Fusilli Member since Aug-09-04 · Last seen Oct-16-25 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 83 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Feb-10-23    Fusilli: <OCF> Yes, in principle. But in this case black doesn't need the LSB at all, right? I mean, it could be a knight, for example. Feb-10-23    OhioChessFan: Oh, you're right. I got caught up in a sideline and wasn't back to the game position. Feb-11-23    Fusilli: Yesterday I reached my peak blitz rating on chess.com since I joined the website three years ago. Coincidentally, it is the same peak rating as my USCF peak rating: 2248 (in 2003). I've been playing better, lately. I simply decided to focus more on playing good, fast (and if possible, annoying) moves rather than trying to find the best move. And I've been paying much more attention to my opponent's plans and tactical possibilities, which I often neglect, at a high cost. I am pretty happy about this, not so much for the rating itself but because I take it as evidence that my mind is aging well. As for my USCF rating for classical chess, I am down to 2131, my lowest since I started playing in the US. This is a decline of 117 points from my peak in 2003, but it doesn't seem excessive for 20 years, especially as I am 55, certainly no spring chicken! Feb-11-23    Fusilli: Example of annoying move. Blitz game on chess.com, I was white: click for larger view 18.Rd6 click for larger view It's not the best move, the computer says, but it is not bad. It's certainly the most <annoying>! If you are black, do you take the exchange and suffer the cramped position with material advantage, or do you not take the exchange and suffer the cramped position anyway? It worked, which as <Sally Simpson> would say, is all that matters. Position after 24.Qe5: click for larger view Position after 31.Qg6: click for larger view Black is falling apart. 1-0 in 39. Feb-25-23    Fusilli: Blitz on chess.com. I am white. Black just played Qxc8. He should have played Rxc8. White to play. Easy. click for larger view Feb-25-23    chancho: I guess it's Qa4 with the idea of taking the knight and if the black Queen defends it, sets up a fork on e7... Feb-25-23    Fusilli: <chancho> Si señor Feb-25-23    OhioChessFan: Hmm, I typed out a response to the February 11th post. I must not have sent it. Anyway, my main point was going to be that I think exchange sacs can be very effective in blitz, as the positional maneuvering needed to convert the win is usually a pretty narrow path, and time consuming. Today's position draws attention to the c6 Knight, the only defender of e7. Attack that Knight and Black's position crumbles, so Qa4. Feb-25-23    Fusilli: <OCF> I thought my 2/11 post had no takers. I agree with you. In blitz, time is the most valuable piece, so a sac that is objectively inferior but forces your opponent to think a lot to figure out the correct play may be worth it. I wasn't lucky in the specific example of that day though. And yes to Qa4! Pretty neat that the knight can neither retreat nor be defended. Feb-25-23    Fusilli: <OCF> Sorry, I *was* lucky that day. I was thinking of the one I posted in my player page. Mar-17-23    Fusilli: 5-min blitz on ICC. I am black. Opportunity lost against a strong player (c. 2350) click for larger view 32.Bb6 Ne2+ 33.Kf2 click for larger view Black to play. Crushing, winning move. I had 48 seconds against his 1m 30sec and didn't see it (I was playing on my laptop, without a mouse... Reckless thing to do... using the pad instead of a mouse makes you significantly slower!) Even after the game, when the computer told me there is a winning move here, I used more than 48 seconds to find it! So, no shame here. But it's a truly instructive move. Mar-18-23    areknames: It took me a very long time but I think I've got it! First of all, what do we have here? Material is equal but at first glance Black seems to be in serious trouble: R and Q are both under attack by a humble B, his Kn is en prise but wait...<33...Qa6!!> defends the Kn and pins that naughty bishop as well as threatening Bd4+ winning a piece with the potential of a deadly royal incursion on d3. Initially I thought White could slither out of this mess by playing 34.Qc2 but after Qxb6+ Kxe2 Qb5+ his king is just too exposed. This must be it, and a very logical ending it would have been too; White's knight and rook are not participating at all while Black's pieces are all perfectly poised for attack. Still, Qa6 isn't easy to find, it certainly wasn't for me. Great puzzle <Fusilli> ! Mar-18-23    moronovich: -Qa6 is a great move. Well spotted <areknames>! Often backwardsmoves are some of the most difficult to find. Mar-18-23    Fusilli: I second <moro>. Good job <areknames>! After most blitz games on chess.com, I use the post-game review feature to get a quick grasp of what I did wrong. Here the computer kept noting that I had a winning move and it took me quite a while to find it. It's such an unassuming, "hidden" move. I spent quite a while trying to figure out if 33...Qf5+ 34.Kxe2 Qd3+ works, to no avail. In the game, I was under severe time pressure and played 33...Qxb6 34.Qxb6 Bd4+, and drew. <areknames>, you are right that after 33...Qa6 34.Qc2 Qxb6+ 35.Kxe2 Qb5+ white falls apart. As black, what we don't want is for the white king to scurry away to g1 or h2, but between the queen and the DSB, we are not going to let that happen, are we? ;) Mar-19-23    OhioChessFan: It would have taken me far longer than 48 seconds to find it, even knowing a tactical shot was on the board. Mar-19-23    areknames: Well, I doubt I would have seen Qa6 at all in a competitive context, let alone blitz. Different matter when you're sitting in your favourite chair with all the time in the world at your disposal and your beautiful cat purring on the footstool in front of you. So, no real credit for me here! Mar-19-23    moronovich: <and your beautiful cat purring on the footstool in front of you.> Alekhine style ! ;) Apr-20-23    scormus: Hi Fusilli! Good to hear from you, and sorry I missed your message earlier this year. To be honest I don't often look at my page. I was away from CG for quite a long time but I look at it every day now and sometimes post. I couldn't find Stuck Elevator, but it sounds as if it the sort of music I would like. I'm very eclectic in my music tastes. I like the Robert Frost reference on today's GOTD, The Road not Taken is probably his most well known poem, about the choices in life when one choice excludes the other and which we might come to regret. The theme resonates with many people. It might have been motivated by the exchanges he had with his friend and fellow poet, Edward Thomas, who decided to fight in the war instead of live in USA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwar... Apr-26-23    areknames: Chess is amazing: click for larger view I reached the above position in 3 minute blitz on lichess just a few hours ago. Black has just played Qe2 to stop me mating on h5. Now obviously both Qxh6+ and g3+ mate quickly, I played Rae1 and Black resigned. Thing is, the first move I considered and almost played was f3???, which leads to Black mating and winning after ...Kg3! Just goes to show how important it is to always keep your guard up, we both had plenty of time left too. Apr-26-23    chancho: Instead of Rae1, Kh2 with the threat of g3#? Apr-26-23    areknames: <chancho> Yes of course, just about every move wins and mates quickly, the funny part is that I <almost> played the only move that loses! Apr-26-23    Fusilli: <areknames> Glad you didn't make that epic mistake! Amazing that there is no saving miracle. It's Nepo's day for epic mistakes today. Poor guy. Apr-26-23    Fusilli: <scormus> Glad to see you back! Like you, I go through seasons with CG, but I've been here pretty regularly for some time. The World Cup got me fully in for a month. And now, I'm in every day to check up on the world championship match. Nashville Opera put up The Pirates of Penzance last weekend, but I missed it. My wife and I went to see the Nashville Ballet instead. It was the last performance under the artistic direction of our friend Paul Vasterling, who was in that position for 25 years. It was great! I wasn't much into ballet, but I got married last summer (third and last and best time) and my wife loves ballet as much as I love opera. So, I take her to see opera and she takes me to see ballet. We all so high brow! :) Apr-26-23    Fusilli: <scormus> I love The Road not Taken. Definitely from a time when poetry was a bit more straightforward, but also more constrained by rules. I loved the playfulness of the sounds in this poem published in the last issue of The New Yorker magazine: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/... Apr-28-23    Fusilli: Just played. 5-min blitz on chess.com. I am black. Black to play. click for larger view Easy, right? Textbook. The only question is what follow up is best. But there's plenty of room for error anyway, since all black pieces are killers (yeah, I know, that Rd5 will be the most ideal rook lift ever, but we also got Bh6 for good measure) and all white pieces are lamp posts. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 83 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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