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 35 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Feb-05-12    Fusilli: <PB> Fantastic! I think I saw the Janowski vs Ed Lasker game before, but I am pretty sure I never saw Lee vs Shoosmith. Feb-07-12    Shams: <Fusilli>, I am starting to come around on Louis C.K. There is no denying that he is a master. There are a couple British comics I quite like: Eddie Izzard and Stewart Lee. Are you familiar? Feb-07-12    Knight13: <Fusilli> Keep up the good work. I will catch you later. :) Feb-07-12    Knight13: <Phony Benoni> Awesome game collection. Feb-09-12    Fusilli: <Shams> Hm... nope. Will check them out! Feb-10-12    brankat: Hello again! You posted this on <A.Planinc> player's page, Jan-29.: <Hello <friend>, and anyone else reading. I was wondering if that documentary you mentioned is accessible anywhere... and if it has English subtitles. Thank you!> If anyone on this site has the answer, that would most likely be: TheAlchemist chessforum I talked to him about this something like a year ago, and at the time the film was available only in Slovene language. Feb-10-12    Fusilli: Thanks, <brankat>. I thought Planinc was an interesting character, and it is not everyday that someone makes a movie about a "regular" GM. Feb-12-12    brankat: <Fusilli> Here is a small collection of Planinc's games compiled by <TheAlchemist>. There are some true gems in here. Game Collection: Albin Planinc Feb-12-12    brankat: I would particularly suggest the following games: R Bogdanovic vs A Planinc, 1965 A Planinc vs Gheorghiu, 1969 A Planinc vs Ulf Andersson, 1970 Tringov vs A Planinc, 1970 Ljubojevic vs A Planinc, 1971 J H Donner vs A Planinc, 1973 Vaganian vs A Planinc, 1974 And, perhaps, the most stunning one: Minic vs A Planinc, 1975 Mar-04-12    Fusilli: Okay, trying to get a measure of "fighting spirit", I counted the number of draws in 20 moves or less, total number of games in the database, and the resulting percent of quick draws, for a number of players. Of course the measure is imperfect for many reasons: a) Sofia rules affect these players differently, b) the database has plenty of blitz and rapid games for some players (which are less likely to end quickly), c) there is no control for strength of opponents, d) other? But it is something. (I tried to use dots to align the columns as best as possible...) ..........<=20....total...Percent ..........move....No......quick ..........draws...games...draws Fischer.........20.....984....2.03% Larsen.........58....2527....2.30% Carlsen........33....1340....2.46% Topalov........67....1687....3.97% Botvinnik…...48....1197....4.01% Kasparov....131....2357....5.56% Korchnoi.....269....4449....6.05% Aronian........99....1527....6.48% Anand........196....2569....7.63% Keres.........185....2076....8.91% Karpov.......312....3470....8.99% Kramnik.....209....2269....9.21% Bronstein...246....2187...11.25% Smyslov.....363....2643...13.73% Tal.............416....2817...14.77% Spassky.....428....2287...18.71% Petrosian....379....1947...19.47% Mar-04-12    SwitchingQuylthulg: <Fusilli> Congratulations! You just proved Tal had nearly no fighting spirit :-) Mar-04-12    Fusilli: <switch> Indeed! I think he got very drawish as he aged. Mar-11-12    Fusilli: Sunday morning... Here's my to do list for today: 1) Clean up the huge mess my desk has become 2) Go work out at the gym 3) Prepare for my colleagues a dossier on the applicants we have admitted into the graduate program 4) Review applications for the social science dissertation fellowship (I am on the committee that evaluates them) 5) Take some breaks and check out chessgames.com Why is it that I always start with the breaks? :-) Mar-11-12    brankat: Version II: Spend time at CG.com. During breaks from posting consider doing something about #1-4 :-) Mar-11-12    Fusilli: #1 on the list has been accomplished! But, uh, oh, it's already 1:35p... this is not looking too good. Mar-11-12    Fusilli: <Brankat> I have to say that Version II is very tempting... Mar-11-12    Penguincw: Thanks for stopping by my forum. :) Mar-12-12    Fusilli: <Pensguincw> My pleasure. Sorry about the mistaken correction of your puzzle! Mar-12-12    Penguincw: It's ok. We all make mistakes. The most important part is that we learn and move on. :) Mar-13-12    Albertan: Hi Mariano, nice to hear from you.I am sorry to hear that you were not able to organize the tournament you wanted to there.It sounds like you last Sunday was very busy,it is great you decided to visit Chessgames.com first that way you new you would get a break from your work for sure! Why do people go for pleasure before pain? Well not all of us do Mariano as you know. My father taught me to get the bad stuff out of the way first, however I still have problems with procrastination especially putting off things which are unpleasant to do.I imagine there are many people like me on the Planet.I hope you got your Sunday job list done and are having a good start to the week there! Mar-15-12    benjinathan: Mariano- May I ask you a question? When you are playing a serious game do you: a)always have a plan in mind? and b) do you use systematic approach in deciding what move to make after the other player has played his/her move? Many thanks if you are willing to indulge me. B Mar-15-12    Fusilli: <benjinathan> The first question is easier to answer than the second one. The answer is yes, I always have a plan in mind. It may be a flawed plan, but I always have some strategic ideas in mind. On the second question: plans have to be subject to specific lines, right? So, if I have the time, I check and recheck possible lines before and after my opponent's move. One of my flaws is that I tend to get fixated on my plan and that can lead me to miss opportunities when my opponent makes a mistake. I am trying to force myself to follow Bronstein's advice... something to the effect that once you have found a good move, then look for a better one. Of course, everything is subject to time controls, so you have to choose your battles... can't go into deep thinking every single move. Mar-15-12    benjinathan: Thanks M! When you look for a move do youy have a checklist in your head (i.e. first i look at his threats, second I look for my possible takes, third I..) or do you just get a sense of the position and then identify a move and calculaate itÉ thks again, b Mar-17-12    Fusilli: <B> I am not that systematic, but I suspect few people are. At the very least checking for threats is a health idea. While I don't have a check list, I do ask myself some questions (if I remember to do it!), such as: What is he threatening? What is his plan? Do I have a tactical blow? And then, as I consider moves: Can I refute this move at once? (As a side note, I ask myself this question before I raise my hand to move; once I decide my move I play it unhesitatingly. I don't think it is a good idea, in the context of the psychological battle, to raise your hand toward a piece and then take your hand back and hesitate and think again. It happens, but I try to avoid it.) When I won the LA state championship (2007), I remember I had developed a thought system where I would evaluate the position in terms of strategy, position, tactics, and technique. The system worked, I guess. Definitions: Strategy: general plan, or what I want to accomplish: attack, positional advantage, improving my pieces, etc. Position: referring mostly to strengths and weaknesses of a more or less structural (long-term) character Tactics: the actual move-to-move calculations that could define a game at once! Technique: how to transform a big advantage into a win I hope this helps! Mar-17-12    benjinathan: M-thanks for that very helpful answer! It is the <("if I remeber to do it")> part that I am struggling with! I go into a game with the best intentions and then completely lose my head. Your comments will help. Thks, B Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 35 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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