David R. Sands

Tehran still wants nuclear deal despite faltering negotiations

Iran's top diplomat said Tuesday that Tehran still hopes to revive the 2015 nuclear deal despite stalled talks with the U.S. and other world powers that have led many to conclude the accord is dead.

June 14, 2022

Coaching him up: Kasparov chess mentor Nikitin left a lasting legacy

It's graduation season and a fitting time to celebrate the teachers. Alexander Nikitin, who died June 5 in Moscow at the age of 87, was a promising Soviet junior player and a respectably strong IM in a country that turned out respectably strong IMs by the hundreds.

June 14, 2022

Russia claims progress with brutal tactics on smaller battlefield

Russian military leaders are finally able to declare a measure of success in their troubled invasion of neighboring Ukraine, as a brutal but concentrated assault in the south and east has steadily advanced in recent days in the long-disputed Donbas region.

June 7, 2022

Flipping the burger: Russian-rebranded McDonald’s outlets to open next week

There's one business line that has been booming in Russia since Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine led hundreds of foreign corporations to pull out: re-branding.

June 7, 2022

Prey bite back at predators in upset-filled Cherry Blossom Classic

The Darwinian logic of your typical weekend Swiss tournament dictates that the big sharks -- usually with "GM" or "IM" before their name on the wall chart -- prey on the smaller fry in the early going and then square off against one another for the big prizes in the money rounds.

June 7, 2022

Boris Johnson turns back leadership challenge after ‘Partygate’ mess

Prime Minister Boris Johnson narrowly turned back an internal Conservative party revolt on Monday, ensuring the colorful British leader will stay in his post for at least another year.

June 6, 2022

Johnson favored to survive Conservative Party revolt and keep job

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face a fight for his job earlier than expected Monday after rebels in his ruling Conservative Party secured enough support for an immediate no-confidence vote.

June 6, 2022

In a war gone sideways, some Russian hawks push Putin to do more

The two Russian senior colonels caught on tape did not hide their fury as Moscow's invasion of Ukraine ground into its fourth inconclusive month, but the target of their anger was not the Ukrainians shooting at them but their own military and political superiors, who they said -- profanely and repeatedly -- were not trying to win the war they started.

June 5, 2022

British PM Boris Johnson facing fresh party revolt: Report

The Partygate may not be over for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

June 5, 2022

Russians launch first strikes on Kyiv in weeks to curb weapons flow

Residents of Kyiv received a harsh reminder that Ukraine is still a country at war as a salvo of Russian missiles fell on two outlying districts of the capital early Sunday.

June 5, 2022

Making the cut: Finalists shine in Chessable Masters knockout rounds

The two finalists may have done their best work just getting to the finals. Chinese No. 1 GM Ding Liren edged rising Indian star Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in the finals of the online Chessable Masters 2022 rapid tournament, which featured a strong preliminary section followed by a series of rapid knockout matches.

May 31, 2022

EU leaders agree to watered-down compromise on Russia energy sanctions

European Union leaders gathering Monday for a two-day summit in Brussels are setting a low bar for expectations for a tough new sanctions policy to cut off the supply of Russian oil exports as a punishment for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

May 30, 2022

Russian foreign minister again denies reports of Putin illness

Russia's top diplomat has again been forced to address persistent reports in the West that President Vladimir Putin is suffering from an undisclosed illness, denying the 69-year-old Mr. Putin faces any serious health issues and accusing those who question his stamina and judgment of having ulterior motives.

May 30, 2022

A Rocky-like Philly chess brawl from the Romantic era

World champion visits Philadelphia. Sportingly agrees to a match with a local star. Gets clocked. It sounds like the plot of a "Rocky" movie, but I discovered Sylvester Stallone's screenplay eerily prefigured while perusing some 140-year-old chess columns from the Baltimore Sunday News.

May 24, 2022

Watchdog: U.S. pullout ‘most important factor’ in Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan

The pullout of American forces begun by President Trump and accelerated under President Biden was the "single most important factor" in the rapid collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan and the takeover of the country by the radical Islamist Taliban movement last summer, according to a new report by the chief U.S. watchdog over the failed 20-year American mission in Kabul.

May 18, 2022

The mating game: Reaching a convincing conclusion

"'Shut up,' he explained." Novelist Ring Lardner's famed, unanswerable riposte has its analog in chess. Many amateurs can't fathom why a grandmaster would resign a game when he's down only a pawn with rooks, bishops and queens still on the board, even when a more experienced player can quickly see the hopelessness of the situation.

May 17, 2022

Upstart newspaper proves skeptics wrong

If there is a signature image of the impact and influence The Washington Times has had over its four decades chronicling the city, the nation and the world, it came on the night of April 29, 1995, in a Washington ballroom packed with politicos, bureaucrats, journalists and celebrities.

May 16, 2022

Putin’s troubled war sees battlefield, diplomatic reverses

Russian President Vladimir Putin's nearly 3-month-old invasion of neighboring Ukraine suffered reverses on the battlefield and in the halls of power Sunday as long-neutral Finland said it would apply to join the NATO military alliance and neighboring Sweden signaled it wouldn't be far behind.

May 15, 2022

Sweden takes big step toward bid for NATO

Sweden took a major step toward ending its longstanding policy of neutrality Sunday as the ruling Social Democratic Party said it now favored applying for membership in the NATO military alliance.

May 15, 2022

North Korea, once officially COVID-free, reports rising ‘fever’ cases, deaths

North Korea on Sunday acknowledged it was facing a spreading outbreak of COVID-19, after denying for more than a year that the virus had reached its shore.

May 15, 2022