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 49 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Feb-10-15    Fusilli: <Mating Net> lol... yeah, I must be one of those royals in exile... ;) Feb-10-15    Mating Net: I'll bet the Bombonera would really shake if you went to a match. We should go someday, I'll bet you could get vip seats. Feb-10-15    Fusilli: <Mating Net> lol. You are overestimating my influence! Which is none. My cousin has some pull, though. I did go see a match with her when I was there. We were going to go to the VIP section, but at the last moment they sent us somewhere else. That same night there was a police raid of the VIP section! They were looking for a crook, a leader of the "barra brava", for murder I think, and the cops arrested some club officials suspected of hiding him. My cousin thought that they had taken our seats away knowing that that would/could happen. The match was a total bore 0-0 with Newell's Old Boys, for the Libertadores. Feb-10-15    Mating Net: Wow, sounds like you have plenty of pull. You dodge the police raid while enjoying the game, not too shabby. So happy you are a Boca hincha! This is going to be great. I have met lots of Boca people all over the world and liked them all. I've never met a River supporter I liked so.... Feb-16-15    OhioChessFan: Another forum with some good problems: sevenseaman chessforum Feb-21-15    SwitchingQuylthulg: <Fusilli> I'm afraid you're not quite eligible for a Notable Games section yet. K Gulamali vs M Sana, 2014 is already in quite enough game collections, but a list of notable games isn't computed for all players; to qualify for one, you need either a special notability flag (the Chessgames Star of Megaimportance) or a best rating in the database of at least 2320. Feb-21-15    Fusilli: <switch> I was suspecting that. Thanks for clarifying! You owe me good news now ;) Feb-21-15    Mating Net: Where have you been <Fusilli> did you just return from Punta del Este? Feb-21-15    optimal play: <Fusilli> I think your player page deserves a "Notable Games" section and K Gulamali vs M Sana, 2014 should be the first one in it! The question is, since you're below 2320, what do you have to do to get a <special notability flag> and thereby become a <Chessgames Star of Megaimportance>?! Feb-21-15    Fusilli: <Mating Net> Ha! I wish! My last three days have been bumpy. On Thursday my car got stuck in the snow at my girlfriend's place in the country. I drive a RWD, not good for those situations. Where she lives, it gets colder than in Nashville, and there is a lot more snow, and I was probably irrationally hoping my car would not get stuck. So, she drove me to the airport and I rented a car. But then I finished getting that cold that I seemed intent on getting. I am kind of disgusting right now. How have you been, my friend? Feb-21-15    Fusilli: <optimal play: ... The question is, since you're below 2320, what do you have to do to get a <special notability flag> and thereby become a <Chessgames Star of Megaimportance>?!> I don't know, but I'm not even going to try :) One thing is to shamelessly ask people to put my game in their collections, but another one very different is to campaign for megaimportance! I think I am left with no choice but climbing to 2320. Since I only play two or three tournaments a year, I will have to do spectacularly well for a few years in a row. So be it! Feb-22-15    Mating Net: Nothing exciting to report on my end, no colds/flu knock on wood. Hope you get better. This is an interesting read on the Super Classico and other issues on the Argentine league. http://www.espnfc.us/blog/espn-fc-u... Feb-23-15    scormus: Hi Fusili, belated New Year wishes as I'm just back from a time offline. I managed to source a DVD of La Wally performance, lokking foward to playing it :) Feb-23-15    Fusilli: <Mating Net> Wow, I didn't know anything about that! (I haven't been following on Argentine football, as you see.) It does sound like a Frankestein-like creation! Feb-23-15    Fusilli: <scormus> Hi there! Good to hear from you! Never seen La Wally. Tell me how you like it! Feb-23-15    Fusilli: <scormus> The synopsis on the Wikipedia entry for La Wally just cracked me up: <The story is set in the Austrian Tyrol where the free-spirited but vulnerable Wally is in love with the handsome Giuseppe Hagenbach, the son of her father's implacable enemy. This leads to the inevitable disastrous conclusion.> lol... an opera based on tragic, impossible love. Who would have thought of it! :) Mar-02-15    Tabanus: <Fusilli> I found it again! It's really a house fly, but don't tell anyone. Mar-02-15    Fusilli: <Tabanus> There you go! It's funny, when I imagine meeting in person any cg.com member, I can't help but thinking I'll meet exactly their avatars. So, I imagine OCF looks exactly like Elvis, or Mark Finan exactly like John Lennon. I even imagine Phony Benoni looks exactly like that muppet and Wannabe exactly like Bugs Bunny! But not you, <Tabanus>. I doubt you look like a house fly... :) Mar-03-15    Tabanus: <Fusilli> With this avatar and the nature of my posts, I realize it can be difficult to imagine there's even a human being behind. But I do have a few patzer games in the db :) Mar-07-15    Fusilli: I've taken to running my 5-min ICC blitz games by Stockfish, to see how I am doing tactically. Of course, one can expect tons of blunders in blitz, but I am trying to see how bad my blunders are, how big the things I am omitting are, etc. I think of blitz as tactical training. So, I just played this game with the black pieces: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Qd6 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 Bg4 8. e5 click for larger view So, I reason that my queen would be even better traded on d5 than d6, so I play: 8... Qd5?? And my opponent, as blind as I am, plays 9.Qxd5?? I went on to win. The rest of the game did not have huge blunders. Funny, eh? I didn't notice until I ran it by Stockfish and the big red dot popped up. Mar-08-15    OhioChessFan: You didn't throw Stockfish out the window? FWIW, 8...Qd5 is a novelty. There's one other game in the database with the same moves up to that, another Black win, although he went with the boring 8...Qxd4. M Mills vs M Barron, 2011 Mar-09-15    Fusilli: <OCF> lol. Why should I? For pointing out my (and my opponent's) blunder? I saw that game, it's fun. Black got three pawns for a piece and ruthlessly rolled the pawns forward. They became unstoppable. Apr-26-15    FSR: I gather that you often play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 as Black. If you haven't already done so, you should immediately get <Bologan's Black Weapons in the Open Games>. Maybe the best opening book ever! https://www.newinchess.com/Bologan_... Apr-27-15    Fusilli: <FSR> True. My Sicilian days are long gone. I dabble in the Pirc sometimes. But open games are my favorite. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll buy it. May-03-15    Mating Net: Super Clasico day! La Bombonera should be rocking right about now. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 49 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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