David R. Sands
Articles by David R. Sands
No generation gap at ‘Legends of Chess’ fight
The old guys are playing with some real youthful verve. The Chess24 Legends of Chess knockout tournament, which wraps up this week, is the last of four online rapid events being played this summer featuring world champion Magnus Carlsen and some other top players. The top finishers from the four events will compete next month in the Grand Final. Published July 28, 2020
Sammy Reshevsky’s prodigious chess debut, 100 years ago
It was a century ago that a remarkable American chess career was launched. It was in late 1920 that a diminutive 8-year-old prodigy from Lodz, Poland, named Szmul Rzeszewski made the journey across the Atlantic with his parents. Published July 21, 2020
Nothing minor in musicians’ love for chess
At the risk of getting that insanely catchy theme from "The Good, the Bad and The Ugly" stuck in your head again, we can't let the recent passing of Italian film composer Ennio Morricone go by without flagging his intense lifelong love affair with chess. Published July 14, 2020
Conservative play nearly backfires for champ in chess final
They say in football that the only thing a "prevent defense" does is prevent you from winning. Sitting on an early lead by playing it safe is as hard to do on the chessboard as on the gridiron. The just-completed rapid online Chessable Masters had a familiar result -- Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen won -- but the reigning world champ created all kinds of problems for himself trying to hold off Dutch rival GM Anish Giri with conservative play in the finale. Published July 7, 2020
The World Open is shut down, but a few venture back to the chessboard
The logic is impeccable but no less melancholy for that: It's hard to hold a World Open when the whole world is closed. Published June 30, 2020
There was more than a bind to Geza Maroczy’s chess brilliance
Even the greats can get pigeonholed. Hungarian star Geza Maroczy, born 150 years ago this year, was pegged early on as a defensive wizard who could grind out the wins but one who rarely trafficked in attacking brilliance. In fact, he's perhaps best remembered today for the "Maroczy bind," a dreaded pawn clamp on the center that slowly asphyxiates an unwary opponent. Published June 23, 2020
Flimflam and the art of the swindle at the chessboard
For many American chess fans, the history of the chess swindle begins and ends with Frank Marshall. The longtime U.S. champ was famous for his uncanny ability to salvage lost games, bamboozling an overconfident opponent with tactical or psychological tricks. Published June 16, 2020
Daniil Dubov wins Lindores Abbey chess tourney
Alvin Clarence "Titanic" Thompson, a fine golfer and an even more legendary hustler, was famed for running a con in which he would torture a poor mark on the golf course by winning several holes and keeping up an insulting line of patter as he did so. Published June 9, 2020
Hikaru Nakamura knocks off Magnus Carlsen in knockout chess clash
World champion Magnus Carlsen, for the first time in the post-pandemic lockdown era, fell in the semifinals of the 16-player Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge last week to U.S. GM Hikaru Nakamura. Carlsen, who had won everything in sight since top-level chess migrated online with the coronavirus crisis, did not go down without a fight. Published June 2, 2020
Peeling back the legend, Mir Sultan Khan remains an amazing chess story
The amazing chess career of Mir Sultan Khan becomes even more amazing once you get the facts right. Published May 26, 2020
Wolf Trap scrubs entire summer concert series for first time in history
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts said Friday it will go entirely dark this summer, canceling all concerts at its Vienna, Va., site for the first time in its nearly 50-year history. Published May 22, 2020
A chess masterpiece that falters at the finish line
Can a work of art be truly great if it has a terrible ending? In chess, too, we search out games that feature brilliant conclusions, with fiery tactics or subtle positional concepts that provide a satisfying finale. Published May 19, 2020
China nips U.S. in chess battle royale at Online Nations Cup
In yet more proof that real life is just a metaphor for chess, consider the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup that ended Sunday. Published May 13, 2020
Magnus Carlsen wins inaugural Magnus Carlsen Invitational, first chess event of the lockdown era
Soccer has been described as a sport in which two teams kick a ball around a field for 90 minutes and then Germany wins. Chess is facing a similar dynamic. It's a game in which great players clash over a 64-square battlefield and then Magnus Carlsen wins. Published May 5, 2020
Canada bans AR-15s and similar weapons in wake of Nova Scotia shooting spree
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a sweeping nationwide ban on the use and selling of assault-style weapons Friday, acting aggressively in the wake of a killing spree last month in Nova Scotia that left the gunman and 22 people dead. Published May 1, 2020
Anish Giri turns chess tables on Magnus Carlsen
Nobody in our quarantined, social distancing world knows what day it is anymore, but the "Any given Sunday" adage apparently still applies to online chess. Published April 28, 2020
Top stars RSVP for Magnus Carlsen’s pop-up chess invitational
The world's elite chess players, whose training and competition schedules are often plotted a year or more in advance, are proving to be a surprisingly flexible lot facing the enforced idleness of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Published April 21, 2020
Pompeo says China’s virus failings will hurt Huawei
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo predicted Friday that China's failures in dealing with the COVID-19 global pandemic that began within its borders will be a major factor as countries around the world weigh whether to use Chinese high-tech giant Huawei in their next-generation 5G national data networks. Published April 17, 2020
Putin postpones giant WWII 75th anniversary celebrations in Red Square
Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing a surging number of COVID-19 cases across the country, said Thursday a planned massive Red Square celebration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II would have to be postponed. Published April 16, 2020
Online or in the mail, chess stays in the game
It's going to take more than a deadly global pandemic to shut down the game we love. While over-the-board tournaments may be on hold, there's still plenty of chess being played, whether by humans over the internet or by coronavirus-immune machines. Published April 14, 2020
