Fusilli Member since Aug-09-04 · Last seen Oct-19-25 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 89 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> Aug-18-23    Fusilli: <Qd1+ and draw.> Sorry, I meant Qc2+ and draw (if the white queen is on d4). Aug-18-23    Fusilli: OK, new idea. I am now seeing that in this position, with black to move, white wins: click for larger view If the black queen moves, it either gets captured, or Qc2 mate. And if 1...Kb1, 2.Qb6+ and mate. The problem is those pesky pawns on the king side! I really have to get busy now. I'll come back to this! No one post the solution, please! Aug-18-23    Fusilli: As soon as I walked out, the idea popped in my head. From my last post: Why are the black pawns pesky? Because they stop checks on the c1-h6 diagonal, interrupting the passage of the queen to the b-file! The idea is to check on that diagonal so that black has to play Kb1, then check on the b-file and mate on b2. Therefore: Initial position: click for larger view 1.Qe3 f4 (if 1...Kb1 2.Qxd2 c1=Q 3.Qa2 mate, and if c1=N+ 3.Ka3; any other first move for black, 2.Kc3 wins) 2.Qf2 click for larger view d1=Q (or 2...f3 3.Kc3 wins as in the main idea below; 2...g4 3.Qxf4 wins; 2...Kb1 3.Qxd2 wins; and 2...Kd1 3.Qf1 mate) 3.Kc3: click for larger view Now, if 3...f3 4.Qe3+ Kb1 5.Qb6+ and 6.Qb2 mate. If 3...g4 4.Qxf4+, 5.Qb4+ and 6.Qb2 mate. Wow! Aug-18-23    OhioChessFan: <OK, new idea. I am now seeing that in this position, with black to move, white wins:> There you go. The problem in your previous tries was the White King blocking checks on the b file. You'll get it soon. Aug-18-23    OhioChessFan: You got it. 2. Qf2 is an incredible case of zugzwang for Black. I had a little trouble with the various Knight promotions, but got it worked out eventually. Aug-19-23    Fusilli: <OCF> It was a challenge. I am happy with having solved it. Thanks for sharing it. Who composed it? Do you know? Aug-20-23    OhioChessFan: It was a Nelson Lopez video but he didn't happen to mention the composer. The title page said the puzzle is 116 years old. Aug-21-23    OhioChessFan: I posted a game position on this page: Urs Rueetschi Impossible to believe rescue by Black. Aug-22-23    Fusilli: <OCF> I'll check it out. Aug-22-23    Fusilli: I am black, blitz game on chess.com Black to play: click for larger view I played 44...c2, and was lost after 45.Rh7 Kd8 46.Rad7+ Ke8 47.Rc7 threatening mate again, and the c-pawn falls. click for larger view (The game ended up drawn anyway... the magic of frivolous blitz!) In the first diagram, black has only one move to save this. See it? Aug-22-23    OhioChessFan: A quick look tells me Rc8, leaving you with Kd8, Re8 if necessary, and the c Pawn defended. Aug-23-23    Fusilli: <OCF> It's not easy to see in a time crunch, but if 44...Rc8 45.Rh7 Kd8 46.Rad7+ Ke8 47.Rxd4 and there is no 47...c2 because of 48.Rh8+ and 49.Rxc8. The only move that equalizes is 44...Ra8! If 45.Rac7 Rc8! A reminder that we always have to pay attention to tactics. In endgames too! Aug-24-23    diceman: <Fusilli: <diceman> Did you solve it and what you posted are hints? Or are you sharing your process while trying to solve it?> I only looked at Qe3 f4. Eventually figured out after Kc3 white could mate on b file. Didn't look at other lines, as I figured that was the gist of the position. <The only move that equalizes is 44...Ra8!> After a few seconds (probably what I would have actually had in a blitz game) I thought Ra8. Total instinct. Seemed like a good curveball to throw an opponent in blitz. Aug-26-23    Fusilli: <diceman> That's an effective thought process. I initially discarded Qe3 quickly when I thought that f4 simply benefited black. When I couldn't find anything useful I stepped back and started to imagine positions that would be winning for white, which eventually led me to the winning moves. Sep-03-23    Fusilli: Blitz psychological strategy: If you come out of the opening in a clearly inferior position, but then manage to equalize, <at that point, when it's equal>, offer a draw. Your opponent sees the position is now equal, but he is angry that the advantage slipped through his fingers. Then he turns down the draw and starts playing bad, reckless moves to try to force an even position, because he strongly feels he should win the game because his position was so much better and you just got lucky. He hates you now. You just keep calm, make simple good moves, and win. Hard to believe how well this works! Note: Don't offer a draw in an inferior position. Some people think this will irritate your opponent, but it doesn't work. He realizes you are offering a draw out of spite or to provoke him. <But> if you <have> equalized, and <then> offer the draw, it's an entirely different story. Why? Because he <knows you are right> and can't get over the fact that his advantage is gone, and you know it as well as he does. Sep-03-23    moronovich: <Hard to believe how well this works!> I ahve done that several times and I can attest that it works. Surprisingly well ! All the best -moro- Sep-03-23    Fusilli: <moro> Good to know I am not the only one! Can never underestimate the role of emotions in chess. Not that I am immune to them, of course. Sep-03-23    moronovich: And if there weren´t emotions, there were no point in playing. One can say, joy and the opposite enter the same door. Sep-03-23    Fusilli: And... In the wildlife department news, a red-tailed hawk got himself a squirrel for brunch across the street, in my neighbor's yard. I managed to pick up my camera, zoom all the way, and snap a photo that wasn't too bad. I wish we could upload photos here. Sep-13-23    Fusilli: 3|2 blitz on chess.com. I am white. click for larger view 21.? Sep-13-23    moronovich: Rxf6 followed by Qd2 ! and I dont see a defence for black. Sep-13-23    Messiah: <Fusilli: [...] I am white.> That's racist. Sep-13-23    Fusilli: <Messiah: <Fusilli: [...] I am white.> That's racist.> Nah, it's fluid. Sometimes I'm white, sometimes I'm black. Sep-13-23    Fusilli: <moronovich: Rxf6 followed by Qd2 ! and I dont see a defence for black.> Yes, that's the idea. The game continued 21.Rxf6 gxf6 22.Rg3+ Kh8 23.Qd2 Kh7 24.Bd3+ f5 25.Rh3 1-0 click for larger view Sep-15-23    Fusilli: Blitz game on chess.com. I am white. click for larger view White to play, mate in 3. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 89 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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