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 53 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Nov-08-15    Fusilli: <Tabanus> Yes, your correction of that game was clearly appropriate. About the game vs. Martinez, I can't help. I did a little bit of online digging, which was not fruitful. :( Martinez is a pretty common last name, and Abraham Raul Ramirez was not well known. I had never heard of him, even though I grew up playing chess in Buenos Aires... The page you found is an autobiographic narrative. I enjoyed reading it. The man loved chess and he tells his story as a player and an organizer. I found a site with the news of his death on January 10, 2013, aged 92. The date of birth wasn't there. Nov-08-15    Tabanus: <Fusilli> Thanks! I added the death date. He was born in 1920 and apparently lived in Rosario, see http://www.ara.org.ar/2013/ramirez/... and http://www.ara.org.ar/2013.html. The game from 1990 appears to be from Argentina, it could be him also but.. Nov-22-15    Fusilli: <Knight13> Thank you :) Sorry my message was harsh. I am glad you are taking my post for what it conveys rather than its tone. (I am going to delete that exchange now.) In other news, happy Thanksgiving break! At Vanderbilt, the break is the whole week, so I am not back in the classroom until a week from Tuesday. Going to Louisiana to spend the holiday with my goddaughter's family. You? Nov-22-15    ketchuplover: May you and yours have a silli and fun holiday season :) Nov-23-15    morfishine: I want to say Mr. <Fusillii> I hold you in high esteem for your pure dedication to actually playing chess. I'm backing off of "social chess" or those who want to simply yakkity-yakk all day about chess matters, but don't actually play or have any intent on improving their game. In my view, chess is foremost a personal and very individual endeavor; Chess is selfish, but not in a belligerent or ugly manner; On the other hand, chess is both selfish and a great test of one's overall character, whether one is measuring talent, grit, determination, perseverance, ingenuity or whatever one may use as a "measuring stick". One of the most treasured compliments I received at the end of a losing 5-min game vs a 2150 opponent was his simple post "Nice" as my time expired Stay at it, you are much admired and respected in the playing community here at <CG> Best, morf ***** Nov-24-15    Knight13: <Fusilli> You are welcome. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well. I will just be spending the week with my mom and dad right here in Florida :) Nov-25-15    Fusilli: <ketchuplover> Thank you! Same to you! Nov-25-15    Fusilli: <morf> You made my day! You are always so attentive, and always a good sport. I just love chess. To me, discussing chess without ever playing is almost masochistic. I remember seeing GM Lein playing at a World Open, pushing 80, his rating having fallen to the 2300s, and I thought: this man loves chess, and I want to play for as long as I can as well. I played a short tourney in Nashville last weekend and I gained some rating points. I am at 2189 now. I want to get back to 2200! I drew with the black pieces against FM Todd D Andrews and I am happy because the previous times I played him with the black pieces I always lost (the games are all in this database). I'll submit this game next week. Have a great Thanksgiving, my friend. Nov-25-15    morfishine: Good afternoon <Fusilli>! I hope you and your family have an enjoyable Thanksgiving too! I looked over your games with Andrews and I sense a common-theme in that he seems to "have your number" so to speak. Not that he's better or more talented but he just doesn't matchup well with you for now. I think its more a style mismatch where his edge is more knowledge-based vs brilliancy-based. I also looked over his game vs GM Serper: T D Andrews vs Serper, 2008 There are clues here, for now unidentified, as to how or what direction you would need to work to get over this apparent mental obstacle vs Andrews Oh, and great you drew with him in your last game. I can hardly wait to go over that game ***** Dec-24-15    wordfunph: <Fusilli> Merry Christmas! Dec-25-15    chancho: Merry Christmas <Fusilli>! Dec-25-15    Knight13: <Fusilli> Merry Christmas. Dec-25-15    Fusilli: Merry Christmas, <knight13>! Dec-25-15    moronovich: Merry Christmas and a happy New Year <Fusilli> ! Feb-17-16    Whiterun Guard: <Fusilli> You're the one from the College. Heard about you. Mar-08-16    Knight13: The mini-Iron Curtains, ehh sorry, I mean the safe spaces springing up on campuses country wide are getting professors into trouble. Hope they don't get you in trouble for wrongthink or disagreement. Mar-11-16    Knight13: <Fusilli> A phenomenon you may find interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_G... By the way, the link you provided in your profile doesn't link to your own page, if that's what you intended. This one does: http://as.vanderbilt.edu/sociology/... Mar-13-16    Fusilli: <Knight13> I may find it intellectually interesting, because I am intellectually curious, but it makes me sad. Three years after my divorce, I am in a healthy, great relationship with a wonderful woman. (I've been seeing her for over a year now.) And I can't think of people giving up on love (straight or gay) as a healthy choice. More generally, I don't believe in blanket statements when it comes to people. A relationship between X and Y may not be meant to be, but a relationship between X and Z may be great. Thanks for alerting me of the misleading link! I'll fix it. Mar-20-16    Knight13: <Fusilli> Not according to MGTOWs. They think it is a healthy choice. They say their lives are better than before after going their own way. I don't speak for them, for I am not a MGTOW, but I do agree with them that the costs of marriage outweigh the benefits because of the outdated family legal system... until I fall in love, lose all logic, think she's the one, can't think straight, and get married. Then it is worth it, at least temporarily. But I don't believe in love at first sight, and I don't look out for girls that I might like, so that's unlikely. Mar-25-16    Knight13: <More generally, I don't believe in blanket statements when it comes to people. A relationship between X and Y may not be meant to be, but a relationship between X and Z may be great.> There is no way you can guarantee ending up with Z if you're X. This wasn't a big problem in the past, because the risk-reward ratio was relatively much smaller, but things have changed. See http://www.amazon.com/Men-Strike-Bo.... Marriage is a contract between three parties: the two partners and the state. I don't like the terms offered by the state, so I'm not signing the paper. It's that simple. Mar-27-16    Fusilli: <Knight13> There are many people who object to marriage, for a variety of reasons. The MGTOW guys are a minority of these. Most people who object to marriage don't believe in marriage, but don't object to relationships altogether. For example, Scandinavians have been massively giving up on marriage, but not on relationship or family. Most kids born there are born out of wedlock but into a family. My comment was prompted by this line in the Wikipedia entry you linked to: "members of the MGTOW community believe that legal and romantic entanglements with women fail a cost–benefit analysis and risk–benefit analysis." That quote goes beyond marriage to include all "romantic entanglements." I can understand why some people may want to discard marriage as an option, but I think it is sad to give up on love altogether. Mar-29-16    Knight13: <Fusilli> Not all MGTOWs have given up on love--their main motto is to live life for yourself first and foremost, and to not worry yourself over women or doing what society tells you to do. I'm not sure "giving up" is most accurate--"reject" is a better word. At least that's what I understand to be their philosophy. There is Common Law Marriage in many states in the U.S., which treats a couple who've lived together for a certain period of time the same as if they are married. So just having a relationship long enough will drag the state into your life, if I understand correctly, unless you live separately. The State just won't stay out of people's romantic relationships, won't it? "I don't want to get married because of the law, so I'll just keep dating and--oh, what's that, Common Law Marriage? So, you must, what, break up with him/her after 6 months, one year, two year, however-long, if you don't want the state-sanctioned laws seething into your life? Oh, okay, that's fine, I'll just date her for a little while and then breakup with her a couple weeks before the red line. Absolutely nothing wrong in doing that to someone, I'm sure. Nothing wrong whatsoever... Hey, you know what, I'm just not gonna date then. There is way more to life besides that." Mar-31-16    Knight13: <Fusilli> I take back the Common-Law Marriage stuff. According to Wikipedia, "Common-law marriage in the United States can still be contracted in nine states (Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Iowa, Montana, Utah, and Texas) and the District of Columbia. New Hampshire recognizes common-law marriage for purposes of probate only, and Utah recognizes common-law marriages only if they have been validated by a court or administrative order.[1] Common-law marriage can no longer be contracted in 27 states, and was never permitted in 13 states." And the remaining nine states have strict definitions of what constitutes as Common-Law Marriage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commo... Good news. Well, at least for men. Apr-12-16    Fusilli: Sorry I dropped the ball on this discussion <Knight13>. April is horrible for me, as far as work goes, and my free time. Apr-17-16    Knight13: <Fusilli> Students start begging you to raise their grades yet? Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 53 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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