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David R. Sands

David R. Sands

dsands@washingtontimes.com

David R. Sands covered numerous beats, including international trade, banking, politics and Capitol Hill, and spent eight years on the foreign desk as senior diplomatic correspondent. He has authored The Times' weekly chess column since 1993.

Articles by David R. Sands

Fischer-Bisguier after 33...Re8.

Fischer’s ‘prize’ once again goes unclaimed at U.S. national chess title fight

When it comes to prizes, Alfred Nobel has nothing on Bobby Fischer. Sure, you have to end a war or cure a disease or solve some esoteric problem in particle physics, but it's a sure bet that every year at least six people -- often more -- will get some face-time with the king of Sweden for winning a Nobel. By contrast, the lucrative bonus that comes with matching Bobby's epic 11-0 sweep in the 1963-64 U.S. national championship has been offered every year since 2009 and not a single player has come close to claiming the Fischer Prize.

October 15, 2024
People protest on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel and call for the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house, in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

On attack’s anniversary, Israel takes the fight to its foes

Oct. 7, 2023, ranks as the bleakest day in modern Israeli history, when a massive Hamas surprise attack killed more than 1,200 civilians, captured hundreds of hostages and humiliated the country's vaunted intelligence and military services. But a year later, it's a very different picture.

October 6, 2024
Saraci-Sihlongonyane after 29...Kf8.

Hundreds of teams and thousands of storylines at 45th Chess Olympiad

With some 357 open and women's teams and more than 7,700 games played, let's just concede right at the top that it's impossible to keep up with even a fraction of the storylines from the recent 45th Chess Olympiad hosted by Budapest, which drew the largest turnout in the event's history.

October 1, 2024
Duda-Giri after 27...Rac8.

Analyze this: Chess rational and irrational

It's a dirty little secret we're not supposed to discuss, but the games you tend to see in instruction books, brilliancy anthologies and (ahem) newspaper columns don't always accurately reflect chess as it is actually played by the vast majority of us. Like a TV sitcom that wraps up a major life crisis in 22 tidy minutes, your typical chess annotator is looking for games with an intelligible opening, a logical development, a satisfying denouement and (at most) one improbable change of fortune.

September 3, 2024
Acholonu-Frenkel after 52. Qe2.

Celebrating D.C.’s role as the ‘cradle of Black chess in America’

"As a matter of fact, one can claim the greater Washington D.C. metropolitan area was the cradle for Black chess in America." Local writer and two-time D.C. chess champion Gregory Kearse made that claim in a seminal 1998 article for Chess Life, which noted that the thriving local area chess scene in the 1960s helped develop the first officially rated African American chess masters -- Walter Hill. Ken Clayton and Frank Street -- and helped nurture a new generation of strong Black players such as William Morrison, Vincent Moore, Emory Tate and Baraka Shabazz.

August 20, 2024
Lagarde-Anand after 16. b3.

Keep it short: A late summer bouquet of chess miniatures

For the DMV chess community, the mid-August lull puts us in that nice pocket between the very successful, just-completed U.S. Open hosted by Norfolk and the end-of-summer milestone that is the District's 56th Atlantic Open, which starts Aug. 23 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

August 13, 2024
Zhou-Molner after 24...Bc4.

With Norfolk as host, Khanin claims hard-fought U.S. Open

It was a fight to the finish as grandmasters from Russia and China topped the leaderboard at the 124th U.S. Open, which wrapped up play in Norfolk, Virginia, with a scintillating final round and playoff Sunday.

August 6, 2024
Guo-Yoo after 24. Nf3.

A trio of champs: Yoo, Lee, Akopian claim U.S. national chess titles

The U.S. has a generation-spanning trio of new champs as the U.S. Senior, Junior and Junior Girls Championships were all decided at the Chess Club of St. Louis last week. GM Vladimir Akopian picked up his first American senior title in style, dusting a field that included such veterans as GMs Joel Benjamin, Alex Shabalov and Gregory Kaidanov and clinching the title with a round to spare with an undefeated 7-2 score.

July 30, 2024