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David R. Sands

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

After Putin meeting, Iranian says Tehran in Syria to stay

A top foreign policy adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei said Friday after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Iranian forces will remain in Syria despite protests from Israel and the Trump administration.

July 13, 2018

World Cup winners can expect GDP boost to economy

As France and Croatia prepare for the final in soccer's monthlong World Cup extravaganza in Moscow, data suggest that this year's champion will get a nice boost in the pocketbook back home as well.

July 12, 2018

What the Royal Game can teach the Beautiful Game

With soccer's World Cup down to the frenzied matches as this is being written, let us recount all the things the Royal Game and the Beautiful Game have in common.

July 11, 2018

Corneille Nangaa, Congo’s election chief, welcomes challenge of December vote

Corneille Nangaa laughs but doesn't exactly disagree when it's suggested he has been handed one of the world's worst jobs.

July 10, 2018

Birthday boy Benko has left a lasting mark on the game of chess

In the popular imagination, he's perhaps most famous for the tournament in which he didn't play. Pal Benko, the Hungarian-American GM who turns 90 on July 14, willingly gave up his slot in the 1970 Interzonal Tournament to Bobby Fischer, putting Fischer on track to win his epic world title match against Boris Spassky two years later.

July 3, 2018

H.E. Bird displayed a healthy appetite for chess brilliance

'I never beat a healthy man." That wry old observation, attributed to the great British 19th-century master H.E. Bird, came to mind recently on the news that Chinese GM Ding Liren fractured his hip in a bicycle accident and had to withdraw midway through the strong Altibox Norway Chess tournament last month.

June 26, 2018

A splendid little skirmish from NATO’s chess championship

As the generals say, there's a lot to be learned from a little war. Take, for example, today's first game from the recent 29th NATO Chess Championship, held in Lubbock, Texas.

June 19, 2018

Sam Shankland snares third chess title in a row

As it seems we have been reporting for the past two months, red-hot American GM Sam Shankland has won another tournament with yet one more undefeated, dominating performance.

June 12, 2018

For Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, familiarity breeds respect

Time was when chess world championship matches included a lengthy getting-to-know-you phase.

June 5, 2018

George Soros, Budapest-born financier, shined in spotlight with ‘Stop Soros Bill’

George Soros has become so prominent in the Hungarian domestic political debate that the crackdown on illegal immigration pushed by nationalist prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party in parliament this week is widely being described as the "Stop Soros Bill."

May 31, 2018

Hungary a ‘natural ally’ of Trump as Pompeo, Peter Szijjarto meet

NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: Hungary has no intention of joining the "U.S.-bashing chorus in Europe," in part because Budapest and Washington now are singing from the same page on issues such as immigration, security and the right of sovereign nations to set their own policies, Hungary's foreign minister said in an interview.

May 31, 2018

Chess angels aided the wounded during World War II

As we mark Memorial Day this week, let us remember the ways chess has done its part to cheer and console those who go to war.

May 30, 2018

Moon Jae-in, South Korea president, calls emergency meeting after Donald Trump cancels Kim summit

Apparently blindsided by President Trump's decision to cancel next month's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korean President Moon Jae-in convened an emergency meeting of his top security officials in Seoul Thursday night to discuss what happens next.

May 24, 2018

Pompeo: North Korea shut off talks on prepping for Trump-Kim summit

North Korea shut down bilateral contacts to prepare for the proposed summit between President Trump Kim Jong-un several days before Mr. Trump on Thursday abruptly called off the planned June 12 meeting in Singapore, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a congressional hearing.

May 24, 2018

Britain gets a princess, but chess has a new queen

Britain, as you may have heard, has a new princess. But chess has a new queen.

May 22, 2018

Indian minister makes first visit to North Korea in decades

In a sign other countries are rushing into the diplomatic breach opened by the U.S.-North Korea rapprochement, a top Indian diplomat is making the first trip by a senior Indian official to Pyongyang in two decades.

May 17, 2018

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on track for big congressional majority in Mexico vote

Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has opened up such a wide lead ahead of July 1's Mexican presidential vote that his coattails could give his party a working congressional majority as well, according to a new polling analysis released this week.

May 16, 2018