It's always nice to start a new chess year with a rush of momentum from the one just past, so we focus this week on some of the big winners from December, traditionally a very crowded time on the global chess calendar.
The Sinquefield Cup, annually the strongest invitational tournament in the U.S., got off to a less than stellar start at the Chess Club of St. Louis, with just two decisive games two through Sunday's Round 5 and Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda pulling out of the 10-grandmaster field after Round 1, citing ill health.
Racially segregated hospital care has produced more deaths and life-threatening hospitalizations for White and Black patients alike, according to a study published Wednesday.
Behind the pine curtain of deep East Texas is a world trapped in the past and hidden from the future: lush woods, poor whites, the descendants of slaves, and an aristocracy still breathing the rarefied air of the Old South.