David R. Sands

Battle of the exes — a great game from former chess champs

Way back in the day, it was a very rare sighting: a game pitting two ex-world champions.

October 4, 2016

Thoughts from champ Magnus Carlsen on chess, intuition and fashion

It was the first visit by the world's greatest chess player to the world's most powerful city. After a traditional Norwegian repast of cod and red wine hosted by Ambassador Kare R. Aas last week, world chess champ Magnus Carlsen met with a small group of reporters at the Norwegian Embassy here to talk chess, intuition, fashion, and his upcoming title defense match starting Nov. 11 at the Fulton Market building in Manhattan's Seaport District.

September 27, 2016

North Korea cyber leak exposes reclusive nation’s registered websites — all 28 of them

North Korea does not exactly enjoy a reputation for openness, but this week the regime of Kim Jong-un became the first government in history to reveal every officially registered website operating in the country -- all 28 of them.

September 21, 2016

Eugenio Torre, a tower of strength, taking gold at 42nd Chess Olympiad

It's the ultimate team competition, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a little individual glory to be had at the just-concluded 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.

September 20, 2016

Obama honors celebrity chef Jose Andres who is feuding with Donald Trump

He still isn't welcome at Donald Trump's brand spanking new Trump International Hotel, but celebrity chef Jose Andres will soon be honored at another famous Pennsylvania Avenue address -- the White House.

September 14, 2016

U.S. wins first gold in four decades at chess Olympiad

Add another gold medal to the U.S. haul this summer. The U.S. "Dream Team" came through in the clutch to claim the first American gold medal in 40 years at the 42nd Olympiad that concluded Tuesday in Baku, Azerbaijan.

September 13, 2016

Big chess matches loom as U.S. fights for Olympiad gold

The early rounds of the biennial Olympiad tournament are in the books in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the highly touted Americans have so far avoided stepping on any major landmines.

September 6, 2016

Not waiting for U.S., Canada signs up for Chinese investment bank

The Obama administration increasingly finds itself on the outside looking in as Canadian officials announced Thursday plans to apply for membership in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the first North American country to join the China-founded development bank.

August 31, 2016

Apple’s $14.5 billion tax penalty threatens ‘spirit of economic partnership’ between U.S., EU

Hailed as a breath of fresh air across the Atlantic when he took office eight years ago, President Obama will leave office soon with the state of U.S.-European economic ties in deep crisis.

August 30, 2016

U.S. furious over European Union’s Apple tax ‘money grab’

The Obama administration and key lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday strongly condemned a European Union judgment that U.S. computer giant Apple must pay billions of dollars in back taxes to Ireland because it had received what EU officials deemed "improper" tax breaks over the past decade.

August 30, 2016

Loaded U.S. chess teams in hunt for Olympiad gold

The American squad starts play Thursday in the 42nd Chess Olympiad in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku laboring under an unusual burden -- sky-high expectations.

August 30, 2016

Fashion statement: Ukrainian troops debut post-Soviet uniforms

Ukraine's military has taken its clash with neighboring Russia to a new level, debuting new "Western-style" uniforms that deliberately break with old Soviet sartorial motifs.

August 25, 2016

Elshan Moradiabadi tops global chess field to capture International

An Iranian-born grandmaster, by way of Texas, thriving in suburban Maryland -- was a highly appropriate winner of the fifth annual Washington International Tournament last week.

August 23, 2016

Germans fear more terror attacks over Angela Merkel’s immigration open-door policy: poll

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump calls it an unmitigated disaster for Germany, but Germans themselves are more evenly divided over Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy for migrants seeking to enter the country from Syria, Afghanistan and other world crisis spots.

August 22, 2016

China, Russia to hold South China Sea ‘drills’ next month

Amid rising tensions with the Obama administration and its neighbors across East Asia, China will hold a week of naval drills with Russia in the South China Sea next month, the two countries said Monday.

August 22, 2016

Evan Mawarire, #ThisFlag movement leader, challenges Robert Mugabe’s reign in Zimbabwe

The national flag draped around his shoulders, Zimbabwe's most unlikely dissident said Wednesday that his popular protest movement has already triumphed over the government of authoritarian President Robert Mugabe and outlined plans to turn up the heat against the government in the run-up to elections in 2018.

August 17, 2016

Rising U.S. chess star captures high-powered Sinquefield Cup

It wasn't the biggest payday of his career, but it was easily his biggest win. U.S. GM Wesley So scored his first clear win in a superelite event, taking home the top prize and $75,000 at the 4th Sinquefield Cup tournament at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

August 16, 2016

Woodrow Wilson Center, D.C. think tank, rejects charges of helping spur Turkish coup

The Woodrow Wilson Center, one of Washington's best-known think tanks, is defending itself against charges that it played a role in the failed military coup against the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month.

August 9, 2016

Alex Shabalov, Gil Popilski top the chess field at 117th U.S. Open

It was a popular -- and familiar -- figure atop the final wall chart at the 117th annual U.S. Open, which wrapped up Sunday in Indianapolis.

August 9, 2016

GOP foreign policy experts call Trump unfit to lead

More than four dozen members of the Republican foreign policy establishment, including the former heads of the CIA, World Bank and Department of Homeland Security, have put their names to an open letter saying GOP nominee Donald Trump is unfit and unqualified to serve as president and commander in chief.

August 8, 2016