David R. Sands
Articles by David R. Sands
Donald Trump loses battle to block wind farm near golf course in Scotland
He held his own in Tuesday's Republican debate but GOP front-runner Donald Trump was the clear loser after Britain's top court ruled Wednesday an 11-turbine wind farm can be built near his pricey luxury golf course on the coast of Scotland. Published December 16, 2015
DAVID R. SANDS: With victory in London, Magnus Carlsen wins chess Grand Tour
World champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway has won the last major event of the year, taking the 7th annual London Chess Classic, the third and final leg of the FIDE Grand Tour events, in a two-game rapid playoff over French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The playoff came after Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave and Dutch GM Anish Giri finished in a three-way tie for first at 5-3. Published December 15, 2015
DAVID R. SANDS: Things slow to heat up as top chess GMs battle in London
Like boxers feeling each other out in the early stages of the fight, the world's top grandmasters were not exactly mixing it up in the first rounds of the 7th London Classic, now approaching the midpoint in the British capital. Published December 9, 2015
Venezuela vote may doom lucrative Russian arms deals
Russian defense officials fear that Venezuela's parliamentary elections Sunday, which resulted in an overwhelming win for the opposition, may be costing them one of their best customers. Published December 9, 2015
U.S. church collecting supplies for Ukrainian fighters
A Washington-area Ukrainian Catholic Church will be setting up an unusual table at its annual Christmas bazaar this weekend -- a collection point for supplies for Ukrainian troops battling Russian-backed separatists in the old country. Published December 8, 2015
Markets surge on jobs report, dismiss rate hike fears
Wall Street seized on another strong U.S. jobs report and appeared to shrug off mounting expectations of an imminent interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve, with the Dow Jones index rising 396.96 point, or 2.12 percent, to 17,847.63, for one of its best trading days in three months. Published December 4, 2015
FBI officially investigating San Bernardino shootings as ‘act of terrorism’
The shooting spree by a Muslim couple that killed 14 and seriously wounded 21 Wednesday in San Bernardino, Calif. is officially being investigated as an act of terrorism, the lead FBI investigator in the case said Friday. Published December 4, 2015
New China bank sets ambitious early goals
Having managed to organize and fund itself despite a cool reception from the Obama administration, China's new Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank is setting some ambitious goals as it prepares for its formal opening later this month. Published December 2, 2015
DAVID R. SANDS: Hollywood sparks an unlikely Boris Spassky chess boom
The surprisingly sympathetic portrait in the recent Bobby Fischer biopic "Pawn Sacrifice" has sparked renewed appreciation for the man swept aside by the American dynamo -- star-crossed Russian great Boris Spassky. Published December 1, 2015
IMF promotes China’s yuan to elite basket of currencies
China checked off one of its top priorities as an emerging economic superpower when the International Monetary Fund on Monday announced it will be including the Chinese yuan in the elite basket of world currencies it uses to help finance its work with countries around the world. Published November 30, 2015
DAVID R. SANDS: Fabiano Caruana edges Hikaru Nakamura, but battle for chess supremacy rages
It has proven difficult over the years to get some of America's greatest chess stars to play one another. Published November 24, 2015
DAVID R. SANDS: French win an emotional start to European team chess tourney
It's barely gotten underway, but the European Team Championship in Reykjavik already has featured an emotionally charged win for the French team and a sensational defeat of reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen. Published November 17, 2015
DAVID R. SANDS: Carissa Yip wins silver for U.S. at World Youth chess event
India was the big winner and the U.S. team came home with some hardware but no gold at the just-completed World Youth Class Championships in Halkidiki, Greece. Indian youngsters took home gold medals in five age categories, including a surprise gold for WFM M Mahalakshimi in the Under-18 Girls section. Published November 11, 2015
Robert De Niro may be weighing Russian citizenship
Academy Award-winning U.S. actor Robert De Niro isn't ruling out applying for Russian citizenship, following in the footsteps of such celebrities as French actor Gerard Depardieu and former U.S. heavyweight boxing champ Roy Jones Jr. Published November 11, 2015
DAVID R. SANDS: Felipe El Debs tops field at Washington Chess Congress
There was an unfamiliar name at the top of the leaderboard as GM Felipe El Debs emerged as the sole winner of the second annual Washington Chess Congress last month at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, going 71/2-11/2 in the 47-player Premier section field that included five grandmasters and a number of other titled entrants. Published November 3, 2015
DAVID R. SANDS: Fearsome attacker Emory Tate, a local chess favorite, dies at 56
This column lost a good friend — and a reliable source of Grade-A material — with the untimely passing of IM Emory Tate earlier this month at the age of 56 Published October 27, 2015
DAVID R. SANDS: Bobby Fischer’s priestly second shines in new biopic
The Bobby Fischer biopic "Pawn Sacrifice," which we wrote about here last week, offers another extra kick for the serious chess fan, giving the full Hollywood treatment to one of the American game's most interesting and underappreciated players — William Lombardy, who was Bobby's sorely tried second in the 1972 title match with Spassky in Reykjavik. Published October 20, 2015
Jim Webb raising money off ‘rigged’ CNN Democratic debate
Still fuming over his lack of airtime in Tuesday's CNN-moderated debate, Democratic presidential hopeful Jim Webb is trying to raise campaign cash over what he calls a "rigged" debate. Published October 16, 2015
DAVID R. SANDS: Chess in the dark — should we accept ‘Pawn Sacrifice’?
Watching the new Bobby Fischer movie "Pawn Sacrifice" as a professional writer on chess is an interesting experience. While the rest of the audience was focused on whether Fischer (played by Tobey Maguire) could overcome his personal demons and persecution complex to achieve his dream of greatness, I was far more moved when Fischer was considering whether to take that poisoned pawn with his bishop in the famous Game 1 of his 1972 title match with Boris Spassky. Published October 13, 2015
Asian investors fret over ‘Hillary risk’
She's having enough trouble trying to calm nervous Democrats about the state of her 2016 presidential bid, but now front-runner Hillary Clinton has another constituency that needs reassurance -- Asian financial markets. Published October 13, 2015
