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 45 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jul-07-14    Fusilli: Just back from the World Open! I did well, breaking even against strong opposition. My rating is going up from 2176 to 2191. I just hope to be back in the 2200s. That's my goal. My results: Round 1: Andrew A Ryba (2352) v Mariano Sana: Draw Round 2: Mariano Sana v Chris J Mabe (2330): Draw Round 3: Ilker Nadi Bozkurt (2202) v Mariano Sana: 1-0 Round 4: Mariano Sana v Andrew Roach (2086): 1-0 Round 5: FM Alexander Betaneli (2324) v Mariano Sana: 1-0 Round 6: Mariano Sana v Joshua Altman (1653): 1-0 Round 7: Mariano Sana v Effim Treger (2330): Draw Round 8: Okechukwu A Iwu (2249) v Mariano Sana: Draw Round 9: Mariano Sana v Nitai Leve (2329): Draw Summary: +2 =5 -2 Jul-07-14    perfidious: <Fusilli> Looks like a good, solid result for you. Just returning to this page for the first time since my post last week, so to answer your question: have not played a serious game since 2001 and don't know that I ever will again. Jul-08-14    Fusilli: <perfidious>, <KKDEREK>, thanks! <perfidious>... I considered quitting several times. I don't play much (last OTB slow tournament had been Dec 2012), but every time I play I keep thinking "okay this might be the moment of reckoning and they will wipe me off the board, and it will be time to retire." But I keep surviving! Jul-08-14    Fusilli: (ctd.) After all, I just turned 47 and that was Korchnoi's age in Baguio. Jul-19-14    Fusilli: My nine games from the World Open were just added to the database (thank you, <CG>!) I will be posting some comments soon. There were some interesting positions. Not that I expect anyone to care, but this is my forum after all! Aug-05-14    Fusilli: Just came back from the US Open. I lost the first game, but sprinted back winning four in a row. Lost in round 6 but won the remaining three rounds, ending up with 7 points. That meant clear first in the 2000-2199 category, cashing in $2,000! 15th place overall. Aug-05-14    crawfb5: Outstanding! Well played, sir! Aug-06-14    Fusilli: <crawfb5> Thank you! :) Aug-10-14    Fusilli: Yesterday was my 10-year anniversary with chessgames.com! Aug-10-14    parisattack: Interesting; mine, also. Aug-10-14    Fusilli: <parisattack> How's that for a coincidence! Happy anniversary to you too! Aug-10-14    parisattack: "Great minds think alike" they say! :) Hope the next ten are great for you! Aug-10-14    Fusilli: <P> Likewise! Aug-12-14    sevenseaman: Hi <Fusilli>! Liked your comment and the game today(I do not comment on the POTD but follow it almost regularly). Yes, your attack does start at move...22. I am a little surprised <CG> has featured your game on a Tuesday. Its a tad harder. Aug-12-14    Fusilli: <sevenseaman> Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. Maybe Tuesday because it is all forced? Although it may not be so easy to see, as some folks' comments on the game page suggest... Aug-12-14    morfishine: Good evening <Fusilli>! Yes, very nice game today, very elegant, decisive AND impressive, particularly given the rating of White! From a problem/solver point of view this was, for me at least, one of those where I was able to solve only after reversing the board and seeing the position from the Black side. Sometimes that happens to me for some odd reason. Great Game! ***** Aug-12-14    Fusilli: <morf> Maybe you are better on attack than on defense! After the US Open my rating is at 2199. I have the master's title already, since I used to be above 2200, but I am craving to be above that rating threshold again. I'm going to play the Cleveland Open this coming weekend, hoping to achieve that. Then it's academic time again, and will put the pieces on hold for a while. Aug-18-14    Fusilli: Just finished the Cleveland Open with 3 in 5: http://www.uschess.org/component/op... Finally my rating is going back up above 2200, after five years! I'm happy about that. After the tournament, it's 2219. Round 1: John F. Martin (1873) v Mariano Sana (2199): 0-1 Round 2: Mariano Sana (2199) v IM Calvin Blocker (2404): 1-0 Round 3: GM Sergey Kudrin (2604) v Mariano Sana (2199): 1-0 Round 4: William Sedlar (2211) v Mariano Sana (2199): 0-1 Round 5: Mariano Sana (2199) v IM Florin Felecan (2411) 0-1 Aug-18-14    Shams: <Fusilli> Nice IM scalp! You should upload the game. Aug-18-14    Fusilli: <Shams> Thanks! I plan to. :) I will also upload my loss against Felecan, but not the one against Kudrin, which is too embarrassing (I blundered in the opening) and low quality. Aug-19-14    falso contacto: Well done. Felicitaciones. Aug-20-14    Fusilli: <falso contacto> Gracias! Aug-22-14    morfishine: <Fusilli> Great work! Congratulations! I hope to see these games! Aug-22-14    Fusilli: <morf> Thanks! I submitted the games vs Blocker and Felecan a few days ago. Aug-31-14    Fusilli: I just played the TN Open and did terribly. Quit after three rounds, with 1.5 points against three players ranging from top 1600s to top 1700s. I think one of the biggest differences between a mere master like me and the really strong players is consistency. On a good day I can give almost anyone a run for their money (and I have collected some nice scalps), but on a bad day I can be totally off and play really weak chess. So, my rating went back down below 2200. Sigh. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 45 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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