David R. Sands

Freestyling in style, Keymer captures Chess960 inaugural event

German GM Martin Keymer was Freestyling in style, successively defeating the world's two highest-rated players to capture the inaugural event of the new Freestyle Grand Slam in Wangels, Germany, last week.

February 18, 2025

The mating game: Chess couples in love soar up the Cupid Index

GM Magnus Carlsen pulled off an unexpected pre-Valentine's Day combination, as the Norwegian great took himself off the market as the most eligible former world chess champion.

February 11, 2025

Pragg nips Gukesh in tournament debut as champ

It seems the only way to beat a superstar Indian teenage chess phenom these days is with another superstar Indian teenage chess phenom.

February 4, 2025

Kremlin verifies famed Russian figure skating pair were aboard downed U.S. jet

The Kremlin Thursday confirmed that two well-known Russian-born figure skaters were aboard the D.C.-bound plane that collided with an Army helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River Wednesday evening.

January 30, 2025

Barnes bicentennial: British master ranks as Morphy’s toughest chess foe

He didn't exactly have Paul Morphy's number, but largely unheralded 19th century English master Thomas Barnes -- born 200 years ago this month -- did manage to win more chess games off the brilliant young American than any other player of the day.

January 28, 2025

Trump doubles down on Greenland buy as Denmark balks

Dismissed as a pipe dream during his first term in office, President Trump's determination to wrest control of Greenland is very much alive at the start of his second term.

January 26, 2025

Marked man: New champ Gukesh back at the chessboard in strong Tata tournament

It's something of a rite of passage in chess -- the new champ is a marked man when he first returns to the board. Indian teenager Dommaraju Gukesh, who became the youngest world champion ever when he dethroned Chinese GM Deng Liren in their December title match, is testing himself in his first classical tournament since then -- the always-strong Tata Steel Masters Tournament in the storied Dutch seaside town of Wijk aan Zee.

January 21, 2025

Blinken pushes vision for transformed postwar Middle East as Gaza ceasefire hopes rise

With the Biden administration on its way out the door, Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered on Tuesday an expansive vision of a revamped and revised Middle East, even as negotiators in Qatar were struggling to nail down an elusive ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants.

January 14, 2025

A Huebner appreciation, and exploring the relationship between the board and the bottle

The tributes and appreciations are flowing in for German GM Robert Huebner, the cerebral four-time world championship candidate, Olympiad first-board gold medalist and one of the world's best players on either side of the Cold War divide in the 1970s and 1980s, who -- as we noted here last week -- died Jan. 5 after a long illness at the age of 76.

January 14, 2025

Kremlin: If Trump wants to talk, Putin is ready to listen

Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to the idea of direct, personal talks with incoming U.S. President Donald Trump, though no talks have been formally scheduled, the Kremlin said Friday.

January 10, 2025

Familiar traditions survive into the new chess year

It is indeed a new year and a chance for a fresh start, but it's also nice to see that some familiar traditions in chess still endure.

January 7, 2025

Carlsen’s blue jean blues drown out Murzin’s remarkable rapid chess win

It was a real-life Cinderella story, but the glass slipper got upstaged by a pair of blue jeans. Russian teenage GM Volodar Murzin, seeded 59th in a world-class field, is the new FIDE rapid world champion, in one of the biggest upsets of the year. But as you may have heard, the drama at the board was overshadowed by a ridiculous dress-code spat between FIDE organizers and former world classical and rapid champion GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

December 31, 2024

Chinese President Xi Jinping expresses ‘deep’ condolences at death of Jimmy Carter

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday expressed his personal "deep condolences" over the death of former President Jimmy Carter at the age of 100.

December 30, 2024

A holiday sampler of the inexhaustible joys of chess

In this season of gift-giving, it's good to reflect on the inexhaustible generosity of the game we love. Yes, the losses can be painful, the pressure intense, and the strain of trying to hold a pawn-down queen-and-knight ending can seem like pure drudgery. But chess also can be rewarding in so many ways.

December 24, 2024

Gukesh took risks to best a too-cautious chess champ

The shocking blunder that decided a tense world championship match didn't come until Game 14's Move 55, but one got the sense that the defending Chinese champion GM Ding Liren had psychologically surrendered his crown to young Indian challenger GM Gukesh Dommaraju in a small positional skirmish almost 30 moves earlier.

December 17, 2024

Indian teenage grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju becomes youngest world chess champion in history

Indian grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju, 18, has become the youngest world chess champion in the history of the game, dethroning Chinese star grandmaster Ding Liren Thursday in their title match in Singapore.

December 12, 2024

Gukesh, Ding trade late-match wins, setting up thrilling chess title fight finale

Go ahead -- you can call it a comeback. Chinese world champion Ding Liren showcased his trademark title match resilience, bouncing back from a painful Game 11 loss to Indian challenger GM Gukesh Donnemaju with a powerful win in Monday's Game 12 to knot their FIDE title match in Singapore at 6-6 with just two classical games to go.

December 10, 2024

Ding sets the tone as world chess title match with Gukesh knotted at 3-3

We're just short of halfway through the 14-game match of the world title match in Singapore, and it's becoming clear that as the champ goes, so will go the match.

December 3, 2024

Russia, Iran rally to Assad’s aid after shock rebel offensive

Russia and Iran have rushed to the aid of an embattled ally as the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad announced a counteroffensive against rebel groups that have scored stunning advances in the past 48 hours.

December 1, 2024

U.S. suspends partnership with Georgia as pro-Russia government faces new street protests

The Biden administration has suspended a major cooperation deal with the nation of Georgia after the government in Tbilisi announced it was halting its effort to join the European Union and integrate more closely with the West.

December 1, 2024