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David R. Sands

David R. Sands

dsands@washingtontimes.com

David R. Sands covered numerous beats, including international trade, banking, politics and Capitol Hill, and spent eight years on the foreign desk as senior diplomatic correspondent. He has authored The Times' weekly chess column since 1993.

Articles by David R. Sands

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during their meeting in Vladivostok, Russia, April 25, 2019. North Korea says it has not exported any weapons to Russia during the war in Ukraine and has no plans to do so, and said U.S. intelligence reports of weapons transfers were an attempt to tarnish North Korea's image. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)

North Korea denies U.S. reports it is selling arms to Russia

A couple of weeks later, North Korea is angrily denying widely disseminated U.S. intelligence findings that it has agreed to sell large amounts of arms and munitions to Russia in support of President Vladimir Putin's troubled invasion of Ukraine.

September 22, 2022
Firouzja-So after 24...g6.

Firouzja survives controversy-filled Sinquefield Cup to claim chess title

Amid all the Sturm und Drang -- a world champion losing a game and quitting the tournament after just three rounds; a voluble rising American star now shadowed by accusations of cheating at the highest level; rule changes that strongly implied something fishy was going on; even a social media flame war over weird accents -- they did manage to play the 9th Sinquefield Cup and produce an over-the-board winner.

September 13, 2022
Spassky-Fischer, Game 21. Final position after 42. Bd7.

Hail the conquering American! Marking 50 years since Fischer’s epic win over Spassky

The times being what they were, I first learned the result from the newspaper I was delivering. The afternoon Washington Evening Star's front-page, top-of-the-fold headline for Sept. 1, 1972 -- exactly 50 years ago this Thursday -- proclaimed that Russian Boris Spassky had conceded the adjourned 21st game of the stormy match in Reykjavik, Iceland, by phone making Bobby Fischer the 11th official world chess champion and the first American to wear the crown.

August 30, 2022