David R. Sands

Russian mercenary chief: Declare victory in Ukraine and get out

The head of Russia's shadowy mercenary force The Wagner Group is recommending a strategy in Ukraine once proposed by U.S. officials for the bogged-down war in Vietnam: Just declare victory and call it quits.

April 16, 2023

Steady Nepomniachtchi, shaky Ding as world chess title match kicks off

It's been a dream start for Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in his scheduled 14-game FIDE world championship match against China's Ding Liren. The two began play Sunday in Astana, Kazakhstan, for the vacated world chess title long held by Norwegian world No. 1 GM Magnus Carlsen.

April 11, 2023

Crowns at stake as chess title matches get underway

April will be a clarifying month for the chess world, as we learn who will succeed Norway's Magnus Carlsen after a 10-year reign as world champion and a challenger emerges to take on women's world champion GM Ju Wenjun of China in a title match in July.

April 4, 2023

Worthy winners: Nakamura, Krush take home American Cup titles

It got a little messy at the end, but the players playing the best chess took home the American Cup and the American Women's Cup at the all-star U.S. knockout event last week at the Saint Louis Chess Club.

March 28, 2023

World’s divisions play out on the chessboard

In the landscape of chess geopolitics, the tectonic plates are shifting.

March 21, 2023

Sen. Mike Rounds chalks up DeSantis’ Ukraine comments to ‘primary politics’

Sen. Mike Rounds said Sunday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' recent characterization of Russia's unprovoked war against Ukraine as a "territorial dispute" is all about politics.

March 19, 2023

Putin stirs Ukrainian fury with his first foray to front lines

Russian President Vladimir Putin late Saturday evening made his first visit to a Ukrainian city captured in Russia's nearly 13-month-old invasion of its neighbor, in a show of defiance just a day after an international tribunal called for his arrest for war crimes.

March 19, 2023

Bickering on violence divides U.S. and Mexico, adds new strain to tension between neighbors

Mexico is "safer than the United States," Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador declared in an impassioned response to growing criticism from Washington this week.

March 14, 2023

Saints be praised: Honoring the pious pawn-pushers

This week, we observe what I've always thought of as the "Week of the Saints": St. Patrick's Day on March 17 and, two days later, St. Joseph's Day -- an actual holiday at my parochial grade school because the nuns who taught us were from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

March 14, 2023

Two Americans killed in cartel crossfire across Mexican border, raising fresh security fears

Two of the four U.S. citizens whose Friday kidnapping at a Mexican border town by a local drug cartel was captured on a gripping video have been found dead, while the other two have been found alive, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador confirmed Tuesday.

March 7, 2023

Queen power: Celebrating a rich legacy of women in chess

The general public may not always appreciate it, but the history of women's chess began long before the custodian Mr. Shaibel taught young Beth Harmon the moves at that girls' orphanage in "The Queen's Gambit."

March 7, 2023

Winners all around: Aronian bounces back with win in WR Masters chess tournament

The just-concluded WR Masters tournament was one of those rare events where the winner and the runners-up can all be happy with the result.

February 28, 2023

A ‘Greek gift’ on the chessboard that just keeps on giving

With a possibly life-changing match just over a month away, Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi is giving little away at the powerful WR Chess Masters tournament now underway in Duesseldorf, Germany.

February 21, 2023

Biden makes surprise visit to Ukraine in major show of support

President Biden made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Monday in a dramatic show of support for the war-torn country, just days ahead of the anniversary of Russia's invasion.

February 20, 2023

Biden in Kyiv to show solidarity as Ukraine war nears 1 year; U.S. giving half-billion dollars

President Biden made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv Monday, walking with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy through the heart of the city and promising fresh military aid in a dramatic illustration of U.S. support just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion.

February 20, 2023

Blinken, Wang clash over balloon, Russia support in tense meeting

A much-anticipated meeting between the top diplomats from the U.S. and China over the weekend appeared to do little to clear the tensions over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon and may have added new strains to the bilateral relationship.

February 19, 2023

Winants, standard-bearer for Belgian chess, dies at 60

To be a titled grandmaster in a major chess power these days is to be a pretty big fish in a pretty crowded aquarium.

February 14, 2023

Sensational Serb: Celebrating Gligoric at 100

Yugoslavian/Serbian great Svetozar Gligoric, born 100 years ago on Feb. 2, is the greatest player his chess-mad country ever produced and one of the premier players of the postwar chess generation. But Gligoric had the misfortune to come of age when the Soviet chess juggernaut was at its most formidable.

February 7, 2023

Dutch treat: Hometown hero Giri scores breakthrough win at Tata Steel Masters

It was a double Dutch treat that gave GM Anish Giri a breakthrough win in his home country's signature tournament at the 85th Tata Steel Masters tournament that concluded Sunday in the coastal Netherlands' village of Wijk aan Zee.

January 31, 2023

Blinken trip still on despite latest Israeli-Palestinian violence, State Department says

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will proceed with a planned trip to Israel and the Palestinian-controlled West Bank despite an outburst of violence that has racked the region the last two days, the State Department said Friday.

January 28, 2023