David R. Sands

SANDS: Caruana’s Sinquefield chess win ranks as one for the ages

It ranked a tournament performance for the ages, and that was with three rounds still to go. Italian-American GM Fabiano Caruana opened with seven straight wins to blow away the field at the Sinquefield Cup tournament that wrapped up last week in St. Louis.

September 9, 2014

SANDS: Azarov wins International; China claims Olympiad gold

He came up just short in July's D.C. International in Arlington, but GM Sergei Azarov was not to be denied in this month's third annual Washington International tournament, held across the Potomac in Rockville. The Belarusian star finished alone in first with an undefeated 7-2 score, a full point ahead of a sextet of pursuers: GMs Yaroslav Zherebukh and Ioan Chrila, and IMs Akshat Chandra, Samuel Sevian, Levan Bregadze and Justin Sarkar.

August 19, 2014

SANDS: Alexander Shabalov again savors Open chess tourney success

Twenty-one years after his first Open title, GM Alexander Shabalov was back in the winner's circle earlier this month, sharing the honors with five other players at the 115th U.S. Open tournament in Orlando, Florida. Inferior tiebreakers kept the Latvian-born Mr. Shabalov from contending for the trophy, won by GM Conrad Holt in a blitz playoff over IM Michael Mulyar, but the result extends a remarkable career in which Mr. Shabalov has won or shared five Open titles to go along with four Closed national championships.

August 12, 2014

SANDS: American chess teams stumble as Olympiad kicks off

After easy wins in the first two rounds, the U.S. team suffered a painful setback in Round 3 of the 41st biennial Olympiad that got underway late last week in the northern Norwegian city of Tromso.

August 5, 2014

SANDS: Song soars with dramatic Cadet chess victory

It came down to one game for all the marbles in the final round of the U.S. Cadet Championship in Rockville, Maryland, last week, with co-leaders Edward Song of Michigan and Kapil Chandran of Connecticut paired against each other.

July 29, 2014

SANDS: Cadets battle as D.C. summer chess scene heats up

With the D.C. International and the World Open just behind us, and a slew of events underway and on the way, the Washington area is emerging as one of the nation's premier summer hot spots for top-flight chess.

July 22, 2014

SANDS: Winners take three paths to the top at the 42nd World Chess Open

There are many paths to world domination. The 42nd World Open, held earlier this month at the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City, produced a three-way tie at the top, with GMs Ilya Smirin of Israel, Illya Nyzhnyk of Ukraine and Conrad Holt sharing the honors in the Open section with 7-2 scores. Smirin would claim the official title after a playoff.

July 15, 2014

SANDS: Ortiz Suarez wins D.C., Smirin wins the World

It sometimes gets billed as the "warm-up" to the World Open, but the D.C. International Tournament doesn't have to accept second billing to any other event these days.

July 8, 2014

SANDS: Fourth time a charm as Troff captures U.S. junior chess title

America's newest grandmaster is also its 2014 junior champion.

July 1, 2014

SANDS: Campaigning and competing on Capitol Hill

Appropriately, there was a lot of lobbying, some politicking and a little competing at the first public meeting of the Congressional Chess Caucus last week, held in a committee room at the House Rayburn Office Building.

June 25, 2014

SANDS: Kasparov, new caucus mark first congressional chess tourney

There will be some bipartisanship at the board this week on Capitol Hill, as the newly hatched Congressional Chess Caucus on Wednesday, June 18 hosts the inaugural Congressional Chess Tournament, with former world champion Garry Kasparov on hand to enforce the touch-move rule.

June 17, 2014

SANDS: Sometimes a chess queen is too powerful for her own good

As the great chess theorem we just invented puts it: More power, more problems.

June 10, 2014

SANDS: As chess player and teacher, Velimirovic made his mark

Great players leave a double legacy — the games they play and the players they influence. One can see that in spades in the career of the fine Serbian GM Dragoljub Velimirovic, who passed away late last month at the age of 72.

June 4, 2014

SANDS: In the end, Kamsky, Krush repeat as U.S. chess champions

They made it interesting for the longest time, but in the end it was the favorites raising the trophies at last week's U.S. national championship tournaments at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

May 27, 2014

SANDS: Kamsky, Krush win playoffs for U.S. chess titles

Favorites GM Gata Kamsky and GM Irina Krush have repeated as U.S. men's and women's champions, with both winning three-way playoffs at the U.S. title tournaments in St. Louis Tuesday afternoon.

May 20, 2014

SANDS: Chess is a war game devastated by war

Chess is a war game that doesn't do well in wartime.

May 13, 2014

SANDS: Carlsen continues mastery of Nakamura at Gashimov Memorial chess tournament

History suggests you can win a world championship without having beaten the world champion before.

May 6, 2014

SANDS: A big loss for the D.C. chess community

The Washington chess community suffered a big loss last month with the sudden passing of Life Master Bill Mason at the much-too-young age of 49.

April 30, 2014

SANDS: Fields set for next month’s U.S. championship chess tourneys

U.S. No. 1 Hikaru Nakamura won't be there this year, but it will still be a strong field for next month's U.S. Chess Championship, to be held at its familiar home at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

April 22, 2014

SANDS: High-powered Webster claims second straight college chess crown

In college football, the big names include Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame. In college chess, the big names on campus are the likes of Webster University, Texas Tech and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

April 15, 2014