David R. Sands

Stuart Rachels’ remarkable run and a new look at chess streaks

If you're scouting about for early holiday gifts, two of the year's best chess books present a nice package gift.

November 10, 2020

Wesley So channels Bobby Fischer to notch second U.S. chess title

He's already mastered Bobby Fischer's preferred form of chess. Now GM Wesley So is turning in performances that some are already calling Fischeresque.

November 3, 2020

Irina Krush, Joel Benjamin claim U.S. chess titles

The election is still (still!) a week away as this is written, but this columnist can report that two crucial voting demographics -- seniors and women -- have already selected this champion.

October 27, 2020

John Burke, Carissa Yip snag U.S. junior chess titles

A first-timer and a repeat winner have captured this year's U.S. junior and junior girls national titles, respectively.

October 20, 2020

Jan Krzystof Duda puts an end to Magnus Carlsen’s epic chess unbeaten streak

The Streak is over. For the first time since the summer of 2018, Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen was forced to tip his king in a game played at classical time controls. Polish GM Jan Krzystof Duda did the deed, defeating the champ at the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament now underway in Stavanger, Norway.

October 13, 2020

Christopher Yoo commands the Cadets at U.S. youth chess championship

As the Good Book says, a little child shall lead them. A month of U.S. championship tournaments got off to a nice start for 13-year-old California IM Christopher Yoo, who easily captured the U.S. Cadet Championship last week with an undefeated 6-1 score.

October 6, 2020

A cornucopia of chess championships coming in October

October will be a month of championships for American chess.

September 29, 2020

Remembering Garry Kasparov-Viswanathan Anand chess clash 25 years on

It was 25 years ago right about this time that Garry Kasparov and I were sitting on top of the world.

September 15, 2020

Making a living from chess, Renaissance-style

BREAKING NEWS: FIDE officials said Tuesday they are ready to restart the aborted Candidates Tournament to pick a challenger to Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen. The event was halted at the midway point in March as the coronavirus pandemic was shutting down activities and sports leagues around the world.

September 8, 2020

Internet glitch means shared chess Olympiad gold for Russia, India

In order to excel, the modern player must have strategic patience, tactical imagination, a thorough grounding in opening and endgame theory, nerves of steel, a steady hand -- and a reliable internet connection.

September 1, 2020

A short day’s work — a midsummer medley of chess miniatures

It's a short World, after all. Reviving a hallowed tradition for this space, we use the dog days of August as an excuse to present a parade of miniatures from recent play, saving those intricate positional battles and dreary knight-and-pawn endings for a less indolent time. And many of those minis came from July's 48th annual World Open, played exclusively online this year.

August 25, 2020

Positional chess sacrifices call for delayed gratification

Sacrificing a queen for a quick checkmate is always fun, but there's a lot to be said for sacrificing a pawn in the opening that leads to a winning endgame.

August 18, 2020

Streaking makes a comeback with Magnus Carlsen’s epic chess run

Streaking is making a comeback. No, not the naked romps through public places, though the idea does sound tempting in this age of quarantine. We're talking competitive marks like Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak or Edwin Moses's nearly 10-year unbeaten streak in the 400-meter hurdles.

August 4, 2020

No generation gap at ‘Legends of Chess’ fight

The old guys are playing with some real youthful verve. The Chess24 Legends of Chess knockout tournament, which wraps up this week, is the last of four online rapid events being played this summer featuring world champion Magnus Carlsen and some other top players. The top finishers from the four events will compete next month in the Grand Final.

July 28, 2020

Sammy Reshevsky’s prodigious chess debut, 100 years ago

It was a century ago that a remarkable American chess career was launched. It was in late 1920 that a diminutive 8-year-old prodigy from Lodz, Poland, named Szmul Rzeszewski made the journey across the Atlantic with his parents.

July 21, 2020

Nothing minor in musicians’ love for chess

At the risk of getting that insanely catchy theme from "The Good, the Bad and The Ugly" stuck in your head again, we can't let the recent passing of Italian film composer Ennio Morricone go by without flagging his intense lifelong love affair with chess.

July 14, 2020

Conservative play nearly backfires for champ in chess final

They say in football that the only thing a "prevent defense" does is prevent you from winning. Sitting on an early lead by playing it safe is as hard to do on the chessboard as on the gridiron. The just-completed rapid online Chessable Masters had a familiar result -- Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen won -- but the reigning world champ created all kinds of problems for himself trying to hold off Dutch rival GM Anish Giri with conservative play in the finale.

July 7, 2020

The World Open is shut down, but a few venture back to the chessboard

The logic is impeccable but no less melancholy for that: It's hard to hold a World Open when the whole world is closed.

June 30, 2020

There was more than a bind to Geza Maroczy’s chess brilliance

Even the greats can get pigeonholed. Hungarian star Geza Maroczy, born 150 years ago this year, was pegged early on as a defensive wizard who could grind out the wins but one who rarely trafficked in attacking brilliance. In fact, he's perhaps best remembered today for the "Maroczy bind," a dreaded pawn clamp on the center that slowly asphyxiates an unwary opponent.

June 23, 2020

Flimflam and the art of the swindle at the chessboard

For many American chess fans, the history of the chess swindle begins and ends with Frank Marshall. The longtime U.S. champ was famous for his uncanny ability to salvage lost games, bamboozling an overconfident opponent with tactical or psychological tricks.

June 16, 2020