Russian grandmaster Igros Rausis has apparently been cheating his way up the international chess rankings,
Igors Rausis, at 58 the oldest among the world top 100 grandmasters, was last week caught analysing in the toilet during his game in the Strasbourg Open. Rausis later told the Czech newspaper Lidovky: “I signed a statement that I am guilty in full … I completely ruined my name and also destroyed the trust of all my colleagues and friends.”
Rausis’s steady advance up the rankings in his 50s, after many years at the 2500 moderate grandmaster level, was clearly abnormal. He played in smaller events which could not afford the strict anti-cheating measures of major tournaments, and he exploited a rule where a win against an opponent 400 or more rating points lower gains 0.8 of a point. Rausis played many games where the rating difference was much higher, so that the statistical odds favoured him.
