David R. Sands

Carlsen presses but held to draw in world chess championship match’s first game

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway, playing the Black pieces, survived some early pressure and then mismanaged a favorable position to draw Russian challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi in the first game of the scheduled 14-game title match in Dubai Friday.

November 26, 2021

‘Squid Game’ smuggler gets death sentence as North Korea cracks down

In totalitarian North Korea, it's not just the fictional characters competing in "Squid Game" who are in mortal danger.

November 25, 2021

Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi square off for chess crown this week

Magnus Carlsen is sounding a little cocky -- and history suggests he may have a right to preen. There have been some 60 or so world championship matches (the numbers get a little fuzzy with the Split Crown Era of the late 1990s and early 2000s) since the mid-19th century, and there have been no real shocking upsets on the order of Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson or the 1969 Mets winning the World Series.

November 23, 2021

Missing Chinese tennis star surfaces in video from Beijing tournament

Chinese female tennis star Peng Shuai has been seen publicly for the first time in weeks

November 21, 2021

Vets get a big jump in retirement pay to help fight inflation

In another sign that the U.S. military is facing the same economic headwinds as the civilian population, the Defense Department announced Friday that military retirees and survivors will receive a 5.9% cost-of-living boost in pay and survivor benefits.

November 19, 2021

China fuming over Biden’s talk of U.S. Olympic boycott, sends invite to Putin

China's Foreign Ministry Friday sharply criticized President Biden's comments that he is weighing a modified boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, accusing Washington of politicizing the global sports event.

November 19, 2021

Patricia Posey, a smiling presence with The Times from the start, dies at age 72

Patricia Posey, who mixed professional competence with relentless good cheer as a charter employee of The Washington Times, has died at the age of 72.

November 16, 2021

Middle East dispatch: Chess on the rise again in a cradle of the game

A cradle of chess may be celebrating a new birth.

November 16, 2021

Russia’s Lavrov rejects U.S. complaints on satellite strike

Russia's top diplomat on Tuesday rejected sharp U.S. criticism of a test of a satellite-killer missile that left a large trail of debris in outer space, arguing Washington was to blame for blocking global efforts to contain the militarization of outer space.

November 16, 2021

Meet the candidates: Firouzja, Caruana, Lei book chess title tourney slots

Alireza Firouzja has been tipped as a future world champion contender since he burst on the scene by winning Iran's national championship in 2016 at the tender age of 12, earning his grandmaster spurs two years later.

November 9, 2021

Couple in France awarded ‘turbine syndrome’ damages from nearby wind farm

In what may be the first decision of its kind, a court has ruled that a Belgian couple living in France is entitled to some $127,000 in damages for health problems they say were caused by a nearby energy-producing wind farm.

November 8, 2021

Kremlin: Western reports of troop buildup near Ukraine ‘fake news’

The Russian government Tuesday dismissed as "cheap, fake news" reports of a major buildup of troops and weaponry near the country's tense borders with Ukraine and Belarus.

November 2, 2021

Savoring the mellow joys of positional chess

It is autumn in earnest, Keats' "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness," and a columnist's fancy naturally turns to thoughts of positional chess.

November 2, 2021

At the chessboard, one bad move among hundreds can bring despair

Chess is a beguiling but demanding taskmaster, brutally punishing even a moment's inattention.

October 26, 2021

Yip glides, So grinds on way to U.S. national chess titles

The queen arrived early, but the king took his time.

October 19, 2021

Inhofe demands Pentagon halt COVID vaccine mandate for troops

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee is demanding the Defense Department abandon its mandate that all troop and civilian personnel get vaccinated against COVID-19.

October 19, 2021

U.S. envoy to Afghanistan under Trump, Biden quits

Zalmay Khalilzad, the veteran Afghan-born diplomat who was the point man for negotiations with the Taliban insurgency under both Presidents Trump and Biden, said Tuesday he was stepping down from his post, just weeks after the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul and the chaotic U.S. and allied military withdrawal from the country.

October 19, 2021

Hall of Famers: Sinquefields honored for contributions to chess

Hours before his well-deserved induction into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame last week, Rex Sinquefield's thoughts were turning to another seemingly underachieving Hall of Famer, pro baseball catcher Bob Uecker. Uecker famously mocked his modest on-field skill set, but he got a ticket to Cooperstown for his long career as a broadcaster, comedian, pitchman and ambassador for the game.

October 12, 2021

Kremlin tries to take high road over Russian Nobel peace winner

The Russian government tried to take the high road Friday following the announcement that a Russian journalist hailed for his work in the face of official intimidation was named a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Friday.

October 8, 2021

Bullish Johnson rejects ‘uncontrolled’ immigration to ease economic strains

Famously optimistic British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is again looking on the bright side, telling his ruling Conservative Party on Wednesday that good economic times are ahead and there will be no going back to what he said was the low-wage, high-immigration model of the pre-Brexit U.K.

October 6, 2021