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 79 OF 112 · Later Kibitzing>
Dec-13-22		technical draw: I expected more from Croatia. Argentina 3, Croatia 0. The final will probably be Argentina/France but you can never tell. Morocco might surprise.

Dec-13-22		moronovich: Congratulations to Argentina and to you, <fussilli> ! Not so nervewrecking as it could have been ;)

Dec-13-22		Fusilli: That was incredible!! The second and third goals were amazing! And I don't think I am being biased if I say Argentina was closer to scoring a fourth goal than Croatia was to scoring a first.

Dec-13-22		saffuna: In baseball they sometimes check pitchers for sticky stuff on their pitching hands. They should do the same for Messi's shoes.

Dec-14-22		optimal play: Well played Argentina! 3-0 is an emphatic victory. Not too sure about that first goal. It looked like the Argentinian ran into the goal keeper. I can understand why the Croats were unhappy about it. The second one coming off the Croatian corner was freaky. Great third goal. Brilliant lead up by Messi. Regardless of whether they play France or Morocco I think Argentina will win the final. Everyone seems to want Messi to win a World Cup and he's played this tournament so well he deserves it.

Dec-14-22		Fusilli: I just looked again at the recaps of Argentina v Netherlands (https://www.foxsports.com/watch/pla...) and Argentina v Croatia (https://www.foxsports.com/watch/pla...). What a great team, outstanding all around. It generated many more goal opportunities than either rival. <OP> <3-0 is an emphatic victory.> Looking at the recap, you can see Argentina was closer to a fourth goal than Croatia to a first. It is true that Croatia controlled the ball for the first half hour, but as the recap shows, that led to no risk at all for Argentina. <Not too sure about that first goal.> I have looked at it many times. It seems to me the GK did come out to the ball but also with the intention of taking the player off balance if the ball passed him... After all, he didn't touch the ball, which makes it an obstruction, doesn't it? But that's speculative, I can't read the goalie's mind. I agree it wasn't the most clear penalty foul, and there is room to question it. In general, I think extreme measures (like a penalty) should be based on clearer evidence. And FWIW, I think the penalty awarded to Argentina v Poland was not fair, and much more questionable than this one. In both cases, I am glad Argentina demonstrated to be the better team overall anyway, and the victory margins were large. On the other hand, wasn't the second Dutch goal illegal? No attacking players are allowed w/in 3 feet of a defending teams wall of 3 or more players during a free kick. Wasn't that violated? I'm just saying that not all ref controversial decisions are in favor of Argentina. <Regardless of whether they play France or Morocco I think Argentina will win the final.> I feel very good about this team! As for France v Morocco, I believe with 95% confidence that France will win, though I wish it were Morocco. Not because I prefer Argentina to play Morocco (I actually crave revenge against France) but because I like Morocco and it'd be so cool to see an African team reach the final.

Dec-14-22		Check It Out: France vs Argentina in the final. It doesn't get much better than that, excitement!

Dec-14-22		saffuna: I can say confidently that the PSG megastar will lead his team to the title.

Dec-14-22		areknames: <I can say confidently that the PSG megastar will lead his team to the title.> Hehe, you would completely bankrupt Vegas.

Dec-14-22		Check It Out: My French students are excited but worried that Mbappe is limping.

Dec-14-22		Fusilli: <Check It Out: France vs Argentina in the final. It doesn't get much better than that, excitement!> And a final that has not happened before. That's kinda nice too.

Dec-14-22		optimal play: Not a convincing win by France. I think the 2-0 score line flattered them a bit. Morocco had a few chances which they failed to convert into goals. <Fusilli> The penalty which led to the first goal against Croatia may or may not have been justified, it was a close call. Free kicks in the penalty area are often controversial. In any event, it didn't determine the outcome of the game. Croatia certainly can't use that as an excuse for their loss. I'm tipping Argentina to win the final. They've shown themselves to be the best team in this world cup and have been playing better than France. Not since 1962 has a team won back to back World Cups and I don't think this French side is good enough to achieve the double. Also Argentina hasn't won it since 1986 and after their loss in 2014, and with Messi playing his last world cup game, I don't think anything will stop them.

Dec-15-22		Fusilli: <areknames> <Hehe, you would completely bankrupt Vegas.> Is Vegas betting on France? What are the odds?

Dec-15-22		moronovich: France : 2.80 Draw : 3.10 Argentina : 2.75 Danish bookmakers pr. 15th of december. So we can easily call it, an even match. On paper ;)

Dec-15-22		saffuna: Seems the rest of Argentina's players, not highly rated before the tournament, have stepped up in the past two games. Messi has been consistently spectacular while the other superstar, Mbappe, has only appeared for moments. That's no guide to what will happen in the final, though. Mbappe could easily come out on fire. I believe Adrien Rabiot will be back after missing the Morocco game.

Dec-15-22		saffuna: <My French students are excited but worried that Mbappe is limping.> So he's only 20% faster than the other players, not 50%?

Dec-15-22		areknames: As per <moro>'s post, there's almost nothing to separate the teams according to the bookies. This would also suggest that at the moment even amounts of money is coming in so it really depends who you bet with. I don't believe the odds will change significantly, I suppose they could though if lots of action suddenly pours in for either side.

Dec-16-22		technical draw: Here are some odds for the final: France are -120 favorites to win the World Cup at DraftKings Sportsbook and -125 BetMGM. Argentina have +100 odds to win the World Cup on DraftKings and -110 odds on BetMGM. This means a $100 bet on France would pay out $183.33 at DraftKings and $180 at BetMGM, and a $100 bet on Argentina would pay out $200 at DraftKings and $190.91 at BetMGM. Almost an even bet which it should be.

Dec-16-22		saffuna: And to think, France is playing without two of its best players: Benzema and Pogba.

Dec-17-22		moronovich: Giroud left the field today with a swollen knee and may not be ready for the final.At the same time the french are having trouble with a virus in the camp. So....Things are looking better for argentinians right now.

Dec-17-22		saffuna: <Giroud left the field today with a swollen knee and may not be ready for the final.> So...Benzema returns to save the day!

Dec-18-22		technical draw: Well let's see if Benzema lives up to his name which in Spanish is roughly "vence mas" or wins more. Anyway Benzema or Benzemenos I will root for Argentina.

Dec-18-22		moronovich: According to the french coach, there is no indication that Benzema will join the team. Right now there are MANY argentines in the streets outside the stadion. Clearly the team will have many fans on the pitch and hence the advantage in that respect.

Dec-18-22		Fusilli: I put my money where my mouth is and bet on an Argentina win on Draftkings. I have never bet online before. I bet on an Argentina win of the game (odds +165).

Dec-18-22		Fusilli: As for Benzema... It's likely that all the French players realized this morning that they were feeling great and ready to play, but the coach doesn't have to buy it.

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