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!

indicates a reply to the comment.

My Facerook Wall

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 86 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jun-26-23    OhioChessFan: 1. Rf8 Kh2 2. Ke5 g3 3. Kf4 g2. 4. Rh8+ Kg1 5. Kg3 Kf1 Here's where you know it's a win . Black has mate threats along with trying to defend the Pawn, which overworks the King. click for larger view 6. Rf8+ Kg1 7. Rf5 Kh1 8. Rh5+ Kg1 9. Rh2 wins the Pawn. click for larger view Jun-26-23    Fusilli: <OCF> Yes! Beautiful, isn't it? Jun-27-23    OhioChessFan: Move 7 is the beauty. A semi-zugzwang, Rf7 or 6 or 5 or 4, doesn't matter so long as the Rook can get to the h file. Jun-28-23    Fusilli: <OCF> Oh, what a pity. I ran it by the computer and look what I found. Here: click for larger view ... keeping the rook on the f-file is not the only way to win. White also wins with Rg8. If Kh1, Kf2, and if Kf1, Kh2. Now, the silicon monster calculates that mate comes four moves earlier with the moves that keep the rook on the f-file, but it's a pity there is an alternative solution. Jun-29-23    Fusilli: If anyone knows about photography: I would like to get a camera that takes photos like what I see with my binoculars: The binoculars specs are here: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/nikon-... Specifically, I want to photograph the birds visiting my backyard and its surroundings (say, up to 150ft away). Not necessarily in flight. I am happy to get them when they are still. Any suggestions of cameras or resources (e.g. websites) to look at? Thanks. Jul-01-23    FSR: <Fusilli> I am in Park Ridge, 12 miles north of Elmhurst. I played in the Senior Open last year and had a good result, including F Rhine vs Yermolinsky, 2022. I am not planning on playing this year because (a) I'm chessed out and (b) I missed the deadline to get a decent price on the entry fee. Now it's $160, which is pretty exorbitant. I'd be happy to meet you for dinner sometime if that works out. My e-mail is fsrhine at gmail. Jul-01-23    Fusilli: <FSR> Dinner sounds good. I'll email you. Jul-03-23    FSR: <Fusilli> That Aagaard study is a beauty. But what if in your final position White slides his rook too far with Rf3?? After ...Kh1, White still draws. click for larger view Very easy. Jul-04-23    Fusilli: <FSR> Kh4 :) Jul-04-23    Fusilli: <FSR> About a month ago, <OCF> posted (here in my forum) this supercool endgame study: click for larger view White to play and win. I gave up after a while, but as <OCF> posted, once you get the idea, it's straightforward. Jul-05-23    FSR: <Fusilli> That is very cute. Could actually happen in a game (as could the Aagaard study), unlike many studies. At the end, White has an embarrassment of riches: 6.a8=Q#, 6.a8=B#, 6.Rb1 Rxb1 7.a8=B/Q#, etc. Jul-10-23    Fusilli: Entries so far for the US Senior Open: https://www.kingregistration.com/en... Four GMs so far. At the moment, I am 13th by US rating and 10th by FIDE rating. This is going to be exciting! Also, I'm excited to take Lucinda on the road. A 7.5 hr drive. Lucinda is our new Hyundai Ioniq 6, electric car with a 270-mile range on full charge. RWD with an incredible kick ass, QUIET acceleration. It's amazing, it accelerates like a roller coaster and you hear nothing! Not that I'll be using that feature much, but it's fun. Overall, very quiet car, spacious, and packed with useful assisted driving safety features and a sophisticated infosystem that I am still learning to use. My first EV. I was always hesitant about getting an EV car because of range anxiety, but EV charging stations keep popping up like mushrooms after rain. Jul-10-23    Fusilli: This is Lucinda, on the website of the dealer we got her from: https://www.wilsoncountyhyundai.com... The advertised 305 mile range is under ideal conditions, which include, among other things, not using the AC. In reality, it's more like 270. Jul-10-23    chancho: Because it looks sick! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35l... 👍👍👍👍👍 Jul-10-23    Fusilli: <chancho> I agree. Dope design! We get praise from random people! The car the video guy reviewed is the top of the line AWD. We have the RWD, which gets a bit more mileage. We don't have the sunroof and a few other fancy features. Jul-17-23    Fusilli: Instructive mistake I made in a 3/2 blitz on chess.com against a FM. I am black. Position after 34.c6: click for larger view I have had the upper hand for most of the game, which means it was difficult for me to suddenly get in the defensive mindset. I blundered with the awful 34...Rc7? Basically, three moves later, the position is this, with black to move: click for larger view And this is quite hard to defend. Black's king will be pushed away by a rook check, and black will have to start thinking of how to survive after being forced to sac the rook sooner or later. The correct defense is: 34...Rb8! click for larger view It's the king's job to stop the pawn, not the rook's! For example: 35.Kd4 Ke7 36.Kc5 Rb2 = click for larger view Or 35.Ra1 Ke6 36.Rxa7 Rc8 37.Rxh7 Rxc6= click for larger view Blitz is frivolous, sure. But if you review the game, you are actually training. You learn from your mistakes in an unimportant game, so that you are less likely to make them in the important ones. Jul-17-23    moronovich: A very instructive blunder, many of us would have made in time trouble. And without ;) All the best -moro- Jul-18-23    Fusilli: Thanks <moro>. Heading to the Chicago area for the US Senior Open later this week. I'm excited! Jul-18-23    Fusilli: Tactical shot! Black to play. 3/2 blitz on chess.com, I am black. Easy... once you are told it's a puzzle! Probably easy in real life chess with time to think. Medium-easy if in time trouble but not down to seconds. click for larger view I saw it but didn't play it. I had 5.2 seconds and used exactly half of my time but wasn't enough to confirm it was a good move. (My opponent had 16 seconds at this point.) I won anyway... I play with 2-second increments because I do this routinely... get advantageous positions in exchange for time trouble, and then have to hang in there on the 2-second increment to the end of the game. It works for me. Sometimes I play decently under severe time pressure, and my opponents probably get rattled when they see they are losing their time advantage over me. (I ended this game with 7.7 seconds on my clock vs. 6.5 for my opponent.) Jul-19-23    moronovich: - Be5+ ! followed by- Qf4+ Hoping you will have the tournament of your life in Chicago ! Jul-19-23    Fusilli: <moronovich: - Be5+ ! followed by- Qf4+ > Right! After 1...Be5+ 2.Rxe5 Qf4+ 3.g3 Qxf3, the Qf2 mate threat can be stopped, but the Q/Rh1 mate threat is unstoppable. <Hoping you will have the tournament of your life in Chicago !> That's a big wish! But I'll try! Jul-19-23    Unstable Psychopath: <Fusilli> How's your progress towards becoming a full professor? Jul-22-23    FSR: <Fusilli> Hope the tournament is off to a good start for you. I sent you an e-mail about our anticipated dinner. Jul-22-23    Check It Out: Have a great dinner! If I were there I'd buy the first round. Enjoy! Jul-23-23    FSR: <Fusilli> Dinner was great! A pleasure to meet you. Knock 'em dead tomorrow! Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 86 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific user only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

You are not logged in to chessgames.com. If you need an account, register now; it's quick, anonymous, and free! If you already have an account, click here to sign-in.