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 44 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Oct-13-13    World of Tomorrow: George Clooney doesn't like firefights. He likes to do it clean and precise. Not to mention 49 people, for him, would be way too many to begin with--too many things could go wrong with that number of people. He won't be part of the crew. Oct-20-13    World of Tomorrow: <Fusilli> What are the most recent movies you've watched? Oct-26-13    Fusilli: <W of T> Frankly, I think I didn't go to the movies at all this year or last. Maybe Beasts of the Southern Wild is the last movie I saw on a theater screen. I have switched to the many excellent TV shows I can watch on my computer. And the occasional Netflix movie. You? Oct-27-13    World of Tomorrow: <Fusilli> I meant the most recent movies that you've watched, not the most recent movies that have come out. Most recent movies I've watched: The Iceman, Wall Street, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Ocean's Thirteen. Oct-28-13    scormus: I hope you enjoyed the Nashville Opera series. Carmen may be a victim of its own success, I've seen it about 5 times, live or on TV, and they can be done very differently. Some you like more than others. The one I'd really like to see is La Wally (Alfredo Catalini). Oct-29-13    Fusilli: <scormus> Never saw La Wally. That would be interesting, yes. I am going to skip The Man ho mistook his Wife for a Hat, coming up next in Nashville. With the Pearl Fishers already significantly undersold, I wonder if staging this one is a financially sound decision... I will for sure go see Othello! And probably The Barber. Oct-29-13    Fusilli: <W of T> I still don't know! lol I really did switch to TV shows. I can tell you what the last TV shows I watched were: Portlandia, Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Foyle's War. Loved all of them. Oct-29-13    World of Tomorrow: <Fusilli> I've never seen those. The last TV show I've watched is Lost (all six seasons). Season 4 was my favorite. The second to last TV show I've watched is Prison Break (all four seasons). Season 2 was my favorite. TV shows never interested me much. I find crime movies where people get whacked for the silliest things more enjoyable. "So, you made me $40,000 in profit yesterday. In just one day, too. Very impressive. I see nothing but good things for you in the future." *Two days later* "You cost me $2,000!" *Three shots to the chest* Nov-06-13    Tabanus: Hello again <Fusilli>! I'm done with Game Collection: Rosario 1939 and Game Collection: Buenos Aires 1939. But as you can see there is little info outside what can be found in the tournament books. There's a lot to read in Google searches, but all in Spanish which is very hard for me. And I found no pictures :( Nov-12-13    Fusilli: <Tabanus> Terrific, thanks for keeping me posted! I will take a look at the game collections soon. Pretty busy lately... November is heavy for college profs. :) Nov-12-13    Tabanus: <Fusilli> Ok :) And Clarin 1978 coming up very soon, stay tuned! Dec-24-13    wordfunph: <Fusilli> Merry Christmas! Mar-10-14    waustad: <scormus>From what I've read, the reason that nobody produces La Wally is that an avalanche is very difficult to stage. many of us have operas that we'd like to see staged that are rarely done. I'd love to see die Tote Stadt done more, but it is very difficult to cast Paul. Both operas are well known from excerpts, but not often staged anymore. In the period between the world wars, the Korngold work was performed a lot. Mar-11-14    Fusilli: <waustad> I just read the Wikipedia entry on "Die Tote Stadt", which I never saw. I am very intrigued now. It sounds riveting. Why is Paul difficult to cast? Wikipedia only says "tenor"... is this one of those impossibly high-range type of tenor? These are the operas coming up in Nashville: http://www.nashvilleopera.org/Seaso.... I've never seen Otello! I'm excited. And then, a Carly Simon opera? I didn't know she had done that. Mar-11-14    waustad: Paul is a long role that requires a dramatic voice but with a high tessitura. Think somewhere between Seigfried and Otello. I think Korngold wrote it with Richard Tauber in mind, but his recording isn't that convincing. Torsten Kerl has done it recently live and on DVD and there are recordings by Rene Kollo and Youtube sections that can be put together with James King. I suspect studio recordings will always be much better than live for this one. The Kerl DVD has him lying on the floor necking with a skeleton for his best known music responding to Marietta's Lied. That can't be easy to do. May-25-14    Rookiepawn: Compatriota, saludos desde Dinamarca. Me hubiera gustado conocerlo a Jaime Emma. Como jugador medio irregular, pero me pareció siempre un tipo muy ético. Btw, I couldn't help reading some postings about movies and George Clooney. If you're a movies freak, don't miss The Return of the Killer Tomatoes. A must! <World of Tomorrow: <Fusilli> True or false: Evil can be done successfully in this world because of the existence of good.> Lao Tzu would say true. May-27-14    Fusilli: Que onda, <Rookiepawn>. Thanks for stopping by. Not really a movies freak, at least not anymore. I am into shows now. The quality of TV shows has improved so much... I only go to the movies maybe twice a year, although I do watch some more on Netflix. I hope you are doing well in Denmark. I've never been there. My European experience is limited. By the way, do I know you from Argentina? I left in the mid-90s. Are you younger than me? May-27-14    Rookiepawn: Your name doesn't ring to me, and Argentina is quite big... Guess I'm slightly older. I have been in many places, but only passing by USA (have to pay a visit there, New York especially... So many places to see... -sigh-) USA has improved a lot in series like Dr. House, Fargo, Game of Thrones, Six Feet Under, Los Soprano, Queer as Folk, Big Bang Theory, Boardwalk Empire... (not a movies but a series freak). Some British are great too (Black Mirror). They are ideal if you don't have too much time to spend watching something. Denmark is great so far. Only the language phonetics are really ear-boggling. Beautiful landscapes, winter is awful but the rest of the year is OK. I've done quite a lot of unrelated things, from IT programming to arts. Denmark has a strong market in IT. All the best! Jun-07-14    Fusilli: INCORPORATING RITUAL INTO GREEDY INSTITUTION THEORY: The Case of Devotion in Amateur Chess, by Antony J. Puddephatt, in Sociological Quarterly (2008): http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/... The abstract refers to sociological theory, so it won't be straightforward for non-sociologists, but a greedy institution is, if I remember well, any kind of organized environment that demands enormous commitment and time, to the detriment of other environments and commitments. In the words of this professor blogger, a "greedy institution" will "eat you alive": http://www.you-think-too-much.com/m.... Point 2 in the article's abstract refers to ratings. Ratings are overwhelmingly important for the amateur/club player because they symbolize our position in the class structure of chess. Think for example that in tournaments people don't have names but ratings ("I'm playing a 2000 today"). In that sense, I'd say that ratings are a good thing, because they give us a reason to play at all, since the money, for amateurs, is either out of reach or peanuts. I'm sure that without the rating, I would feel a lot less motivated to play. The author did his research at a Canadian chess club and Canadian tournaments. He is a club player himself. Jun-07-14    Fusilli: "Testosterone and Chess Competition", by Allan Mazur, Alan Booth, and James M. Dabbs, Jr., in Social Psychology Quarterly, 1992: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.23... So, testosterone levels are higher among winners than among losers after chess games. Of course one may wonder whether testosterone contributes to winning, or winning raises testosterone. Not sure if that question has been solved. Didn't Botvinnik advise players to abstain from sex during chess competition? Perhaps he correctly perceived the association between testosterone and winning and believed (incorrectly) that ejaculation reduces testosterone levels. It doesn't. Jun-11-14    Rookiepawn: Abstaining from sex during a competition seems to me a bad idea, especially in today's chess when you may be facing a real beauty. Better go fully relaxed. Jun-18-14    Fusilli: <Rookiepawn> True! Shabalov said somewhere that during games he spends 90% of the time thinking about girls. I think it's in Jennifer Shahadeh's book. Jun-30-14    Fusilli: Heading to DC for the World Open tomorrow. I'll play in the <2400 section. I haven't played tournament chess since December 2012. A little nervous, but very excited! Jun-30-14    perfidious: <Fusilli> Good luck! My recollection is that the drive from Nashville area to northern Virginia is a long one--are you flying up instead? Jun-30-14    Fusilli: Thanks <perfidious>! It's about 11 hours, and I was going to drive because airfares were above $600. However, yesterday I realized I had enough Delta miles for it, so I am flying. I don't mind driving long distance if I'll need the car at destination, but frankly, I plan on no DC sightseeing and will be confined in the hotel all the time. I plan to play all 9 rounds. Very demanding and energy-draining. You are no longer active in tournament play, are you? 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