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 74 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Dec-02-22    Fusilli: Blitz game, just played on chess.com. I am black. click for larger view White just played 19.Bg5. I played 19...Re3. (You want the exchange? Have the exchange!) 20.Bxe3 Rxe3 21.Rg1 Qe7 22.Rb2 Bh6 23.Qd1? (Necessary was 23.Re1, but you don't want to risk a discovery threat on your queen in blitz.) click for larger view Black to play and win with flair. Dec-02-22    areknames: <Exciting day!> Indeed it was. When CR went 2-1, for a few minutes Japan and Costa Rica were both through which would have constituted the biggest group stage upset in history. Eventually Germany ended up helping Spain but got no help from them in return as the Iberians safely conceded defeat to Japan, and were probably quite happy to face Morocco and avoid Croatia in the next round. <Belgium was quite unlucky> I don't believe luck has a lot to do with the outcome. When you get those kind of chances, REPETEADLY, you just have to score otherwise you don't deserve to win. Dec-02-22    areknames: <Black to play and win with flair> I'm having some trouble visualizing it all but it should be 23...Rxf3+ 24.Ke1 (only move, White can capture on f3 in 3 different ways to no avail) Qe3! with a deadly invasion. Dec-02-22    Fusilli: <areknames: I'm having some trouble visualizing it all but it should be 23...Rxf3+ 24.Ke1 (only move, White can capture on f3 in 3 different ways to no avail) Qe3! with a deadly invasion.> Yup! <I don't believe luck has a lot to do with the outcome. When you get those kind of chances, REPETEADLY, you just have to score otherwise you don't deserve to win.> I concede the point. In fact, barring a biased referee or other decisive external factors, every result is fair. Dec-02-22    Fusilli: <areknames: WORLD CUP TRIVIA> I googled this and found this page: https://colgadosporelfutbol.com/pad... It's in Spanish, but scroll down to the table. There are actually three father-son duos that played for different countries! Dec-02-22    Fusilli: <TD> <technical draw: Does anyone here really believe that Tunisia beat France?> Actually, after seeing the highlights and reading about it, I don't see anything suspicious about it. I think that Deschamps' decision to try Team B was a smart one and a good use of the luxury of having qualified early. It gave some backup players a little bit of exposure, and let him see problems he wouldn't have seen otherwise. To me, France is as much a favorite to win the tournament as it was before that game. Dec-02-22    Fusilli: With both Serbia and Cameroon forced to go for a win, the games today promise to be exciting! Dec-02-22    technical draw: Another VAR intervention. This has got to stop. The WC is becoming unwatchable. Lucky the penalty shot was missed, divine justice. Dec-02-22    technical draw: <I think that Deschamps' decision to try Team B > Then the score should be Tunisia 1 France* 0 Dec-02-22    Fusilli: Of course, Uruguay-Ghana and Korea-Portugal are super exciting too. Dec-02-22    Fusilli: <technical draw: Another VAR intervention. This has got to stop. The WC is becoming unwatchable.> I agree. It's excessive now. I think decisions should not be made on the basis of razor-thin margins anyway. Dec-02-22    technical draw: Again does anyone really believe that South Korea beat Portugal? Dec-02-22    chancho: Well, 2-1. You think the fix was in? Dec-02-22    technical draw: <chancho> <Well, 2-1. You think the fix was in?>. Well, lets just say there are a lot of gamblers happy today. Dec-02-22    technical draw: Caesars Palace odds had South Korea at +330 which means you win $330 for every $100 bet. And Portugal was at -123 which means you had to bet $123 to win $100. So it was a tempting bet to bet on SK. Tutti La Polgaretta knows how to handle bets. Dec-02-22    technical draw: OK, if Cameroon beats Brazil then we will know that the black hand is in the WC. Dec-02-22    technical draw: I'm a psychic. I could have made a fortune. In a meaningless game for one team bet on the other. Dec-03-22    optimal play: <technical draw: OK, if Cameroon beats Brazil then we will know that the black hand is in the WC.> Not too sure about that. The most likely explanation is that Brazil, France & Portugal decided to rest their first string side since they were already guaranteed to progress to the round of 16. It does show however that they don't have a lot of depth. The second string guys obviously didn't impress when given an opportunity. Dec-03-22    technical draw: <op> <The most likely explanation is that Brazil, France & Portugal decided to rest their first string side>. True but that means they were not giving there full effort which can be considered a foul play. Like agreeing to a draw before the game in chess. I think a team should always go out to win no matter the position in the standings. Dec-03-22    Fusilli: <TD> <Like agreeing to a draw before the game in chess.> I'd say that saving energy, and testing different configurations of players, is more like trying an inferior gambit to test the waters instead of playing your stronger home study, which you'd rather save for when you play the champ. I honestly don't see anything wrong with that. The coaches' (and the teams') goal is to move on to the next stage and try to win the tournament. Delivering a good show for the public is secondary to that. Besides, from my experience as a college professor I can tell you that you can *never* make *everyone* happy. Dec-03-22    optimal play: <technical draw: <op> <The most likely explanation is that Brazil, France & Portugal decided to rest their first string side>. True but that means they were not giving there full effort which can be considered a foul play. Like agreeing to a draw before the game in chess. I think a team should always go out to win no matter the position in the standings.> As long as the players who took the field genuinely tried their best to win, then there's no foul play. <Fusilli: <TD> <Like agreeing to a draw before the game in chess.> I'd say that saving energy, and testing different configurations of players, is more like trying an inferior gambit to test the waters instead of playing your stronger home study, which you'd rather save for when you play the champ. I honestly don't see anything wrong with that. The coaches' (and the teams') goal is to move on to the next stage and try to win the tournament. Delivering a good show for the public is secondary to that. Besides, from my experience as a college professor I can tell you that you can *never* make *everyone* happy.> Yes, there's nothing wrong with giving the second string players an opportunity to show their mettle. The coach may need to rely on some of them in the case of injury or poor form with the first string players. With progress to the next stage secured, it's a good idea to give them some game time. The important thing is that they try to win. In these cases however, they flopped, which might be a bit worrying for the coaches. Dec-03-22    moronovich: <optimal play> Good luck tonight! Quite some mountain to climb. But as they say "Impossible is nothing". Dec-03-22    optimal play: Thanks Moro. We're a long shot with nothing to lose. Argentina are expected to win so all the pressure is on them. Dec-03-22    technical draw: Well, I guess I'm in the minority here. But that's academic now since the group stage is over and we now have sudden death and maybe penalty shots to determine the winner. So the "A" teams should show up. Dec-03-22    areknames: LOL, so who does Aussie gk Ryan think he is? Maybe Rene' Higuita, the flamboyant Colombian (remember him?) who was always trying to dribble himself out of trouble at Italia '90 until he was punished by Roger Milla? What a game, it felt like Argentina was safe and in control the whole game but then all of a sudden Australia scores by accident and eventually get their ONLY chance of the game at the last second which Kuol should have converted and sent the game to extra time. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 74 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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