User Profile: Fusilli

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Fusilli
Member since Aug-09-04 · Last seen Dec-18-25

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 6317 times to chessgames [more...]

   Dec-14-25 Fusilli chessforum

Fusilli: Well, after almost two years, I played a tourney yesterday, and I got shellacked, losing 20 rating points. Four games, G45 w/5 sec increments. I won the first two, lost the next two. Got increasingly tired. My game got worse due to fatigue. My two defeats were to players I beat ...

   Dec-13-25 Lenderman vs C Yip, 2017

Fusilli: Great game by Lenderman, showing the true value of the minor pieces in this setup when black has no prospects on the king side.

   Dec-12-25 A DeCord vs M Sana, 2023

Fusilli: 36...? [DIAGRAM] I thought this would make a nice puzzle, but I just checked and the computer says that, in addition to the move in the game, black also draws with 36...Kh7. 37.Bxe6 concedes perpetual, and if 37.d7 Rd6! = [DIAGRAM]

   Dec-09-25 N Theodorou vs G Jones, 2025

Fusilli: <number 23> I just read your profile blurb. I totally identify with this! <My specialty is getting into trouble out of the opening because I don't prepare well, then hoodwinking points out of players through a variety of creative and fortunate swindles.>

   Dec-09-25 G Garcia Gonzalez vs Velimirovic, 1982

Fusilli: Position after 55...Qc4 [DIAGRAM] The black queen is annoying, but white can't push her away easily. If 56.Rb4 Qd3 repeats the position. And obviously, 56. R or Qc3 runs into Ne2+. 56.Kh2! And it turns out that 56...Nd3 doesn't win material. White gets to trade queens and loses a ...

   Dec-09-25 Botvinnik vs Tal, 1961

Fusilli: Another nice positional squeeze in this line is L Christiansen vs G Garcia Gonzalez, 1982 .

   Dec-08-25 Murray Marble

Fusilli: Murray Marble, 1908 Mate in 3 [DIAGRAM] When you give up, see the solution here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCU... (Or ask your engine, of course)

   Dec-07-25 J Friedman vs Gulko, 1993

Fusilli: This is a big <oops!> of a game.

   Dec-06-25 J Cuenca Jimenez vs F Oro, 2025

Fusilli: What an interesting positional game. Black's bishop looks bad, but white has his own pawn structure weakness, and Faustino maneuvered admirably.

   Dec-06-25 Faustino Oro

Fusilli: I usually don't care to cheer for any GM in particular, but I second my fellow Argentinian <Augalv>!

indicates a reply to the comment.

My Facerook Wall

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 99 OF 114 · Later Kibitzing>
Nov-13-24		areknames: Thanks <Fusilli>, nice and simple yet elegant mate in 3, all forced, gave me the illusion my brain is still working ;)

Nov-13-24		OhioChessFan: Nice and simple, agreed. And only an idiot would try Ra6+ after exf5.

Nov-14-24		Fusilli: Forced mate but also forced hail Mary, isn't it? Without that, white is totally lost, so whoever is handling the white pieces would play f5+ even if they didn't see what follows. Certainly Bernstein planned for it rather than encountering this right at that moment. As <OCF> notes, Ra6+ after exf5 would blow it. Interestingly, Rxh6+ after exf5 would forfeit the victory but still rescue a draw: 1.f5+ exf5 2.Rxh6+? gxh6 3.Rg8+ Kh7 4.Rh8+! Kxh8 5.Qxh6+ and perpetual check.

Nov-14-24		stone free or die: (Can I impose on the kindness of <Fusilli> to offer <ak> a congrats on his pun making the GotD? Congrats!)

Nov-14-24		areknames: Thanks <z>, I'm normally useless at puns but I did like this one. On a different note I'm finally back home from hospital, turns out I had recently suffered two minor strokes (which I suspected anyway) which didn't cause any serious damage. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone for your well wishes, it really meant a lot to me. Let's however hope that I won't need to submit any more health updates in the future ;).

Nov-14-24		stone free or die: Welcome home <ak>. Take it easy and rest up.

Nov-14-24		Fusilli: Excellent! Nothing like being back home after a hospital stay. And congrats on the pun! By the way, where does your username come from? And why does <stone> call you <ak>?

Nov-14-24		Fusilli: Blitz on chess.com I am black. click for larger view 28...g5 29.Ne3 Black to play click for larger view

Nov-15-24		stone free or die: <<fusilli to ak> By the way, where does your username come from?> Yes, inquiring minds want to know. <And why does <stone> call you <ak>?> Yes again, good question. I was wondering the same thing! I'm curious to see what <ak> thinks - ha!

Nov-15-24		areknames: Well, I hope <stone> calls me <ak> in the interest of brevity, not as a reference to the assault rifle. I mean, I know how to use a normal semi-automatic rifle from my time in the Army but I am also the lousiest shot in history - possibly even worse than Dick Cheney - so giving me an AK-47 would be bad news for everyone. Re: my username, you have to know that my taste in music is quite obscure, way off the mainstream. Most people with similar tastes have never heard of <Areknames>, a dark, no longer active Italian progressive rock band whom I rank as one of my top personal favourites.

Nov-15-24		Fusilli: Mystery solved re: <ak>! I tried my hand at target shooting a number of times, with acceptable results, shooting pistols and rifles. Pretty good grouping, but I was rather close to the target. I brought home the poster with the bullet holes and affixed it to my back door as a deterrent against potential burglars. No idea if it ever came close to doing that job, as I also have a fence and live in a neighborhood where the odds of burglary are low (though not zero). For the last year or two, I have had a couple of cameras in the back too and positively know no stranger came near the back of my house. Then I also set up a camera at ground level next to my deck and enjoy seeing the 10-second footage clips of the opossum that appears to live under my deck, and the occasional rabbit. The opossum does its rounds almost like clockwork around midnight.

Nov-15-24		stone free or die: Yes, <ak> is my shorthand. And here's some eponymous <areknames>, thanks to <youtube>: <Areknames - Areknames (2003) Full Album> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg5...

Nov-16-24		areknames: <Then I also set up a camera at ground level next to my deck and enjoy seeing the 10-second footage clips of the opossum that appears to live under my deck> In Oz we have possums, a different species altogether but as a native animal they are protected by law and hurting or killing them could hand you a hefty fine. They are nonetheless a pest and can cause massive damage to your wiring and such as well as leaving their droppings everywhere. In NZ they are considered an introduced species and they can be hunted freely. I must confess I quite like them ;)

Nov-16-24		Fusilli: <areknames> I don't know about possums, but opossums are actually beneficial. They eat ticks, bugs, rodents, and weeds. If you google whether opossums are good, you'll find a bunch of fear-mongering about them carrying diseases... that could kill your pets! Or get your children sick! All b.s. The likelihood of anything like that happening is minuscule, but that stuff is posted by pest control companies that just want to kill them (and absolutely every other wild creature that may be within a mile of your property) to collect your money. I feel repulsed by all that. We need to learn to co-exist with wildlife. We have taken a lot from them already, species go extinct constantly because of us, and we destroy their habitats and displace them. Apparently, there is no end to human voracity for more space and resources. We are the most invasive of all species. That's why I planted trees in my backyard (a magnolia, two crabapple trees, a tulip poplar, and a crepe myrtle), and various bushes and flowers for polinators, and I put up bird baths and bird houses. My backyard is a regular stop for birds (I have recorded more than 20 species of birds visiting my backyard) and rabbits, squirrels and others, like the midnight opossum or (perhaps) voles. A pest control company would tell me, "squirrels chew on your wires!" (b.s., they want nuts, not wires), "voles destroy your yard!" (I'm pretty sure I have had voles... they make some holes and tunnels... so?), "birds poop on your fence!" (oh, yeah, like my fence should be immaculate), and so on. Ugh. I strongly believe in cultivating our connections to nature. This is not how I felt all my life. I started to feel like this during the pandemic, when I spent a lot of time at home and discovered my large yard was pointless with almost nothing on it. I used to have a large dog and we played ball in the backyard, but she was gone. So, I started to plant, then I started to read, and now I am a happier person for it. There is so much natural beauty around us, and all we have to do is watch, nurture it, and respect it. I also grow some stuff. Tomatoes, carrots, garlic, lettuce, various herbs... Not too much at any given time, because my mobility limits what I can do, but it makes me happy.

Nov-16-24		areknames: <Fusilli> I whole-heartedly subscribe to every syllable of your post, we are in perfect agreement there. Occasionally we get blue-tongue lizards here, my wife just spotted one earlier today, a fat, shiny one who looked just gorgeous. Luckily he seems to live in the backyard, where he is way safer than in the front yard and the cat is too old now to hunt it anyway ;) I have always loved lizards since I was a small child and this is just great!

Nov-16-24		stone free or die: Good stuff <Fusilli>.

Nov-16-24		Fusilli: <ak> <stone> thanks! <ak> Here in America, pest control companies would be contacting you to help you rid your yard from lizards because... because they have blue tongues!

Nov-18-24		Fusilli: oooh... here's a nice one. Gabrielian v Bublei 2024 White to play click for larger view

Nov-18-24		areknames: <Fusilli> I still have some trouble visualizing positions, a stroke - however minor - is still a stroke after all, and two strokes, well, are still two strokes ;) In the previous puzzle you posted is the answer 30..Rxe3 followed by ..g4+ ?

Nov-18-24		moronovich: Oh yes, a nice one: Bg7+-BxB,Re7 1-0 if 2.-Rg8 then RxBg7 followed by Rb8 mating.

Nov-18-24		Fusilli: <ak> <In the previous puzzle you posted is the answer 30..Rxe3 followed by ..g4+ ?> Yes! The game went 30...Rxe3 31.Qxe3 g4+ and white let his clock run out.

Nov-18-24		Fusilli: <moronovich: Oh yes, a nice one: Bg7+-BxB,Re7 1-0 if 2.-Rg8 then RxBg7 followed by Rb8 mating.> You have the right idea but the wrong execution. If 1.Bg7+ Bxg7 2.R1e7 Nb4! Try again? :)

Nov-18-24		areknames: Is it 1.R1e7 Bxe7 2.Rxe7 and if now ..Rg8 then 3.Bg7+ anyway followed by mate?

Nov-18-24		moronovich: Yes, off course 1. R1e7- completely overlooked 2-Nb4 ):

Nov-18-24		Fusilli: <areknames> <moro> Right!

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