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 71 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Nov-18-22    Fusilli: <areknames> All makes sense. Ironically, Zoff was the oldest player in the tournament, wasn't he? Surrounded by kids! I remember the rough shadowing of Maradona in '82. I think referees should consider repeated fouling of a specific player (especially of a team's star) as a worse offense than repeated generic fouls. The former shows intent to neutralize an opponent by non-sportsmanlike means. The latter shows that you are just a rough player (who also needs disciplining). BTW, I remember that one of the stars of the 1982 World Cup's final game was the Brazilian referee. He was amazingly accurate and quick, even with all the pressure of a WC final on his shoulders! Nov-18-22    saffuna: <fusilli> I visited the Cordillera Blanca (Huaraz) years ago to hike, found there was no information available, wrote the guidebook, published a photos book, guided trekking groups, got into conservation of the area, published more books, etc. Peru did great in the first round in 1978. Scotland was one of the pre-tournament favorites, but Peru with Cubillas defeated it 3-1. Then they battled to a 0-0 tie with Holland and defeated Iran easily. Then in the next round they collapsed, scoring no goals against Brazil, Poland or Argentina. In 1982 Peru looked to be a contender. Two weeks before the tournament they came into Paris and defeated France 1-0. Then they stumbled to two draws before giving up five goals in about three minutes of the second half to Poland. Nov-19-22    technical draw: <All of it? I think Paraguay 0-0 New Zealand was kinda quiet. :)> The noise was caused by the infamous vuvuzelas. The transmission audio was very hard to understand until the engineers found a way to fix it: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport... Nov-19-22    areknames: <In 1982 Peru looked to be a contender. Then they stumbled to two draws before giving up five goals in about three minutes of the second half to Poland.> Of course the other teams in the group were Italy and Cameroon who met the day after. The Africans were a strong side in their own right, to hold Peru and Poland to goalless draws is no mean feat for a World Cup debutant. Italy also had 2 draws, but because they had scored against Peru they would qualify for the next round in the event of a draw. The match was in all likelihood fixed, only it was an intended 0-0 which became a 1-1. Cameroon were quite happy to draw and return home unbeaten to great glory, Italy obviously needed to advance. Top officials, some Cameroon players and quite a bit of money were allegedly involved. The game itself was farcical until the 60th minute when it became worse than that. Graziani's innocuous header rolls into goal because keeper N'Kono slips! About a minute later the normally stingy Italian defense turn into statues and allow Cameroon to equalize. After that, no more play for 1/2 hour, draw. Everyone who watched the game at the time, whether at the stadium or on telly knew that the fix was in, "biscotto" like we say in Italy. The best kept unofficial secret in World Cup history! Nov-19-22    saffuna: The loudest non-vuvezela crowd I've ever heard at the start of a game was the crowd at the 1978 final. Nov-19-22    saffuna: <areknames> As you know, the last games of the first round are played simultaneously to avoid things like that. Nov-19-22    areknames: <saffuna> Yes of course, it was introduced in 1986 to avoid things like Germany-Austria in '82 which was also a bit of a scandal. Nov-19-22    Fusilli: <saffuna> <got into conservation of the area, published more books> Wow, that's great! Sounds like you have made your contribution to humankind! <Scotland was one of the pre-tournament favorites> I was too young to be aware of favorites. Hard to think of Scotland as a favorite, though I remember they beat Holland. More generally, how did the world see the Argentine team going into the tournament? Was it considered a serious contender? <technical draw> <The noise was caused by the infamous vuvuzelas> Oh, of course! In the comments below this little video about the vuvuzela sound (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKC...), how about this one: "I hate it when people start playing football during a vuvuzela concert." <areknames> <saffuna> I vaguely remember the Germany-Cameroon thing, though I probably wasn't paying much attention. Of course it makes total sense to have the last games of the group stage played simultaneously. Hey, fellas, Qatar starts tomorrow!! And I haven't even looked at how to watch. I don't have cable TV. Or any TV signal. My smart TV is to watch Netflix and Amazon. I need some Internet way to watch. Any recommendations? Nov-19-22    saffuna: As I remember, Argentina was definitely one of the favorites before the 1978 tournament, especially as the host nation. I think publications focused a lot on Daniel Passarella, not Kempes or Ardiles. I remember they had a player named Killer. Don't know if he ever faced a player named Verdugo. Nov-19-22    technical draw: This might help: https://www.npr.org/2022/11/19/1137... Nov-20-22    Fusilli: <TD> Thanks. I just signed up for Peacock. $4.99 for a month to watch all games, but I splurged and I spent a whopping $9.99 for a premium plus option without ads (insert emoji with shades here.) Nov-20-22    technical draw: First match is over: Ecuador 2 Qatar 0. This is the first time in world cup history that the host country loses the initial match. Nov-21-22    technical draw: Senegal-Nederlands, no one wants to score. I predict 0-0 tie. Nov-21-22    technical draw: So much for my prediction. Netherlands wins 2-0. Nov-21-22    saffuna: Almost right. First goal at 83'. Nov-21-22    areknames: <Hard to think of Scotland as a favorite> My thoughts exactly, I don't think anyone would have thought of them as contenders. Scotland did very well to qualify for 5 consecutive World Cups between 74 and 90, plus one in 98; they never progressed beyond the group stage though. Remarkably they were drawn in the same group as Brazil in 4 of those 6 WCs, actually every 8 years from 74 to 98. I don't think they have qualified since. Yes, I am a WC trivia nerd! Nov-21-22    Fusilli: England - Iran was exciting. England showed nice teamwork, very dangerous... at least if the opponent is as solid as butter in the sun! Nov-21-22    Fusilli: <areknames> I don't know about you, but the Wikipedia pages for past world cups got a bunch of visits from me in the last two days! Nov-21-22    Fusilli: USA - Wales, one half time each, one goal each. Decent Uncle Sam showing. Nov-21-22    Fusilli: Now the question is... will I be up at 4am my time to watch Argentina? I love you, Argentina, but 4am? C'mon! Nov-21-22    Fusilli: I just saw all recap summaries so far. Can't complain. Feels like a good one. Many action-fueled goals, yet I loved Valencia's goal from a penalty kick. Very smooth. Nov-22-22    saffuna: <My thoughts exactly, I don't think anyone would have thought of them as contenders.> Scotland was definitely considered one of the five or so favorites in 1978. Nov-22-22    Fusilli: I woke up, checked the news, and... WHAAAAA...???? Nov-22-22    technical draw: I can't believe Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia. The Arab teams are really upping their game in this world cup. Nov-22-22    technical draw: Mexico/Poland 0-0. Rough game. The players spent more time on the ground than running. That missed penalty shot looms large. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 71 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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