User Profile: Fusilli

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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.)

>> Click here to see Fusilli's game collections.

   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 77 OF 112 · Later Kibitzing>
Dec-08-22		areknames: Argentina 2 Netherlands 1 Brazil 2 Croatia 0 Portugal 2 Morocco 0 France 2 England 2 England wins shoot out

Dec-08-22		technical draw: <op> You're giving away too many goals. I wish your prediction would come true but I think we'll see more 1-0.

Dec-08-22		areknames: < And, in the personal chess news department, I will be playing my second post-pandemic OTB tournament next weekend. It's a 5-round Swiss, FIDE rated, here in Nashville: The Music City Open. Organized by the Nashville Chess Center, whose executive board I was invited to join on Monday> Just great news all around <Fusilli>, best of luck for the tournament!

Dec-08-22		saffuna: I am surprised England is being picked by some to defeat France. It could happen, but France appears to have a clearly stronger team.

Dec-08-22		areknames: <saffuna> Come on, let's hear your specific predictions!

Dec-08-22		saffuna: Too chicken. But anyway... France 2 England 0 Portugal 1 Morocco 0 Argentina 2 Netherlands 0 Brazil 3 Croatia 1

Dec-08-22		technical draw: Here are my predictions, the following will advance: France Portugal Brazil Argentina/Netherlands toss-up.

Dec-08-22		Fusilli: <technical draw: Here are my predictions, the following will advance> Hey, you criticized <OP> for predicting too many goals, yet you don't offer your own predictions? :) We are making specific final score predictions. The fans want <TD>'s predictions!

Dec-08-22		Fusilli: <saffuna: I am surprised England is being picked by some to defeat France. It could happen, but France appears to have a clearly stronger team.> Yes, but we are guessing, not evaluating who the best teams are. The best team does not always win. Here's a little probabilistic exercise. Say that we evaluate that the likelihood of a win for Brazil, Argentina, France, and Portugal is 0.7 for all of them (a simplification... the probability that Portugal beat Morocco seems way higher than the probability that France beat England). That is a high probability, when considering that the remaining 0.3 is for both losing and drawing together. (Technical note: in math and stats, probabilities are not expressed as % but as proportions--i.e. between 0 and 1.) If a probability of 0.7 across the board is true, then the probability that <all four> will win is 0.7 raised to the 4th power, or 0.24. So, yes, each of these teams is a strong candidate to win their match, but the probability that all four do so is slightly lower than 1 in 4. Just like Carlsen is a strong favorite to win all four games if he plays four players rated 2600, yet the likelihood that he concedes at least a draw is about 0.75. (See for a real life example his most recent batch of games vs Sevian and vs Shevchenko, two players rated near 2600: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che...). I must add, that all four teams winning (given the 0.7 I picked) is still the most likely result. For example, the probability that three win and the fourth doesn't is 0.7 raised to the 3rd power, times 0.3 = 0.1029. (The probability that none of them wins is 0.3 raised to the 4th power, or 0.0081, not even 1 percent. But again, my 0.7 was arbitrary.) My preferred guess, as long as I am not committed to specify teams, would be that three of these four teams will move on and the other one will be surprisingly eliminated. (I hope it's not Argentina!) But this is not so surprising when you think in terms of probabilities. (Yes, I teach statistics, now and then!)

Dec-08-22		technical draw: <fusilli> Ok, here are my score predictions: All matches will end 1-0.

Dec-08-22		technical draw: <Fusilli (Yes, I teach statistics, now and then!)> That's good. But I have invented the secret formula to win the pick three lottery!

Dec-08-22		Fusilli: <technical draw: <fusilli> Ok, here are my score predictions: All matches will end 1-0.> Bold! As the fans expected!

Dec-08-22		saffuna: I predict there will be a goal in the first five minutes of one game. I predict Brazil will wear yellow, Croatia will wear red checkerboard, Argentina will wear poweder-blue-and-white stripes, and Neitherlands will wear orange. In other words, all will wear their classic colors.

Dec-08-22		technical draw: I predict one player will complain of a call. I predict there will be at least one off side. I predict someone will fake an injury. I predict the winners will be smiling and the loser will be frowning. Any bets?

Dec-08-22		Fusilli: I want to see a field brawl! Can we see a field brawl? I predict no brawls though.

Dec-09-22		Fusilli: Vamos Argentina today!!

Dec-09-22		moronovich: Yes, vamos Argentina ! 3-1 is my best bet. The biggest question may be, that the dutch has´nt met so hard resistance, but otoh have saved some energy and the team looks rather harmonius this time.

Dec-09-22		technical draw: Brazil blew it.

Dec-09-22		saffuna: I just saw a replay of Croatia's goal. How could Croatia get an attack like that with Brazil's defenders not back? Where were they, looking for a second goal and glory?

Dec-09-22		moronovich: Wow ! Brazil is out. Those croatians are certainly experts in penalty shoutout and in light of that, they deserved to go through. But a horrible defence by the brazilians the last minuttes. This is good news for e.g. the argentines.

Dec-09-22		saffuna: <Brazil is out.> Amazing! Somebody who write "Brazil <is> out," not "Brazil <are> out." I understand the English saying that, as that's English grammar. But I hear Americans saying "Argentina were strong today" and the like, which only comes across as pretentious.

Dec-09-22		technical draw: Brazil lost because they started partying too soon. Anyway I prefer sudden death overtime than two 15 minute periods. Once it got to penalty shots I knew it was all over for Brazil. <"Argentina were strong today" > Yes, that's sounds awful to my ears.

Dec-09-22		saffuna: <Brazil lost because they started partying too soon.> That's what the British radio announcers were saying as well. Though they themselves were saying it was over after Neymar's goal. Certainly Brazil's defense should never have been caught upfield (up-pitch?) the way it was. Brazil's first penalty kick was simply weak. Waist high, right center without much power.

Dec-09-22		technical draw: Here's a strange trivia. Netherlands is playing Argentina. The Queen of the Netherlands was born in Buenos Aires. I wonder who she is rooting for?

Dec-09-22		technical draw: Simply put: divine justice.

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