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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

Rubinstein — Levenfish after 21...Nb4-d5.

Magnus Carlsen’s hot chess play ranks with the game’s great streaks

Magnus Carlsen is on a roll. The world's best player is also the world's hottest player, as the Norwegian world champ has run up a spectacular string of top-flight wins this spring, including four straight first-place finishes -- Tata Steel, Shamkir, Grenke and, last week, the rapid/blitz Grand Chess Tour event in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

May 21, 2019
In this June 8, 2018, photo, President Donald Trump talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a G-7 Summit welcome ceremony in Charlevoix, Canada. Trump has been engulfed in allegations involving possible collusion with Russia and secret payments to buy the silence of a porn star. Trudeau is facing a controversy that seems trivial by comparison, but it could topple him in elections later this year. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) **FILE**

Canada claims victory in U.S. trade clash over tariffs

Canadian political and business leaders claimed victory Friday after President Trump announced the U.S. will roll back hefty year-old tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from its NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico.

May 17, 2019
Diaz Leon — Brizuela Abreu after 30...Qb1.

Chess a tough game for tough times in Venezuela, Syria

Just last month, two countries facing some pretty challenging times -- Syria and Venezuela -- managed not only to hold their national chess title tournaments but to produce some intriguing, dynamic games in the process.

May 15, 2019
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Monday, May 13, 2019. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is at left. (Alexander Nemenov/Pool Photo via AP)

Putin’s Crimea adventure proves economic loser

Russian President Vladimir Putin's annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 is proving a loser for the Russian economy, costing at least $30 billion annually in lost business, subsidies and a worsening investment climate, a top analyst said Monday.

May 13, 2019
Shabalov-Speelman after 20. Bd5.

Fifty-plus is the new No. 1 as U.S. captures senior chess team gold

Our oldies are goodies. Justifying their top seeding, the U.S. 50-and-over squad took clear first in last month's World Senior Teams Championship in Rhodes, Greece. The team won eight of nine matches in the 26-team competition, conceding only one drawn match with Iceland.

May 7, 2019
Vachier-Lagrave — Kamsky after 30. Qb6-e3.

Chessgate debunked: Mueller finds no collusion in Trump-FIDE ‘ties’

Talk about burying the lede -- or at least the footnote. The "mainstream media" may be afraid to report it, but we can reliably pass on here that chess played a major cameo role in special counsel Robert Mueller's magisterial/hopelessly biased report/witch hunt into the Trump-Russiagate scandal/hoax. (Hey, chessplayers watch both Fox and MSNBC.)

April 23, 2019
Julian Assange gestures as he arrives at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, after the WikiLeaks founder was arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police and taken into custody Thursday April 11, 2019. Police in London arrested WikiLeaks founder Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy Thursday for failing to surrender to the court in 2012, shortly after the South American nation revoked his asylum .(Victoria Jones/PA via AP)

Assange, Stalin score high in Russian polls

Detained WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and deceased Soviet dictator Josef Stalin have something in common -- both score well in new Russian opinion polls released Tuesday.

April 16, 2019
Julian Assange gestures as he arrives at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, after the WikiLeaks founder was arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police and taken into custody Thursday April 11, 2019. Police in London arrested WikiLeaks founder Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy Thursday, April 11, 2019 for failing to surrender to the court in 2012, shortly after the South American nation revoked his asylum .(Victoria Jones/PA via AP)

Assange won’t face death penalty if extradited: Ecuador president

Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno on Thursday defended his decision to lift the protections that prevented British police from arresting Julian Assange, but said in a video that he had also received assurances in writing from the U.K. government that the WikiLeaks founder would not be extradited to a country where he might face torture or the death penalty.

April 11, 2019
In this file photo, reigning chess world champion Magnus Carlsen, from Norway, plays Italian-American challenger Fabiano Caruana, left, in the first few minutes of round 12 of their World Chess Championship Match in London, Monday, Nov. 26, 2018. In a match played on March 21, 2019, Mr. Carlsen and his opponent Anish Giri agreed to break a longstanding rule of the game by allowing the Black pieces the first move, a symbolic statement speaking out against racism on the U.N.'s International Day for the Elimination of Racism (AP Photo/Matt Dunham). **FILE**

In anti-racist statement, chess champs let Black move first

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen and Dutch rival Anish Giri are marking a U.N. international campaign against racism by playing a game in which -- contrary to the longstanding rules of the game -- the player with the black pieces made the first move.

March 22, 2019