David R. Sands

Have yourself a very merry war on Christmas — over the chessboard

A war on Christmas? Bring it on. D.C.'s traditional Eastern Open, which starts next Tuesday, is just one of a number of popular events traditionally held around this time of year.

December 19, 2017

A rowdy chess game beyond the ken of our silicon overlords

Two of the strongest players in the history of chess just played an epic 100-game match -- and hardly anyone noticed.

December 12, 2017

Shivering Chinese cities allowed to turn back to coal

Chinese environmental regulators said this week that northern cities facing a winter freeze and a lack of electricity and natural gas can use coal to keep warm.

December 8, 2017

U.S. escalates feud with Russia over suspected INF treaty missile violations

The Trump administration is planning new diplomatic, military and economic steps to pressure Russia after concluding earlier this week that Moscow had violated the landmark Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty by deploying a new missile that U.S. military officials say is not allowed under the 1987 deal.

December 8, 2017

London calling — a rich legacy for the 2018 chess championship host city

The 2018 world championship match will return to a city that is no stranger to hosting the game's ultimate event.

December 5, 2017

London to host Magnus Carlsen’s 2018 world chess championship defense

London will once again host a world chess title match as organizers announced Wednesday that Norwegian champion Magnus Carlsen will defend his title against a yet-to-be-determined opponent in the British capital in November 2018.

November 29, 2017

Chess candidates lineup set; Norway gets another world champ

Without pushing a pawn, Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Russian Alexander Grischuk last week booked a berth to the 2018 world championship hunt.

November 29, 2017

Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve chair nominee: No more ‘too-big-to-fail’ banks

President Trump's pick to head the Federal Reserve set a steady-as-she goes course for the nation's central bank and said he does not believe there are any U.S. financial institutions whose collapse would pose a systemic risk to the economy.

November 28, 2017

Russian lawmakers eye McDonald’s as ‘foreign agent’

Perhaps the golden arches are bugged. Perhaps the "special sauce" in the Big Mac is a secret helping of espionage.

November 24, 2017

Tom Carper: Gary Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser, faked bad connection to end call with boss

President Trump's top economic adviser pretended to have a bad connection in order to cut short a telephone conference call with his boss, a Democratic senator told CNN Wednesday, an account the White House quickly labeled as "completely false."

November 22, 2017

Choo Mi-ae, South Korean party leader, sees promise in Trump’s hawkish stand on North Korea

NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: President Trump has broken with his predecessors in making North Korea's nuclear programs a priority from the first day of his administration, improving the prospects for a negotiated solution to the crisis on the Korean Peninsula despite the angry rhetoric and provocative moves from both Washington and Pyongyang, the head of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party said in an interview.

November 21, 2017

Levon Aronian wins big in Spanish chess tourney

The two most dangerous opponents in chess are those who are desperate for a win and those who have nothing to lose. Armenian star GM Levon Aronian falls into the latter category right now, which may explain his strong start at the final FIDE Grand Prix event now underway in the Spanish city of Palma de Mallorca.

November 21, 2017

Robert Mugabe resigns as Zimbabwe’s president after 37 years

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe agreed to step down Tuesday in the face of crumbling support and a "soft coup" engineered by the military, ending 37 years of autocratic rule in the southern African nation.

November 21, 2017

In key chess win, it’s thanks for the memories

Been there. Seen that. Queened the pawn. Bobby Fischer famously observed the first essential for a great player is a "good memory," and he wasn't just referring to the ability to recall reams of opening subvariations.

November 14, 2017

Jeb Bush joins GOP establishment chorus calling on Roy Moore to step down

Former Florida Gov. and failed GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush became the latest prominent establishment Republican to call on Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore to drop out of the race over reports that he had a sexual encounter with an underage girl nearly four decades ago.

November 13, 2017

Russian retaliation over RT curbs could hit all foreign media

Russian anger over a U.S. demand that its state-owned RT news network formally register as a foreign agent could lead to a far greater retaliation, hitting both American and other international news outlets reporting in Russia.

November 13, 2017

Boden’s bishops claim another victim at European team chess tourney

Many people don't realize you can obtain chess immortality -- or at least notoriety -- without putting in the hard work to achieve chess mastery. And I don't just mean by writing your own column.

November 7, 2017

Jerome Powell nominated by Trump to replace Yellen as Federal Reserve chief

The disrupter in chief decided to stay very much inside the box with one of his biggest economic appointments as President Trump confirmed Thursday that he was nominating Federal Reserve insider and monetary moderate Jerome Powell as the next chairman of the nation's central bank.

November 2, 2017

Tricks lead to chess treats as lost souls rise from the dead

In this week of Halloween and All Souls' Day, we honor those who use tricks to get treats, who come back from the dead to save a lost position.

October 31, 2017

Russian government, state-backed network slam Twitter ad ban, vow revenge

Russia's Foreign Ministry and a Kremlin-funded news network sharply criticized a decision Thursday by social media site Twitter to block all advertising from the global messaging site.

October 26, 2017