David R. Sands

A lot to like, a lot to market in Magnus Carlsen-Fabiano Caruana chess world title match

Both on and off the board, the London organizers of November's world championship title match have to be happy with the outcome of last week's FIDE Candidates Tournament, with American GM Fabiano Caruana breaking through to win the right to take on reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

April 3, 2018

Joaquin Castro gives ‘live’ interviews on CNN, MSNBC at same time

Rep. Joaquin Castro on Monday achieved a degree of media saturation that even President Trump can only dream of, appearing "live" in separate, simultaneous interviews with cable networks MSNBC and CNN.

April 2, 2018

Russia to expel 60 U.S. diplomats, close St. Petersburg consulate in escalating feud

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Thursday that 60 U.S. diplomats will be expelled and the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg closed down in a tit-for-tat response to U.S. sanctions in the wake of a nerve-gas attack on an ex-Russian double agent living in England.

March 29, 2018

Fabiano Caruana qualifies for world chess title match against Magnus Carlsen

Chess grandmaster Fabiano Caruana will be the first American in decades to play for the world championship title after the winning the candidates tournament outright in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday.

March 27, 2018

U.S. star Fabiano Caruana earns world chess title match with Carlsen

GM Fabiano Caruana will be the first American in decades to play for the world championship title after the winning the candidates tournament outright in Berlin Tuesday.

March 27, 2018

British cultural council in Moscow closing after 59 years

The Russian branch of the British Council, the U.K. institution promoting British language and culture in more than 100 countries around the world, is the latest casualty of the clash sparked by the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy who was living in England.

March 22, 2018

Stumbling start could doom Levon Aronian’s chess title hopes — again

Levon Aronian is one of the most accomplished players of his generation, a national hero after leading tiny Armenia to gold in three Chess Olympiad gold between 2006 and 2012. He's respected by all his peers, has no real weaknesses in his game, and came into 2018 as one of the hottest players on the international circuit.

March 20, 2018

Tillerson out, conservative think tank targets Trump security aide and ‘enabler’ H.R. McMaster

With Secretary of State Rex Tillerson fired and leaving at the end of the month, a leading conservative national security think tank is saying President Trump's next move should be to show National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster the door as well.

March 14, 2018

Stephen Goldstein, Rex Tillerson’s spokesman, also canned after statement on State Department firing

The purge at the State Department isn't stopping with Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson.

March 13, 2018

John Campbell remembered: The Arlington Chess Club’s genial guiding light

John T. Campbell, 91 and one of the game's good guys, was laid to rest with military honors Monday at Quantico National Cemetery, beside his beloved wife and partner, Frances.

March 13, 2018

Mike Pompeo’s move to State Department likely bad news for Iran deal

President Trump, who cited his differences Tuesday with Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson over the Iranian nuclear deal as one reason he was fired, is set to get a much tougher voice on Tehran with Mike Pompeo, Mr. Tillerson's replacement.

March 13, 2018

China state media says Trump-Kim meeting vindicates Beijing diplomacy

The state-controlled news website Global Times is urging Chinese citizens to take the stunning news of a meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in stride, saying there is no chance the U.S. will be able to "turn" Pyongyang away from its longtime patron.

March 9, 2018

Navarro: Trump White House like the New England Patriots

Peter Navarro, President Trump's increasingly influential economic adviser, compared the Trump White House to the NFL's New England Patriots, saying both have managed to have success despite an unusually high rate of employee turnover.

March 7, 2018

Anatoly Lein, Soviet great-turned-U.S. star, dies at 86

Anatoly Lein, the Leningrad-born grandmaster who was one of the last living members of the wave of Soviet refugees who transformed the U.S. chess landscape in the 1970s and 1980s, died March 1 at the age of 86 at his home outside Cleveland.

March 7, 2018

Russia says soccer fans can bring medical marijuana to 2018 World Cup

The grass won't be just on the pitch when soccer's World Cup kicks off in Russia later this year.

February 28, 2018

Bill Goichberg organizes his way to U.S. Chess Hall of Fame

The 2018 class of inductees into the St. Louis-based World and U.S. Chess Hall of Fame contains some worthy if not particularly unexpected choices.

February 27, 2018

Failing Chess 101 can be a royal pain for the king

When it comes to chess openings, there are a few basic must-dos that even the rankest beginner understands: Develop the pieces. Control the center. Protect the king. But sometimes, it seems, even the very best players forget -- with predictably dire consequences.

February 20, 2018

For Mardi Gras, a celebration of Paul Morphy, New Orleans’ finest

It's Mardi Gras, and we're taking a little mental vacation down to the Big Easy to check out the chess scene.

February 13, 2018

On Gibraltar, Hikaru Nakamura is a Rock star

He may never have trashed a hotel room or shredded his way through a 35-minute guitar solo (as far as we know), but make no mistake -- GM Hikaru Nakamura is a Rock star.

February 6, 2018

O Canada! ‘Sons’ edited out as bill to make anthem gender-neutral moves closer to passage

A bill to make Canada's familiar national anthem less sexist is one step closer to passage.

February 1, 2018