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Chess Grandmaster Caught Cheating in Tournament With Hidden Cellphone in Bathroom (bleacherreport.com) 97

Posted by EditorDavid from the cheating-at-chess dept.
"The World Chess Federation (FIDE) announced Saturday that it caught chess grandmaster Igors Rausis cheating during a tournament in France," writes Bleacher Report. According to ESPN.com, the FIDE noted that Rausis was "caught red-handed using his phone during a game." A cellphone was found in a toilet that Rausis had used during the competition, and Rausis later admitted to using it to cheat.

Per Chess.com, Rausis said the following regarding the scandal: "I simply lost my mind yesterday. I confirmed the fact of using my phone during the game by written [statement]. What could I say more? ... At least what I committed yesterday is a good lesson, not for me -- I played my last game of chess already...."

The 58-year-old Rausis was born in the Soviet Union and currently represents the Czech Republic after previously representing Latvia and Bangladesh. Rausis became a grandmaster in 1992, and he is the No. 53 ranked chess player in the world, according to the FIDE.
It's not the first time this has happened. A Georgian national chess champion was also found to be cheating with an iPhone hidden in a toilet stall more than four years ago. But in this case, "The 58-year-old Latvian-Czech grandmaster had raised suspicions after he increased his rating in recent years to almost 2700," reports Chess.com.

The director-general of the FIDE said they've now reported Rausis to the French police, and that they'd been suspicious of him for a long time. "It is impossible to completely eliminate the cheating, but the risk of being caught has increased significantly, and the penalties will become much more significant."
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Chess Grandmaster Caught Cheating in Tournament With Hidden Cellphone in Bathroom

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  • And they don't play like humans, so detecting cheating is a lot easier now. Especially if someone suddenly makes some weird move - for a human, you just check stockfish and a couple others and bingo -

    • Not necessarily true - all top players prepare lines using computers.

  • A cellphone was found in a toilet that Rausis had used during the competition, and Rausis later admitted to using it to cheat.

    Maybe it just didn't go down.

  • He was cheating in two ways (Score:5, Informative)

    by Vlad_the_Inhaler ( 32958 ) on Sunday July 14, 2019 @08:57AM (#58923656)

    The ELO rating system awards / removes points based on the result and the strength of the opponent.
    A defeat will always see you lose points, the number of points depends on the strength of the opponent.
    A draw can gain you points if the opponent is higher-rated or lose them if the opponent is lower rated, the quantity depends on the rating difference.
    A win will always gain you points, although if the difference exceeds 400 points then the opponent is assumed to be 400 points worse for rating purposes.
    Rausis was gaming the system by only playing tournaments where every other player was rated way below him and then winning every game. Draws would have really hurt his strategy, defeats unthinkable. A number of other players frequently play lower-rated opponents to boost their own ratings but none as blatantly (and exclusively) as Rausis. A rule-change may be in the offing.
    What had not even been hinted on publicly was that his close to 100% win rate against inferior opponents was due to silicon assistance, although there were apparently suspicions. Alexander Grishuk - a world class player from Russia - made a comment along the lines of how pleased he was to see the man having been caught.

    • Rausis was gaming the system by only playing tournaments where every other player was rated way below him and then winning every game.

      As long as you're not using an engine to suggest good moves, this isn't really "gaming" the system. A high ranked player is more likely to beat a much weaker player, but that expectation is built into the point adjustment algorithm. If you only perform as well as predicted, your average rating stays the same.

      The way it worked out in his case is because it's not as noticeable when you beat weaker players using engine help. A win against a top player, using strong non-obvious moves, played right after a toile

      • A high ranked player is more likely to beat a much weaker player, but that expectation is built into the point adjustment algorithm. If you only perform as well as predicted, your average rating stays the same.
        That would be true except for the 400-point rule. If you beat a player rated more than 400 points below you, you get +0.8 rating points for that win. The reason for this is that top players play in team events / open tournaments where some of their opponents will be rated that much lower, top player

    • Using the 400-point-rule to gain points is merely controversial, it isn't cheating. Making an accusation of cheating without sufficient cause is itself cheating!

      If you were playing in a tournament with somebody eeking (real chess verb) points, and you said that he is cheating, you would be the one cheating.

      People who dislike eeking, but who are not cheaters, don't call it cheating. They say they dislike the rule and want to change it. Very different.

    • He raised the hopes of older folks that significantly improving at chess, or any mental activity, is still possible after age 50, that it doesn't have to be a game for the young who have the most mental stamina. (Of course, it seems now that chess is the computer's game, and the human world champion will never again be more than 2nd rate to them.)

      It was also suspicious, but people wanted to believe in him and his inspiring improvement. Now to find out that those suspicions were justified is, how shall I

      • Re:he cheated us all (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Vlad_the_Inhaler ( 32958 ) on Sunday July 14, 2019 @03:36PM (#58925532)

        Vasily Smyslov was a top player into his 60's, I think it was his eyesight which pretty much curtailed his playing career - he was pretty much blind. One of his greater later games was a 29 move effort v Karpov in the 39th USSR Championship, although Karpov was only 20 at the time.

  • We can call the police when people cheat during a game? Who knew? "911 = Hello, I just caught my sister cheating at Monopoly. Please arrest her now!

    • Re:Why the police? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Sunday July 14, 2019 @09:30AM (#58923820)

      We can call the police when people cheat during a game?

      If you are playing for real money, cheating is stealing.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Odd then, that nobody arrested Lance Armstrong then, since he clearly cheated in the tour de france, which DOES play for money. There's a HUGE history of cheating in horse racing, and I've never heard the cops being called in. Basically all sports have tons and tons of cheating in them. The only person I've ever heard being prosecuted in connection the cheating was Barry Bonds, and he was charged with obstruction of justice, NOT cheating. And yes, baseball is most certainly about playing for money, even

    • We can call the police when people cheat during a game?

      If there's something of value at stake then cheating is fraud and illegal everywhere.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jrumney ( 197329 )
        Yes, and shops cheating you is also fraud. But if you walk into a police station to make a complaint, they will advise you to file a civil suit, or go to the BBB about it. Similarly, I would expect the police to have told the chess federation to file a civil suit - they presumably have his contact details, serving him notice is unlikely to need police assistance. Police only investigate certain types of fraud, it isn't within their budget to follow up on every violation of every law.

        • Yes, and shops cheating you is also fraud.

          And illegal. The police not having the initiative or resources to pursue it doesn't change that.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jrumney ( 197329 )
      As if the French police are going to drop their investigations into robberies and murders to investigate some guy cheating at a board game... Ban him from competition, take civil action if you think he has won prize money in the past by the same method against your conditions of entry, but you don't get to waste the police's time on your private dispute.

  • "represents" (Score:3)

    by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Sunday July 14, 2019 @09:26AM (#58923798) Homepage Journal

    "currently represents the Czech Republic after previously representing Latvia and Bangladesh."
     
    What? That makes no sense. Why do chess players need to "represent" a country anyway?

    • "currently represents the Czech Republic after previously representing Latvia and Bangladesh." What? That makes no sense. Why do chess players need to "represent" a country anyway?

      Groupies?

    • Re:"represents" (Score:4, Informative)

      by Rockoon ( 1252108 ) on Sunday July 14, 2019 @11:23AM (#58924414)
      ...because they are sponsored by national chess federations.

      The last word championship was between Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen. Fabiano began his career in America playing for the U.S. Chess Federation, but he has dual citizenship as an Italian American. For about 4 years he played for the Italians when living in Italy, but has since returned to America and plays for the U.S. Chess Federation again.

      Most GM's need to be sponsored as they cant make a living playing chess. Fabiano Caruana no longer needs the sponsorship dollars (he made some good money playing the world championship), but more comes with it than dollars.

      • Also, because players can compete in national championships if they are registered players for that country, or they can play for the national team in the Chess Olympiad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

      • ...because they are sponsored by national chess federations.

        The last word championship was between Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen. Fabiano began his career in America playing for the U.S. Chess Federation, but he has dual citizenship as an Italian American. For about 4 years he played for the Italians when living in Italy, but has since returned to America and plays for the U.S. Chess Federation again.

        Mostly true, but Fabi never lived in Italy and doesn't speak Italian. He does have dual citizenship because his parents are both Italian. (He was born in Florida but spent his early years in NY) In his teens his family lived in Hungary. That's why he was playing for the Italian team; he qualified by citizenship, and he lived close enough in Hungary to travel for the events and for training. His accent is Hungarian. He continued to live there until he switched to the US team, which is when he moved to St. L

        • Anna Muzychuk is Ukranian but played for Croatia for a while, two young Ukranian stars (Sergey Karjakin and Kateryna Lahno) moved to the Russian federation a few years back.
          Peter Leko is from Serbia, but he belongs to the Hungarian minority there and has played for Hungary pretty much all his career.
          The Bulgarian federation was banned for a while (I think the ban is over) which led to various Bulgarians playing for other countries. Some still do.
          Quite apart from Caruana, Wesley So (Philippines) and Leinier

          • Re:"represents" (Score:4, Informative)

            by Aighearach ( 97333 ) on Sunday July 14, 2019 @07:57PM (#58926268)

            So and Dominguez both moved to the US first, for other reasons, and then joined the US team. So they're not really good examples of players who represent a different country because that country will sponsor them.

            None of the top players will be found in that category, because they make a lot of money from tournaments.

            The US also pays less than most countries. It is not nationally supported to any significant degree like it is in most countries. There is not even any system in place to guarantee slots on the national team. The US Chess Federation is a non-profit charity with no connection to government.

  • I can just imagine the person on the other end of the call, trying to figure out which chess position is called "Brrrraaaaaap!"

  • A Russian caught cheating in a competition? (Score:4, Funny)

    by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Sunday July 14, 2019 @09:59AM (#58923960)
    Whoa, didn't see that coming.
  • How was he using the cell phone to cheat? Who would you call to explain a complicated chess game? Do you go to the bathroom after each move?

    • You can download chess app, like DroidFish, enter the game moves as you go along, and then let it calculate best variations.

  • There are so many ways to cheat during tournaments without being detected I wonder why we're still having them:
    • Hidden micro-earphones (which can be fully inserted into your ears).
    • Gestures or any other signs from your accomplice(s) who's physically present at the tournament.
    • Rigging the tournament room with equipment not obvious to others (light strobes, etc.)
    • Wearing special glasses which are able to relay information.
    • Basically all the methods used by professional cheaters during card games.

    • The money in most chess tournaments is usually not big enough to allow you to hire accomplices and set up elaborate cheats. And in order to get invited to big tournaments you need a high rating, which requires years of cheating in smaller tournaments, in all kinds of locations. Many of these smaller tournaments don't do live relay of the moves (especially not on lower boards), so your accomplice needs to be close enough to monitor the board, and then copy the moves in his phone, which is very suspicious.

  • Amazing battery life (Score:4, Funny)

    by Gumpu ( 16052 ) on Sunday July 14, 2019 @02:27PM (#58925246) Homepage

    "A Georgian national chess champion was also found to be cheating with an iPhone hidden in a toilet stall more than four years ago"

    Four years; those iPhones do have amazing battery life don't they!

  • So whats the connection with the toilet phone and a game of chess. How is having a phone in the toilet cheating? Does the player run to and from the toilet with every move he makes or something?
    • The connection is that every time he was in a tough spot or needed a hint, he went to his phone hidden in the bathroom and used a chess engine (alpha zero perhaps) to get the next move. Just like card cheats don't cheat every hand, just once or twice in a game can win you all the chips. Same here.
  • They say it's hard to prevent it, but it's not.. They only are able to have privacy during their toilet visit, so the only time they would be able to use a device is during that visit.. And it's very VERY easy to check the toilets for electronic devices (even off) before a contestant is gonna use the toilet.

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