the a-pawn, so, 2…Kd5 click for larger view 3.d3 a2 (natural move, but also, if the black king moves, white wins either the a-pawn or the d-pawn) click for larger view 4.c4+ … If dxc3, Bxc3. Instead, if the king moves to c6 of d6, Bxd4, so… 4…Kc5 click for larger view And black will promote, only that there is a mating net! 5.Kb7 a1=whatever 6.Be7 mate As usual, I refrained from inserting exclamation marks. Obviously, every white move deserves one (or two). Isn't it mind-blowing? The simultaneous prevention of a deadly promotion while creating a mating net is insane. Feb-07-26    OhioChessFan: I had seen it before and still couldn't solve it! Feb-07-26    OhioChessFan: I guess most my life Huckleberry Finn has been my favorite novel. But I am almost persuaded A Confederacy of Dunces is better. I don't think I have ever read a chess based novel. Feb-07-26    areknames: <Fusilli> I had also seen it before and yes, the creation of the mating net is exquisite. Feb-07-26    areknames: <OCF> A Confederacy of Dunces is just hysterically funny, definitely in my top 10. Feb-09-26    Fusilli: Blitz on chess.com click for larger view Here I played ...Rxd1+ and apparently my opponent was too worried about losing the c2-pawn, and instead of Rxd1 (=) he goes with Bxd1?? (-+) click for larger view What an odd way of bagging myself a rook! Feb-09-26    chancho: 1...Qa3 2.Rb1 Qxa2 3.Rc1 Qb2. Yep quite odd. Feb-09-26    Fusilli: <chancho> Yeah, that's how the game went. It's odd to see the queen taking baby steps to go catch the hapless rook. Feb-11-26    Fusilli: Proud to have seen this in blitz, including the right continuation! I am white. I just played 18.h6 click for larger view 18...Kf8? 19.hxg7+ Kxg7 click for larger view And now? Feb-11-26    moronovich: Nice find in a blitz ! Bh6 !+-KxB, Nf5++ followed by NxNe7 Feb-11-26    stone free or die: Yeah, I was wondering how White was going to catch up in development! Feb-11-26    OhioChessFan: Would have used at least 30 seconds. Feb-11-26    OhioChessFan: White to mate in 2 click for larger view Feb-11-26    moronovich: 1.Qg6 ! Feb-12-26    Fusilli: <OhioChessFan: Would have used at least 30 seconds.> I did, but I spent most of that looking for mate--see below. I have been playing 5 min with zero increments lately, instead of 3 min with 2 sec increments. It's working well. I try to invest a little more time when needed, and if I get a strong position, my opponent thinks too. Did you all look at: 21...Kxh6 22.Nf5+ Kg6 23.Rh6+ Kxf5 24.Rf6+ Kg4 and black lives! (And wins). After giving up on that, then I saw the fork that wins a piece. Feb-13-26    Fusilli: What <moro> said! Feb-15-26    Fusilli: Vodopyanov v Kantsyn 1962 Black to play, white to pay click for larger view Feb-15-26    moronovich: -Qg1 ! followed by f2+ winning. A classic. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 121) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 115 OF 121 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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