Fusilli Member since Aug-09-04 · Last seen Oct-07-25 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.)

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!

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 19 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Dec-25-10    jessicafischerqueen: Yes, I do. When I was in high school we examined the Vancouver phone directory. We were horrified to discover that a man had legally changed his name to "Gregory Zzzygzzygy" in order to be last in the book- only to be trumped, presumably some time later, by "Geoffrey Zzzzzzra." Further investigation turned up "Porky Dog." After a few moments, we realized this individual had to have changed his name to "Dog Porky" so that his name would appear as "Porky Dog" in the phone book. It's a fact! Dec-25-10    Fusilli: Merry Christmas, <Knight13>! If you had your own forum, I'd post it there! :-) Dec-25-10    hms123: <Mariano> Ho! Ho! Ho! Dec-25-10    crawfb5: "Fleece Navidad!" he said, sheepishly. Dec-25-10    WinKing: Merry Christmas to you also <Fusilli>!!! Sorry I haven't stopped by lately. Hope all has been going well for you. I will try & not be such a stranger in the future. Always enjoy chatting with you. :) Dec-26-10    Albertan: Mariano Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings to you! Dec-28-10    hms123: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 e6 6. f4 d6 7. Nf3 Nge7 8. O-O O-O 9. Be3 Nd4 10. Re1 Nec6 11. Ne2 Qa5 12. c3 Nxe2+ 13. Qxe2 b6 14. Bd2 Bd7 15. a3 Qa6 16. e5 d5 17. b4 Ne7 18. c4 Qc8 19. Rec1 dxc4 20. dxc4 Qc7 21. b5 Rad8 22. Bc3 Bc8 23. g4 Bh6 24. Ng5 Bxg5 25. fxg5 Bb7 26. Bxb7 Qxb7 27. Rd1 Qc7 28. Qf3 Rxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Rd8 30. Rd6 Nc8 31. Qf6 Rd7 32. Rc6 Qb8 33. Kf2 Ne7 34. Rd6 1/2-1/2 Dec-29-10    Fusilli: Just played Botvinnik vs Levenfish, 1937 on Guess the Move. It was <exhausting>, and highly recommendable. Plan to have enough time to think deeply. Dec-29-10    hms123: <Mariano> How fast do you play <Guess the move>? I usually just blitz through it at about 5 seconds or so per move. Dec-29-10    dakgootje: Really? The few times I have played it -a year ago or so- I took a substantial amount of time every move. Think I might have actually 1 or 2 half-way through because I really did not know how to proceed :P Dec-29-10    hms123: <dak> Really. I just don't have the patience. that's why even when I play against the computer I play very rapidly. Even when I played seriously OTB, I never got in time trouble. Dec-29-10    dakgootje: You amaze me - I thought under your big red and white-hat you were embodied peacefulness :D Dec-29-10    Fusilli: I generally start with the idea of blitzing through, but it doesn't always work like that. The Botvinnik-Levenfish game took me, in total, about one hour and a half, and I had not invested that much time in a GTM game in a long time. Well, I hadn't played one in a long time. I thought more, so I got a higher score than you... something in the 110s, can't exactly remember. I was getting tired at the end (it was about midnight) and blundered the endgame twice, or I guess I did, since I got punished with -3 each time. In particular, I didn't realize for a move or two that after g5 White is threatening mate in 2! (Then I made my gross mistakes). In OTB, I think I have learned to more or less regulate my pace, but I do have my history of ruining games under time pressure, especially in my younger years. Since I resumed playing in 2003, this happened only a few times, the worst being at the Houston Open a few years ago where I lost on time in a winning position. Dec-29-10    Fusilli: <dak> Not surprised about Howard's speed. I've seen him analyze. I think he needs to go back to OTB chess. I bet he has not lost an ounce of playing strength in all the years he hasn't played, and with all that book-reading he does. But I can't get him to move to the Nashville Chess Center by myself. You'll have to visit Nashville so we can team up! Dec-29-10    hms123: <M> Gosh...Gee...thanks. And, I may get there yet. Dec-29-10    dakgootje: If you pay for the flight etc then I'd happily oblige ;) Dec-29-10    dakgootje: Perhaps I should do the same Guess The Move - just to see how much worse I am than the two of you :D Dec-29-10    Fusilli: <dak> Yes! Howard will be happy to pay for your ticket! I'll be happy to put you up in my house if the 34 rooms in his manor are taken! :-) Dec-30-10    dakgootje: You are very generous with his money :D Dec-30-10    hms123: <dak> My budget is a little tight at the moment since I had to buy <M> a new car recently. Those 34 rooms fill up in a hurry because we move from one to another as they get filthy. Eventually, we will need a new house. Medievally yours, King Moi Dec-30-10    crawfb5: <dak> That's only because it's winter break. Once Howard has a new crowd of students, it's a different story. You wouldn't believe what he makes in tips. Dec-30-10    hms123: <crawfb5> Shhh! I don't want the IRS to find out. Now that the economy is picking up, I am going to have to get a larger jar. Cash is king. Dec-30-10    crawfb5: <H> If you fear change, leave it here. http://www.cartoonstock.com/directo... Dec-30-10    Albertan: Mariano, I found another Nimzo-Indian game I believe you will be interested in. This game was analyzed by GM Timman in his book, "On the Attack" (published in 2006). Here is a link to the game: Bareev vs Timman, 2004 Timman introduces this game in his book in the following manner: "This is a game in which a quite opening leads to a type of position where White gets play on the queenside and Black gets play on the Kingside. After an inaccuracy on White's part (Marinao, I will allow you to find this inaccuracy), the black attack gains strength.But the position continues to teeter on a knife-edge." Happy New Year's Mariano! Dec-30-10    Fusilli: <C> <H> Tips?? I keep paying the bastards to give me better evaluations! Maybe I didn't understand this professor business yet... 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