David R. Sands

North Korea’s ICBM threatens Alaska, East Asia power balance

It was a Fourth of July firework that President Trump once vowed would never get off the ground, but the intercontinental Hwasong-14 missile launched Tuesday by North Korea has the potential to alter permanently the balance of power in East Asia.

July 4, 2017

A modern take on the ancient art of king-hunting in chess

"To me, the term 'king hunt' invariably conjures up an image of a bygone era, when chess was played over coffee and cigars at the Cafe de la Regence," U.S. GM Daniel Naroditsky wrote on chess.com. Modern chess, by contrast, "is all about gritty defense and precise calculation, and such lopsided displays of attacking mastery are exceedingly rare."

June 27, 2017

Levon Aronian, Armenian GM, wins year’s strongest chess tourney

Levon ain't leavin'. Armenian GM Levon Aronian has long been one of the world's best players, leading his small country to three Olympiad gold medals and reaching No. 2 in the world rankings.

June 21, 2017

James Hodgkinson friends abandon Facebook page, Yelp reviews hit his business

The Facebook page of the suspected shooter in Wednesday's rampage in Alexandria, Virginia, was steadily losing "friends" as news about the shooting mounted.

June 14, 2017

Friends abandon Facebook page of shooting suspect, Yelp reviews hit his business

The Facebook page of the suspected shooter in Wednesday's rampage in Alexandria, Virginia, was steadily losing "friends" as news about the shooting mounted.

June 14, 2017

Levon Aronian stuns Magnus Carlsen at high-powered chess tournament

Yogi Berra once described a restaurant as so popular that "no one goes there anymore." Today, we have a game with a sacrificial idea so popular, you never see it anymore -- at least at the very top levels.

June 13, 2017

Fox, CNN can’t even agree on Comey testimony countdown

Somebody's putting out some fake news, or at least needs to reset their watches.

June 7, 2017

Masterpieces in a minor key — the joys of positional chess

As the great Franco-Polish master Savielly Tartakower reportedly observed, "Tactics is what you do when there is something to do; strategy is what you do when there is nothing to do."

June 6, 2017

Ding Liren, Wei Yi point to bright future for China in chess

The Soviets once dominated the game, the Americans now have the biggest collection of superstars, but the future of chess may belong to China.

May 30, 2017

Martial art: How real warriors fare at the chessboard

It's the world's greatest war game, but that doesn't mean that generals and admirals are natural stars at chess.

May 25, 2017

Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s new president, faces U.S. diplomatic test

As a candidate for president, Moon Jae-in sought to end a decade of conservative dominance of South Korean politics by telling voters he would be a leader who could "say no to America."

May 9, 2017

Putin proves a lonely host for Russia’s latest ‘Victory Day’ celebration

Russia's international isolation was on vivid display Tuesday as just one foreign leader -- the president of Moldova -- joined Russian President Vladimir Putin to witness the Victory Day parade marking the 72nd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

May 9, 2017

Baden-Baden rolls through powerful German chess league

Smells like team spirit in the chess world these days. Spring is the traditional season for team chess competition finals, with national leagues competing or just concluding play in Russia, China, England, Switzerland and Italy, among other locales.

May 9, 2017

Moon Jae-in claims win in South Korean presidential vote as rivals concede

Liberal human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in looked set to end a decade of conservative dominance in South Korea as his two main rivals conceded with the votes still being counted in Tuesday's snap presidential election.

May 9, 2017

Power play: A history of the world in the chessboard’s 64 squares

There's a doctoral dissertation to be written on the correlation between chess mastery and political supremacy.

May 2, 2017

For America’s busy chess stars, no rest for the weary

Time was when the world's greatest players could go for a good long spell without doing battle against their peers. Elite events, where the entire field consisted of the best of the best, tended to be held months, even years apart, taking on legendary status in shorthand like Hastings 1895, New York 1924 or Moscow 1935.

April 25, 2017

Arthur Bisguier, a tireless ambassador for chess, dies at 87

American chess lost one of the good guys with the passing of GM Arthur Bisguier at the age of 87 on April 5.

April 18, 2017

Wesley So, Sabina-Francesca Foisor emerge as champions in unpredictable U.S. chess title fight

With his top rivals falling by the wayside, GM Wesley So held off an unexpected challenge to claim his first U.S. national championship Monday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

April 11, 2017

GM Wesley So captures first U.S. chess championship in tense playoff

With his top rivals falling by the wayside, GM Wesley So held off an unexpected challenger to claim his first U.S. national championship Monday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

April 10, 2017

Iran sees ‘cover-up,’ ‘bogus allegations’ in U.S. missile strike against ally Syria

Despite Iran's own history as the victim of a mass chemical gas attack by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, top officials in Tehran on Friday condemned President Trump's punitive missile strike against Syria over its suspected use of chemical weapons against the regime's enemies, accusing Washington of hypocrisy and deception.

April 7, 2017