David R. Sands

SANDS: U.S.’s Seirawan shines in world team matches

Some of the top stars of the game are in action in events around the globe this week, but the best performance could be that turned in by a player who hasn't been a factor on the world stage for more than a decade.

July 26, 2011

SANDS: Shen edges Bodek for Cadet Championship

The University of Maryland at Baltimore County chess powerhouse has another strong recruit in the pipeline. New Jersey junior master Arthur Shen is the new U.S. cadet champion, edging New York master Michael Bodek on tiebreaks last week at the invitational tournament in Crossville, Tenn., for the top American players younger than 16 last week. Shen, whose elder brother Victor participated in the event two years ago, wins a full ride to UMBC for his victory.

July 19, 2011

SANDS: Kamsky rules World, winning blitz playoff

First the U.S., now the world. With 2 1/2 points in the final three rounds, reigning U.S. national champion Gata Kamsky surged into a tie for first with English GM Michael Adams in the 39th annual World Open that wrapped up in Philadelphia last week. The New York GM then won a blitz playoff to snag bragging honors as the two former top-five grandmasters shared the $28,800 first prize.

July 15, 2011

SANDS: Tourney win is return to form for Morozevich

In a welcome return to form for one of the world's most dynamic players, Russian GM Alexander Morozevich last month won the Russian Higher League Championship in Taganrog, Russia, earning a slot in the national championships to be held next month.

July 5, 2011

SANDS: Juniors, seniors mix it up crazily at the board

One more great thing about chess is that one can play the game irrationally at any age. Today's wild and woolly games come from the opposite ends of the chronological spectrum: a crazy back-and-forth affair from the recent Virginia State Senior Championship in Alexandria and an even more bizarre selection from the just-concluded U.S. Junior Championship in St. Louis, a game that featured seven passed pawns and six queens.

June 28, 2011

Key GOP lawmaker slams administration labor plan

The chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee harshly attacked on Tuesday proposed new rules from the National Labor Relations Board designed to drastically shorten the period workers have to consider a vote to join a union.

June 21, 2011

SANDS: Recapping Reshevsky’s victories 38 years apart

He long has labored under the reputation as a cautious counterpuncher, a defensive specialist, so the 100th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Reshevsky, one of the greatest American players of all time, hasn't gotten the attention it should.

June 21, 2011

Obama, Boehner set for Saturday golf outing

Unlike, say, ping-pong with China and wrestling with Iran, golf doesn't have much of a track record as a sport for bringing longtime adversaries together — which only adds another level of intrigue to Saturday's long-anticipated round between President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner.

June 16, 2011

SANDS: Cheating via computer charged, under review

Cheaters never prosper — at least not all the time. The arrival of supercalculating chess programs has brought with it a rash of incidents of cheating in chess, with players and their confederates consulting with programs at critical points in games in hopes of gaining an edge.

June 14, 2011

SANDS: Anand smokes Shirov in Spain

World champion Viswanathan Anand won a tournament and sent a message last week with his 4 1/2-1 1/2 rapid-match triumph over Spanish GM Alexei Shirov in the 24th annual Masters Tournament in the Spanish city of Leon.

June 7, 2011

SANDS: Dogged Gelfand wins shot at title in 2012

He's is generally considered to be just outside the circle of the game's very elite, but Israeli GM Boris Gelfand has always been what they call in baseball a "tough out."

May 31, 2011

SANDS: Challengers prove quick on the draw

The plague of draws continues as FIDE candidates-match finalists Alexander Grischuk of Russia and Boris Gelfand of Israel battle for the right to take on reigning champion Viswanathan Anand of India next year for the world title.

May 24, 2011

SANDS: Kamsky knocked out of world contention

American champion Gata Kamsky is out of the world-title hunt, falling 2-0 to Israeli GM Boris Gelfand in a blitz playoff Monday in their FIDE candidates semifinal match in Kazan, Russia. After the two drew all four games at classical time controls, Kamsky won the first rapid playoff game only to see Gelfand bounce back with the black pieces to square things, forcing the blitz playoff.

May 17, 2011

SANDS: Kamsky pulls surprise in world title hunt

Just days after his grueling repeat triumph in the U.S. national championships, Brooklyn GM Gata Kamsky has upset former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria to advance to the semifinal round at the FIDE candidates' matches under way in Kazan, Russia. The survivor of the eight-grandmaster scramble later this month qualifies for a date with reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand in a 12-game title match in the first half of 2012.

May 10, 2011

SANDS: Familiar faces capture national, women’s titles

There were some upstart contenders banging on the door, but in the end, it was a pair of familiar names at the top of the wall chart at the U.S. national and women's championships, which finished up last week at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

May 3, 2011

SANDS: Kamsky first to land spot in men’s final

New York GM Gata Kamsky, the reigning national champion, was the first through to this year's U.S. Championship final, defeating young challenger GM-elect Sam Shankland 1 1/2- 1/2 in their semifinal match over the weekend at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

April 26, 2011

SANDS: GM-elect Shankland sets pace in St. Louis

The action already is intense at the 2011 U.S. Championship tournament, which kicked off play Friday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis. Two dozen of the country's top players, including defending champ GM Gata Kamsky, are in the hunt, with a two-game championship match between the two top finishers to be held April 26 and 27.

April 19, 2011

SANDS: How Texas Tech crashed the party

The first one is always the hardest -- and the sweetest. As we reported last week, Texas Tech is the new king of college chess, dethroning longtime powerhouses University of Texas-Dallas and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in the college game's Final Four earlier this month in Herndon.

April 12, 2011