David R. Sands
Articles by David R. Sands
Virginia puts on a show as Alex Lenderman takes U.S. Open Chess Championship
The first U.S. Open to be held in Virginia in 20 years proved a well-run affair that produced a worthy chess champion. With wins in the last two rounds over 2016 Open champ GM Alex Shabalov and rising Texas junior star GM Li Ruifeng over the weekend, New York GM Alex Lenderman captured his third Open title (he was co-champ in 2009 and outright winner six years ago in Orlando) with an undefeated 8-1 score at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel. Published August 9, 2017
Natalia Veselnitskaya, Russian lawyer, gives her account of fateful Donald Trump Jr. meeting
The Russian lawyer whose June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and other top Trump campaign officials has become a prime focus of the Russian election collusion probe is denying the meeting involved Hillary Clinton or the U.S. campaign, adding the congressional probes into the scandal are not interested in hearing her side of the story. Published August 4, 2017
Millennial meltdown: Young U.S. chess stars suffer beatdown
They won't be "liking" this on Facebook or boasting about it on Snapchat. We'll keep the fuddy-duddy jokes to a minimum, but there could be some real soul-searching after the disappointing performance of a team of top young American stars at the just-completed "Match of the Millennials" at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis. Published August 1, 2017
Magnus Carlsen to play knockout; Awonder Liang a wonder in U.S. chess juniors
This could be fun. The news broke Monday that world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway has agreed to play in September's FIDE World Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia, the 128-player knockout scrum in which players must win two-game minimatches to advance. Published July 25, 2017
Chess in Philly at the World Open — a July 4 tradition
What better way to celebrate the nation's birthday and show one's patriotic spirit than to stare at a chessboard deep into the evening in the ballroom of the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown hotel? Published July 12, 2017
Raymond Tshibanda, Congo envoy, sees election hurdles
Congolese President Joseph Kabila wants to organize overdue elections to pick a successor by the end of the year, but outsiders should not underestimate the logistical hurdles the country faces in trying to secure a fair vote, a top adviser to Mr. Kabila said in an interview. Published July 9, 2017
Daniel Yanofsky was a pioneer for chess in Canada
Happy Independence Day -- Canada! As America marked its 241st birthday Tuesday, our neighbors to the north are celebrated a much bigger milestone. It was the sesquicentennial of the founding of Canada, marking that memorable day on July 1, 1867, when (um, according to Wikipedia) the British Parliament voted to sweep the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario into the newly formed Dominion of Canada. Published July 6, 2017
North Korea’s ICBM threatens Alaska, East Asia power balance
It was a Fourth of July firework that President Trump once vowed would never get off the ground, but the intercontinental Hwasong-14 missile launched Tuesday by North Korea has the potential to alter permanently the balance of power in East Asia. Published July 4, 2017
A modern take on the ancient art of king-hunting in chess
"To me, the term 'king hunt' invariably conjures up an image of a bygone era, when chess was played over coffee and cigars at the Cafe de la Regence," U.S. GM Daniel Naroditsky wrote on chess.com. Modern chess, by contrast, "is all about gritty defense and precise calculation, and such lopsided displays of attacking mastery are exceedingly rare." Published June 27, 2017
Levon Aronian, Armenian GM, wins year’s strongest chess tourney
Levon ain't leavin'. Armenian GM Levon Aronian has long been one of the world's best players, leading his small country to three Olympiad gold medals and reaching No. 2 in the world rankings. Published June 21, 2017
James Hodgkinson friends abandon Facebook page, Yelp reviews hit his business
The Facebook page of the suspected shooter in Wednesday's rampage in Alexandria, Virginia, was steadily losing "friends" as news about the shooting mounted. Published June 14, 2017
Friends abandon Facebook page of shooting suspect, Yelp reviews hit his business
The Facebook page of the suspected shooter in Wednesday's rampage in Alexandria, Virginia, was steadily losing "friends" as news about the shooting mounted. Published June 14, 2017
Levon Aronian stuns Magnus Carlsen at high-powered chess tournament
Yogi Berra once described a restaurant as so popular that "no one goes there anymore." Today, we have a game with a sacrificial idea so popular, you never see it anymore -- at least at the very top levels. Published June 13, 2017
Fox, CNN can’t even agree on Comey testimony countdown
Somebody's putting out some fake news, or at least needs to reset their watches. Published June 7, 2017
Masterpieces in a minor key — the joys of positional chess
As the great Franco-Polish master Savielly Tartakower reportedly observed, "Tactics is what you do when there is something to do; strategy is what you do when there is nothing to do." Published June 6, 2017
Ding Liren, Wei Yi point to bright future for China in chess
The Soviets once dominated the game, the Americans now have the biggest collection of superstars, but the future of chess may belong to China. Published May 30, 2017
Martial art: How real warriors fare at the chessboard
It's the world's greatest war game, but that doesn't mean that generals and admirals are natural stars at chess. Published May 25, 2017
Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s new president, faces U.S. diplomatic test
As a candidate for president, Moon Jae-in sought to end a decade of conservative dominance of South Korean politics by telling voters he would be a leader who could "say no to America." Published May 9, 2017
Putin proves a lonely host for Russia’s latest ‘Victory Day’ celebration
Russia's international isolation was on vivid display Tuesday as just one foreign leader -- the president of Moldova -- joined Russian President Vladimir Putin to witness the Victory Day parade marking the 72nd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Published May 9, 2017
Baden-Baden rolls through powerful German chess league
Smells like team spirit in the chess world these days. Spring is the traditional season for team chess competition finals, with national leagues competing or just concluding play in Russia, China, England, Switzerland and Italy, among other locales. Published May 9, 2017
