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!

indicates a reply to the comment.

My Facerook Wall

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 56 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Oct-18-16    Fusilli: <K13> I came across that study a month or two ago, via this article: http://reason.com/blog/2016/09/22/a... It does seem pretty weak. Nov-02-16    Fusilli: I voted! First time that I vote in the US (I became a citizen last year). Last time I voted was in an Argentine election in 1999. Seventeen years without voting came to an end today! Nov-02-16    parisattack: Good for you <Fusilli> - and congratulations! I always feel good when I vote. I've voted in every national election since 1972 save for 2000. Nov-03-16    Fusilli: <parisattack> Thank you! Why not in 2000? Nov-03-16    ketchuplover: Vote like you castle-early and often! Nov-03-16    parisattack: <Fusilli: <parisattack> Thank you! Why not in 2000?> I couldn't handle either candidate. Similar circumstances this year - one is a pathological liar with narcissistic personality disorder, the other a career criminal. But I voted. Nov-04-16    Fusilli: <parisattack> <ketchuplover> I am glad it will soon be over. We need a break. But I am worried about the future of this country. Polarization has increased. The maps in this article show it clearly: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/.... Homophily is also on the rise. Social media does not make it easy to mingle and communicate with those who hold alternative views. To the contrary, it strengthens the bonds between those who think alike, making them more sure of their positions and more hostile to others. See http://www.theatlantic.com/press-re.... Those of us who see ourselves as moderates, and subscribe to checkered politics, are shrinking as a group. And the extremes get more and more extreme over time. These trends are worrisome, and bad for the country. Nov-04-16    parisattack: <These trends are worrisome, and bad for the country.> Fully agree <Fusilli>. The polarization and inability to compromise and work for a common good are extremely worrisome. There is no longer the sense we are all in this together as a group that I felt in the 1950s-1960s. The unity and 'belonging'are gone. And, what little social conscience this country once had has all but disappeared. I, me and mine... Nov-10-16    Knight13: As a center-leftist, I was with the conservatives and against the progressive liberals in this cycle. The Democrats forgot that they can't just do whatever they want without real consequences, no matter how morally righteous they believe themselves to be. Nov-10-16    Fusilli: <K13> Inserted as I am in the liberal academic environment, I have had enough of liberal arrogance and condescension. I am tired of group-think. This, for example, upsets me: http://reason.com/blog/2016/11/10/c.... I don't know, perhaps the same exams would have been cancelled on account of a Clinton's victory anyway, because, you know, the students would have been too excited. Speaking of that, my favorite Onion article: http://www.theonion.com/article/col.... BTW, I deleted your previous post because I was afraid that partisan replies would follow your question. Notice that I added a note at the end of my profile blurb. I really don't want my forum to become a political forum, but I do not mind some analysis if partisanship instincts can be restrained. Nov-10-16    Boomie: <Fusilli: Love Me I'm a Liberal> The folk song writer, Phil Ochs, was especially peeved by liberal hypocrites. "I love everybody as long as they don't move in next door and marry my daughter." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLq... Nov-13-16    Fusilli: <Boomie> Cool song! I didn't know it, thank you. Nov-13-16    heuristic: <fusilli> my background and profession is STEM-based. I see a lot of issues related to misunderstanding of STEM concepts. this article says it better than I can: https://aeon.co/ideas/what-i-learne... I know little about sociology. so I ask you; is there much auto-didactism in this field? and if so, what is your perception of the issues? for instance; I see a lot of self-taught folks espouse aspects in psychology and archeology; but rarely in this domain of the social sciences! since this is your forum and you're active in managing it's content; feel free to delete this. Nov-14-16    Fusilli: Hi <heuristic>, thank you for stopping by! I appreciate your question, and will answer it, but this week looks like I'll be swamped. So, I may take some time, but will get to it. Cheers! Nov-17-16    Knight13: They want diversity in everything except ideas. Remember, never question. Dec-01-16    Knight13: <Fusilli> Have you come across any good academic feminist studies done by a feminist? Dec-04-16    Fusilli: <K13> I don't read much of the most focused gender literature, but feminists write about a lot of things, so yes, I have read good work by feminists. These days I am mostly concerned with surviving the semester! The last stretch is punishing! Dec-06-16    Knight13: <Fusilli> I wanna read them, if you could recommend some. Dec-14-16    Fusilli: <K13> How about this one: https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Womens-M... Dec-14-16    Knight13: <Fusilli> That will take a while. Anything online that's free and under 50 pages (excluding bibliography)? Dec-19-16    Fusilli: <K13> Look up Paula England on google scholar. You'll find plenty of articles. Hopefully some of them available online. Another demographer who is a prominent gender scholar is Susan Watkins. Dec-19-16    Knight13: <Fusilli> None of them are third-wave feminists. Coincidence? Thanks. I will look into them. Dec-20-16    Fusilli: If anyone is interested, my review of Gary Alan Fine's "Players and Pawns" for the American Journal of Sociology is posted on my academia.edu page: https://www.academia.edu/29077365/R... Jan-07-17    perfidious: <parisattack....I couldn't handle either candidate. Similar circumstances this year - one is a pathological liar with narcissistic personality disorder, the other a career criminal. But I voted.> The choice was indeed between Scylla and Charybdis. <Fusilli....Homophily is also on the rise. Social media does not make it easy to mingle and communicate with those who hold alternative views. To the contrary, it strengthens the bonds between those who think alike, making them more sure of their positions and more hostile to others.....> Ah, a new word for my lexicon today! The phenomenon you have described above may be observed at a page here which I do not propose to name, especially with regard to one particular religion. <....Those of us who see ourselves as moderates, and subscribe to checkered politics, are shrinking as a group. And the extremes get more and more extreme over time. These trends are worrisome, and bad for the country.> This polarisation can only carry negative consequences in my view if left unchecked. Whilst my political leanings have always been to the left, and were indeed socialist in my youth, I have little truck with the extreme positions of either conservative or liberal ideology, both of which in my view propose to very neatly classify others, most especially those who are not as themselves, and dictate the behaviour of the latter. <....Inserted as I am in the liberal academic environment, I have had enough of liberal arrogance and condescension. I am tired of group-think....> Give me a person who disagrees with my every point of view but knows how to use their head any day over someone who is only capable of marching in lockstep. Jan-12-17    Fusilli: Thank you <perfidious>. I always value your wit and your opinions. Stop by my forum any time! Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 56 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific user only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

You are not logged in to chessgames.com. If you need an account, register now; it's quick, anonymous, and free! If you already have an account, click here to sign-in.