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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My Facerook Wall

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 28 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Mar-25-11    Knight13: <Fusilli> Thank you for explaining the it to me. I understand that persuasion can be a bit uncomfortable sometimes---it is not always easy to adapt to the person sitting across from you. But that is exactly what makes it fun: you are faced with endless varieties of challenges to overcome. And challenges are therapeutic. You only grow stronger from them in the long-run. You know that better than I do. I wish you luck, Mariano. There is only one way to give 110%. :-) May-09-11    Fusilli: [Message in bottle thrown into the sea] Hello everyone! I'm back. Been very very busy the last month and a half. Interest in chess declined during the period. But the semester is over, the summer is coming up, I'm looking forward to work 100% on research, life is awesome. Good wishes to everyone! [Bottle floating around] May-09-11    chancho: Hola <Fusilli>! Espero que todo esta bien. May-14-11    Knight13: <Fusilli> Picks up bottle. Opens bottle. Takes out message. Reads message. Looks out into the horizon. Smiles. May-15-11    Fusilli: <Knight> :-) At least it didn't have to float for 32 years: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art... May-15-11    Knight13: <Fusilli> I say Mr. Hunter is fortunate to have experienced the true nature of life. Lucky bastard. May-16-11    myschkin: . . . Buenas tardes <Fusilli> from: Vladimir Antoshin Not in doubt, but a very sad sign. He achieved 'enough' but for all that vanished without leaving a trace to the day/month he has died at the usual online sources (engl./rus.) yet. The year 1994 is given at different pages without revealing the primary source - at least not for me. Still there is hope that the accurate date might be somewhere in one of the several Moscow newspapers. ¡myschdiós! May-16-11    Fusilli: Gracias, <myschkin>! I guess one would have to go back to printed Russian periodicals of that year to possibly find a death notice with the actual date on it... Or maybe the Informator? May-16-11    Fusilli: ...been catching up with movie classics again. Watched "Dirty Harry" (1971) and "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962). I liked the latter better. Watching the movie with 2011 eyes it's not easy to guess why Dirty Harry was such a big hit forty years ago, but it certainly was! May-16-11    benjinathan: Dirty Harry is a movie that appeals to the essence of the American character, like Shane long before it and Pale Rider long after it and many more in between. A lone good man with a gun is what is needed to make the world right. May-16-11    chancho: < I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?> May-16-11    dakgootje: Interestingly enough -or perhaps not-, the gunslingers generally only loaded 5 bullets, so that it would not go off by accident. May-17-11    myschkin: . . . Agreed the sources you mentioned should most likely contain additional information. Still I am somewhat pessimistic here: a. 'long' time interval (1994 - today) b. common scenarios for inconsistent or missing data c. minor interest for the chess world d. unknown/paranormal factor(s) \m\ off-topic: Does anyone know what conditions maximize a long lasting emigration of 'trolls' (serial offenders relative to specified rules) out of a virtual habitat? a. take no notice/'innocent' bystander b. promt punishment/dirty harry c. pray/give up (atheists) d. unknown/paranormal force(s) <Nathan> I ♥ Canada! ;) May-17-11    Fusilli: <myschkin> Probably ignoring them, which I guess is your option <a>, although option <d> is a serious contender! May-17-11    dakgootje: Well, punishment generally does not work all that well. Even if you get them to leave the site [small chance], they will just troll at other sites. So that in the end all forums deal with different examples from the same group of trolls revolving over the sites. Suppose giving up and taking no notice combine in the category of 'ignoring'. Problem here is that not everyone is all that good at ignoring. Only a very small part of the community has to respond for them to have enough food. Or trolls go troll on each other. That said, ignoring is the best option if you want to stay sane ;D Perhaps someday trolling will be seen as something most grow over; similar to ringing doorbells and running away; throwing snowballs at passing cars and robbing old ladies. May-17-11    Fusilli: <dak> What? Am I supposed to grow over robbing old ladies?? But my mom's friends are such an easy target! May-17-11    dakgootje: Certainly - but that way their children will never stop robbing your mom. Giving some and taking some. May-19-11    Fusilli: Tactics... Just played on ICC, 5-minute game. Someone v. Fusilli, Black to play: click for larger view Question: can Black play 15...Rc8? May-20-11    hms123: <Mariano> I say "yes". Did White play the tempting (but not good) <Bxf6>? My own preference is to get the WQ out of the way of the BR. <Qb4> looks like the safest place so as to keep contact with the WN. The WK looks awfully precariously placed. What happened next? May-21-11    Fusilli: <H> My main concern was that, after 15...Rc8, White would not have 16.Nxa7 with at least equality if I do have to move the rook: 16...Rc7 17.Nb5= But then I calculated what actually happened. Here's how it continued: click for larger view 15...Rc8 16.Nxa7? Nxd3+! 17.Rxd3 Rxc4 18.Rxd8 Rxc3+ 19.Kb2 Rc2+ and 20...Rxd8 The point was to notice the two checks (18...Rxc3+ and 19...Rc2+) which secure that instead of losing material (18...Rxd8 19.Bxc4) I win it. I was happy to see all this before moving 15...Rc8 in a 3-min game :-) May-21-11    Fusilli: I mean 5-min. It was a 5-min, not a 3-min. You know, most of those blitz games are decided by not-too-complex tactics. Often the player who sees 5 moves instead of 3-4 wins. May-21-11    hms123: <M> Good find indeed. Nd3+ was an obvious possibility, but the two rook checks were less obvious. May-22-11    Fusilli: Messi, Messi, Messi! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do6H... May-23-11    crawfb5: Another Bronstein gem from <The sorcerer's apprentice> I played over at lunch yesterday: Unzicker vs Bronstein, 1955 You'll like this finish: click for larger view 38...e2 39. Rxg5 e1=Q 40. Rxg7+ Kh8 41. Qg5 Qxg2+ 42. Qxg2 Re2 0-1 May-23-11    Fusilli: <C> Yes, that is fancy. But it is a little tainted by the fact that it is unnecessary... because doesn't 41...Qe6 put a stop to the 42.Qh6+ threat, winning? Either way, if I saw it, I would also play 41...Qxg2+ and smile at the camera! :-) Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 28 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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