Fusilli Member since Aug-09-04 · Last seen Apr-01-26 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 6475 times to chessgames   [more...]

Apr-01-26 Fusilli chessforum    Fusilli: < OhioChessFan: <sfod: video of Feynman: > Per his claim not to be afraid of not knowing and not having a purpose, I choose not to believe him.> Good wording, <OCF>... the <choose> part. I do believe him (or choose to), mostly because fright has nothing to do      Mar-29-26 Chessgames - Literature   Fusilli: <That film's name was "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and was a rather faithful adaption of the book, I think.> Great film, and packed with top acting talent.      Mar-25-26 Van der Wiel vs Kasparov, 1982   Fusilli: <Whitehat1963: What happens after 23. Nh6+ Kf8 (or Kh8) 24. Nf4?> <mertangili: <whitehat1963> i think after your line; 24...Qg5 25. Nxd3 cxd3 and the knight on h6 is lost> After 23.Nh6+ Kf8 24.Nf4 Nxf4 25.Kxf4 Qh4 and it looks like mate is coming, isn't it? (Or ...      Mar-25-26 Jacob Murey    Fusilli: He made GM at 46. Rather late in life, but maybe not so much at the time?      Mar-25-26 J Murey vs V Malakhov, 2000    Fusilli: Wow, this guys knows how to attack. Relentless.      Mar-25-26 Botvinnik vs N Sorokin, 1931    Fusilli: <perf> <So far as I know, in FIDE-rated events one is no longer allowed to write a move on their scoresheet before making it; is this the one exception?> That's an excellent question. And probably not a question we can solely answer based on rules, since the rules are ...      Mar-23-26 F Rhine vs D Sprenkle, 1981    Fusilli: <Mednis may have put in a good word for me with Informant, I don't know. But Informant did publish the game! In the next issue, I was shocked to learn that Informant's panel of judges had also voted it one of the 10 most theoretically important games in Volume 32.> No doubt a ...      Mar-23-26 Kenneth Rogoff    Fusilli: Great to know, <FSR>. I think starting your message the way you did is not just good strategy, but it is kind. You are showing him you care and appreciate his accomplishments. I'm not even 1/100th as famous as Rogoff, but as a university professor at a renowned place, I do get      Mar-22-26 Navara vs Wojtaszek, 2016   Fusilli: <I meant to include that perhaps Black overlooked that after 28...Bxf2+ 29. Kg2, 29...Rd7 would enable 30. Rf1 to be met by 30...Qc5!> That's my guess too. Maybe black played a tad too quickly there. In the old days, one could be really low on time by move 30 and mess up ...      Mar-16-26 Panno vs W Hug, 1973    Fusilli: Fun game.

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My Facerook Wall

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 78 OF 122 ·  Later Kibitzing> Dec-09-22    moronovich: Congrats to you and your fellow countrymen <fussilli> ! And what a drama....Seems like Argentina made the same mistake as Brazil : Stopped playing before it was over. To put it short. Now another penaltt surviver is waiting in the semis. Fortunately we all have some days to recover. Dec-09-22    saffuna: What happened in the game that made Messi so angry with the referee after the game? He was furious. Teams taking the first penalty went 1-1 today. Dec-10-22    optimal play: <technical draw: Brazil lost because they started partying too soon.> Agree. They thought Neymar's goal had got them to the SF but you can never count out the Croats. <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?> Denmark's Princess Mary, their future Queen, was born in Australia. Dunno who Mary was rooting for, but if it was her home country she might have been wise to keep quiet about it. <Fusilli: I want to see a field brawl! Can we see a field brawl? I predict no brawls though.> Well ... almost ... I suppose you can't really call that scuffle a brawl, but it looked like the Dutch bench were ready for a fight. Anyway, congrats Mariano on Argentina getting through to the SF. They were both exciting games, especially if you like penalty shootouts. Dec-10-22    technical draw: Cristiano Ronaldo is not playing in the game against Morocco. They say he's counting his money and since he has $500 million it will take a while. His wife could help him but she's busy counting her own $400 million. I have $300 in the bank. Life is not fair. Dec-10-22    Fusilli: <OP> <I suppose you can't really call that scuffle a brawl, but it looked like the Dutch bench were ready for a fight.> Emotions were running quite high on both sides. I hated the ref. He showed 500 yellow cards (some of them not warranted), yet did not achieve anything with that. Had no effect on the game climate. <moro> Thanks. As any football / soccer fan knows, Argentina just can’t win without suffering! But it was deserved. It played better except for the 20 minutes of Dutch glory at the end of the first 90. And it generated more opportunities. My guess is that Messi was mad at the ref for carding so many players. Or for carding him. Or maybe he thought the ref was biased. I’m pretty sure every player in that field thought the ref was biased in the other team’s favor. Last night I started the Music City Open with a win Argentina-style. Suffered. My opponent was TEN. That is, 45 years younger than me! And he already has an 1830 FIDE and a 2030 USCF. Strangely for someone that young, he lost on time. Even with the 30 second increment. Dec-10-22    Fusilli: Morocco in semifinals!!! How’s that for our run-of-the-mill commonsensical predictions eh? So far, only one of three favorites moved on to semifinals. I have to miss England v France because of chess. I chose to play the 1pm game and take a bye for the 7pm game. I don’t want two games in the same day if I can avoid it, and I don’t want to play until 11pm. I’m sure I’ll miss a good one! Dec-10-22    saffuna: <saffuna: I predict there will be a goal in the first five minutes of one game.> Only one chance left! Dec-10-22    saffuna: Like I said, 17 minutes. Dec-10-22    technical draw: <Last night I started the Music City Open with a win Argentina-style. Suffered. My opponent was TEN.> Abusador! Dec-10-22    saffuna: In the 8th century the Moors conquered Portugal and Spain but were rebuffed in southwest France. The Moroccan football has now conquered Spain and Portugal and is setting its sights on doing its ancestors one better by defeating France. Dec-10-22    saffuna: <fusilli> Watch out for New York lawyers in coming rounds. Dec-10-22    optimal play: Well, I was right about Argentina and France winning, although got the scores wrong. Morocco beating Portugal was an even bigger surprise than Croatia beating Brazil. That missed penalty goal by Harry Kane will haunt him and England forever. Anyway, I think Morocco's fairytale will end against France, but Argentina v Croatia will be close. I suspect we may see a replay of the 2018 final, and if so, then Croatia could get their revenge and win it for the first time. Dec-10-22    moronovich: France- England was by far the best of the quarterfinals. And it could have gone either way. There is somthing with the nglish and the penalties. I feel with Kane who blow against his teammate. Great with a couple of days, not with football ;) Dec-11-22    technical draw: <saffuna: <fusilli> Watch out for New York lawyers in coming rounds.> I've heard of Philadelphia lawyers but not New York lawyers. What's their specialty? Dec-11-22    saffuna: Pushing keys. Dec-11-22    Fusilli: <technical draw: ... Abusador!> Nope, any kid with a rating above 2000 is not really a kid but a small bloodthirsty vampire. It's science! Today I lost to IM Ronald Burnett. I got positionally squeezed. And then I took a bye. Dec-11-22    technical draw: Well, after all the excitement there are only four teams left: Argentina, Croatia, France and the surprising Morocco. So it is now easy to pick the champion. First the finals will be between France and Croatia and I pick France to win. Place your bets! Dec-11-22    Fusilli: I'm going to be totally objective and go for Argentina. Messi Messi Messi!! Dec-11-22    technical draw: Here's FIFA world rankings 2022. The top 2 are gone (Brazil, Belgium) 3 and 4 are still in (Argentina, France). Croatia is in at 12 and Morocco sits at 22. https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ran... Dec-11-22    Check It Out: I'm with you, Fusilli, Argentina for the win. I would love to see Messi finally get the ultimate crown. Dec-11-22    technical draw: The next game is Tuesday 13 Dec. Argentina against Croatia, then Wednesday France against Morocco. Then the 3rd-4th places Saturday 17th. With the final game Sunday 18th. I thank <fusilli> for hosting this unofficial World Cup forum and, arriba Argentina! Dec-12-22    Fusilli: <TD> Cheers! Can't wait for tomorrow! I'll be a nervous wreck! Dec-13-22    moronovich: Good luck today <fussilli> ! Dec-13-22    Check It Out: Not able to watch the game today, ill be back this evening for a recap. Go Argentina! Dec-13-22    technical draw: Messi's penalty shot was a given but that second goal was really nice. Fusilli can relax now. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 122) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 78 OF 122 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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