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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

(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

SANDS: Old-fashioned pleasures of a rattling good chess attack

Shelves of books — and reams of columns — have been written on the importance of positional play, the variety of pawn structures, the art of the endgame and the subtleties of the 16...a6 line of the Nimzo-Peloponnesian Benko Gambit Reversed. But in their heart of hearts, even the most sophisticated players would prefer to execute a rattling good attack leading to neat checkmate.

February 12, 2013
**FILE** A sign marks Wall Street in New York. (Associated Press)

Wall Street greets jobless increase with new rally

U.S. stock markets shrugged off an uptick in the national employment rate, with the Dow Jones Industrial Index crossing the 14,000 mark for the first time since 2007 in early trading Friday. The Dow fell back below that benchmark later in the morning, but was still up more than 100 points, or nearly 1 percent.

February 1, 2013

SANDS: Carlsen steamrolls elite chess field in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Not since the days of Thor has a Norwegian wielded such a mighty hammer. Obliterating a world-class field, Norway superstar GM Magnus Carlsen has taken the first major tournament of the year, winning the elite Tata Steel “A” Tournament with a stunning 10-3 score, matching the record total for the event set by former world champion and onetime Carlsen coach Garry Kasparov.

January 29, 2013

SANDS: Wijk aan Zee presents Dutch bounty of chess action

Like one of those busy Pieter Bruegel peasant harvest paintings that seem to be breaking out of the frame, the annual blowout Tata Steel Tournament at the Dutch coastal city of Wijk aan Zee features an almost overflowing bounty of chess. There's a huge nine-round Swiss event for amateurs, a seven-round rapid tournament and, of course, three -- count 'em, three -- 14-player invitational round-robin tournaments in which the weakest "C" tournament boasts six grandmasters and an average rating of over 2460.

January 22, 2013