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 39 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Dec-02-12    Fusilli: <scormus> Are you an opera man too? I confess my operatic background is really weak on Wagner, but otherwise I am above the average bear. My dad sang a little bit in the second tier opera circuit in Buenos Aires (he auditioned for Colon Theather once and didn't make it). I studied singing with an opera teacher for a couple of years back in the early 90s. I have a tenor-sounding voice, but I don't have the highest notes in the tenor range. But if sing a baritone part I sound like a tenor singing a baritone part, which is not very charming. Anyway, I quit singing attempts for dancing years ago. I seem to be much better at dancing. I love being an opera spectator, though. I agree on your evaluation of the sabbatical term. Vanderbilt uses "research leave", but I think "study leave" is appropriate too, as I know of cases of established professors who, mid-career, changed their field of interest to explore something anew, something they could do thanks to being away from the classroom for a semester. Dec-02-12    Fusilli: <waustad> Check this out: http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp... Dec-02-12    scormus: <Fusilli> Oh, just now and again, but I feel it's quality rather than quantity. I'm not really into German opera. My preference is for Italian - it strikes deep into the emotions. I'll never forget after one peformance in Turin, seeing this tough latino, probably worked as a hit man for the Mafia, visibly fighting to bite back the tears. Yeah, Verdi, Puccini, Catalani .... there's some serious heartbreak. But have been difficult between tenor and baritone (between hero and villain). Dec-02-12    Fusilli: <scormus> According to my dad, the Italian baritones had this complaint: "I baritoni all'opera lirica cantiamo, cantiamo e cantiamo, ma al final la bella facia la fa sempre il tenore". I am sure my spelling is wrong somewhere. It means "We the baritones at the opera sing, sing, and sing, but at the end the pretty face is always the tenor's". I hear you. Puccini and Verdi are up there in my preferences too. Dec-03-12    scormus: You might not know the whole opera "La Wally" but I expect you know the incredibly moving aria "Ebben? n'andro lontano". The person who isn't moved simply isn't human. http://www.amazon.com/Catalani-Wall... Dec-03-12    Fusilli: <scormus> I'm human! I'm human! I just listened to it on youtube (Maria Callas and Angela Gheorghiu). Dec-03-12    Mrs. Alekhine: My dear <Semi-obscure Pasta Shaped after a Famous Cat> That means a lot to me, coming from you. Sadly, it might take me a year more to finish the next one, since I've foolishly essayed a documentary on "Johnny Alekhine." However, now I'm thinking it might have been a a lot easier to document an essay on him. It's been one year already researching and assembling materials, some of which I've actually looked at and read. The amount of both is vast. With players like <Nezh>, the paucity of information ensured a timely completion date. On the bright side, here is a list of games collections of every single tournament Johnny played in, that might take 10 years to finish: Game Collection: Alekhine Tournament Collection (Complete List) Dec-03-12    Fusilli: <Mrs Alekhine> Nice to see you over here. Has anyone told you you look a lot like Mr Alekhine? It does sound like a monumental project. Best wishes! Dec-04-12    scormus: If you like opera I'm sure you enjoyed Carlsen-Jones. For drama value it's worthy of anything by Puccini! Dec-04-12    Fusilli: <scormus> Yeah! Jones' lady was certainly a drama queen. Dec-04-12    Fusilli: <scormus> ... committed opera-style suicide and, like in opera, it was in vein. Dec-05-12    Fusilli: I'll play the Nashville championship second city qualifier on December 15! My last tourney was the city championship finals last January and I am excited to play again. The city championship finals is for six players. Four slots have been filled and the other two come from the December 15 qualifier. The four slots so far are: (FM) Todd Andrews (DefendingChampion), (FM) Nazreen Bakri Anas, (IM) Ronald Burnett and (NM) Kenneth Holroyd. I hope I can qualify! Dec-05-12    Fusilli: Of course, my hidden weapon is my deep opening preparation with honorary GM <hms123>! Dec-07-12    scormus: <Fusilli> You would know of course about the spelling of Scylla ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:J... Dec-07-12    Fusilli: <scormus> Yes! I knew that painting! Very powerful. Fuseli specialized in terrorific, macabre or overly dramatic themes. How about the nightmare? http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F... Dec-09-12    scormus: A very disturbing scene! Imagine a dark parody of a Shakespeare play. Call it "A Midsummer Night's Nightmare"? Dec-11-12    Fusilli: <scormus> I wonder if Fuseli has a painting depicting the flu. I caught the flu, I'm miserable. Have been sick since I woke up on Saturday. Not feeling much better yet. It sucks to be sick... It appears I will not play the Nashville city qualifiers after all... Dec-15-12    scormus: <I wonder if Fuseli has a painting depicting the flu> If he did, it would be horrible. Look after yourself, keep warm and ge well soon. Dec-18-12    Fusilli: <scormus> Thanks. The flu ran its course and I am back in Nashville now. Dec-24-12    wordfunph: Merry Christmas! Dec-24-12    WinKing: Merry Christmas to you and yours Mariano! Dec-24-12    chancho: Merry Christmas <Fusilli>! Dec-25-12    crawfb5: Merry Christmas! Glad to hear you are home and well. Dec-25-12    morfishine: <Fusilli> Merry Christmas! I hope you have a pleasant Holiday Season! Dec-25-12    meloncio: Gracias y Feliz Navidad también! Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 39 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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