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David R. Sands

David R. Sands

dsands@washingtontimes.com

David R. Sands covered numerous beats, including international trade, banking, politics and Capitol Hill, and spent eight years on the foreign desk as senior diplomatic correspondent. He has authored The Times' weekly chess column since 1993.

Articles by David R. Sands

SANDS: Kamsky, Krush hold lead in U.S. chess title chase

Top seeds GM Gata Kamsky and IM Irina Krush are setting the early pace at the U.S. men's and women's championships that got underway Friday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, with each posting three wins in their first three games.

May 7, 2013
Specialists Devin Cryan (left) and Gabriel Freytes wear a "Dow 15,000" hats as they work at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on May 3, 2013. A big gain in the job market lifted the stock market to a record high. The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 15,000 for the first time, and the Standard and Poor's 500 index, a broader market measure, rose above 1,600. (Associated Press)

Dow cracks 15,000 mark after jobs report

Wall Street rocketed into record territory Friday after the government released its latest jobs report, with the Dow Jones index of 30 top stocks cracking the 15,000 mark for the first time in history. Stocks retreated later in the day, but still posted a record closing price of 14,973.96, up 142.38 points or 0.96 percent.

May 3, 2013

SANDS: Top chess players in action at home and abroad

It's an embarrassment of riches for a chess journalist these days, with not one but two major tournaments in progress across the pond and the U.S. championships gearing up to start in St. Louis later this week.

April 30, 2013
Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, speaks with the media outside his home in Montgomery Village, Md., on April, 19, 2013. (Associated Press)

Ruslan Tsarni says nephews Dzhokhar and Tamerlan are ‘losers’

The Maryland uncle for the two brothers suspected in Monday's Boston Marathon bombing angrily denounced his nephews as "losers" who failed to assimilate into American society, while saying it was a "fraud" to suggest their Islamic faith was to blame the attack.

April 19, 2013
The FBI has released a clearer image of Suspect No 2 in the Boston bombings, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, age 19. (Courtesy of the FBI)

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev talked of Islamic faith: Moscow paper

Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev said on his Russian social media page that his world view was "Islam," while his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev talked about being "very religious" and complained there "are no values anymore," according to an English-language Russian newspaper.

April 19, 2013
(Associated Press)

Thatcher blazed trails around the world

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was famous for her uncompromising political style and unapologetic embrace of bedrock British middle-class values. "The lady's not for turning," she once famously remarked in a political debate.

April 8, 2013
**FILE** A sign marks Wall Street in New York. (Associated Press)

Markets fall on jobs report

The major U.S. stock markets headed down sharply Friday morning on the news that the economy added only 88,000 jobs in March, despite the official unemployment rate ticking down 0.1 percentage point to a four-year low of 7.6 percent.

April 5, 2013

Norwegian star Carlsen wins slot in chess world title match

Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen of Norway qualified for a match for the world chess championship Monday, narrowly winning the candidates tournament featuring eight of the world's best players in London. The 22-year-old chess superstar, the highest-rated player in the world, will take on reigning champ Viswanathan Anand of India in a one-on-one match later this year.

April 1, 2013

SANDS: Carlsen sets the pace in candidates chess tournament

World No. 1 GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway is the leader at the half-post in the FIDE Candidates Tournament now under way in London. Co-leader Levon Aronian suffered his first loss of the event in Monday's Round 9 against Israel GM Boris Gelfand, leaving Carlsen alone in first by a half-point in the double round-robin event.

March 26, 2013

SANDS: Aronian grabs the early lead in London challenger chess tourney

With wins over Israeli Boris Gelfand and Ukraine’s Vassily Ivanchuk in successive rounds, world No. 3 Levon Aronian is the early leader in the FIDE candidates’ tournament that kicked off Friday in London. Aronian held a half-point lead over top-seeded Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Russian GM Peter Svidler, both at 2-1, going into Monday’s first rest day.

March 19, 2013

SANDS: Brilliant win, brilliant loss a round apart at chess championship

Chinese WGM Ju Wenjun starred in both roles — in consecutive rounds — at the FIDE Women’s World Teams Championship now wrapping up in Astana, Kazakhstan. The event has attracted the 10 strongest female squads in the world for a round-robin championship. Big losses to the Chinese and Georgians have left the American women on the outside looking in, although they did bounce back Sunday with a 2½-1½ upset of the powerful Russian women’s team.

March 12, 2013