Samarkand

They mostly stamped the passports of travelers on their way to Kashgar and Samarkand in the West, and the city of Turfan in the East.

FIDE’s World Rapid Championships, which concluded last week in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, featured a very familiar face in the open competition and a huge surprise in the women’s rapid title fight.

The International Chess Federation fined a 23-year-old chess player from the Netherlands at its World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for wearing “sports shoes.”

“Cooked correctly, plov is beautifully aromatic, steaming and almost melting in the mouth,” says Caroline Eden, author of books including “Samarkand” and “Red Sands,” both of which document her travels through Uzbekistan.

He said he didn’t get much sleep before he visited a mausoleum the next morning, followed by a tour of the Afrasiyab Museum in Samarkand.