David R. Sands
Articles by David R. Sands
Chess a tough game for tough times in Venezuela, Syria
Just last month, two countries facing some pretty challenging times -- Syria and Venezuela -- managed not only to hold their national chess title tournaments but to produce some intriguing, dynamic games in the process. Published May 15, 2019
Putin’s Crimea adventure proves economic loser
Russian President Vladimir Putin's annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 is proving a loser for the Russian economy, costing at least $30 billion annually in lost business, subsidies and a worsening investment climate, a top analyst said Monday. Published May 13, 2019
Fifty-plus is the new No. 1 as U.S. captures senior chess team gold
Our oldies are goodies. Justifying their top seeding, the U.S. 50-and-over squad took clear first in last month's World Senior Teams Championship in Rhodes, Greece. The team won eight of nine matches in the 26-team competition, conceding only one drawn match with Iceland. Published May 7, 2019
FIDE’s (latest) updated chess title match rules — there’s a lot to like
For such a supposedly cerebral, analytical game, chess has had the darnedest time over the centuries trying to figure out one basic question: Who's the best player in the world? Published April 30, 2019
Maduro denounces ‘coup’ in Venezuela, claims military support
Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro claimed Tuesday the country's military is sticking with him and vowed to crush what he called a coup attempt by U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido. Published April 30, 2019
Vladimir Putin to go stag to World War II celebration as no foreign leader coming
Russia said Monday that none of President Vladimir Putin's peers will be on hand for this year's Victory Day celebration marking the Soviet Union's part in the victory over Nazi Germany. Published April 29, 2019
Chessgate debunked: Mueller finds no collusion in Trump-FIDE ‘ties’
Talk about burying the lede -- or at least the footnote. The "mainstream media" may be afraid to report it, but we can reliably pass on here that chess played a major cameo role in special counsel Robert Mueller's magisterial/hopelessly biased report/witch hunt into the Trump-Russiagate scandal/hoax. (Hey, chessplayers watch both Fox and MSNBC.) Published April 23, 2019
In taxing times, a tip of the eyeshade to accountant chess stars
On this, their Super Bowl Week, let's hear it for the accountants. And while no CPA ever won the world chess title, some came very close. Published April 16, 2019
Assange, Stalin score high in Russian polls
Detained WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and deceased Soviet dictator Josef Stalin have something in common -- both score well in new Russian opinion polls released Tuesday. Published April 16, 2019
Emmanuel Macron on Notre Dame fire: ‘Worst has been avoided’
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday night that "the worst has been avoided, but the battle has not been fully won," as he briefed the nation on the fire that engulfed the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Published April 15, 2019
Assange won’t face death penalty if extradited: Ecuador president
Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno on Thursday defended his decision to lift the protections that prevented British police from arresting Julian Assange, but said in a video that he had also received assurances in writing from the U.K. government that the WikiLeaks founder would not be extradited to a country where he might face torture or the death penalty. Published April 11, 2019
Rio Grande Valley again the toast of Texas with chess Final Four repeat
It seems the valiant Texas Tech Red Raiders came up just short against my Virginia Cavaliers in the men's college basketball, but another Lone Star State college Cinderella managed to dance the final triumphant dance this week. Published April 9, 2019
Veteran Hikaru Nakamura, newcomer Jennifer Yu take top honors at U.S. chess title tourneys
"Yu be Yu" proved a winning formula as WGM Jennifer Yu, of Ashburn, Virginia, scored a sensational 10-1 to claim her first U.S. women's national title. The 17-year-old Yu was so dominant that she clinched the title at the Chess Club of St. Louis with a round to spare last week, besting an exceptionally strong field by 2 1/2 . Published April 2, 2019
Chess champs take it on the chin in U.S. title fights
It's never easy taking down the champ, as the play in the U.S. open and women's national championships now at the midway point at the Chess Club of St. Louis amply demonstrates. Published March 26, 2019
In anti-racist statement, chess champs let Black move first
World chess champion Magnus Carlsen and Dutch rival Anish Giri are marking a U.N. international campaign against racism by playing a game in which -- contrary to the longstanding rules of the game -- the player with the black pieces made the first move. Published March 22, 2019
Max Judd’s unlikely journey from Krakow to the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame
For a prime example of how immigrants have enriched the American chess scene, look no further than the remarkable career of one Maximilian Judkiewicz, one of three inductees into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame this week. Published March 19, 2019
British Parliament decisively rejects May’s Brexit deal to leave European Union
The British House of Commons Tuesday evening again decisively rejected a plan by Prime Minister Theresa May to take the U.K. out of the European Union, leaving the country with no clear path forward with a March 29 deadline to negotiate a deal. Published March 12, 2019
Youth is served, elders dissed at St. Louis chess tourney
The late, great D.C. city champion Oscar Shapiro, who was still playing in weekend tournaments into his 90s, once explained his strategy against hotshot players on the rise: "Beat 'em when they're young," he once said. "They only get better." Published March 12, 2019
A chess life in a library, a biography on a bookshelf
Like the rings on a fallen oak or the scars on an athlete's knee, one could almost tell a person's life story from the books in their chess library. Published March 5, 2019
Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un summit ends early with no deal
President Trump's second denuclearization summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fell apart Thursday in a dispute over lifting economic sanctions, cutting short two days of talks aimed at dismantling Pyongyang's weapons program. Published February 28, 2019
