4/5/2024 – Igors Rausis, born on 7 April 1961, gained notoriety primarily as a cheater. In July 2019, he was caught using a mobile phone in the toilet at an open in Strasbourg, and in December 2019, FIDE banned him for six years and stripped him of his grandmaster title. Rausis then changed his name to Isa Kasimi. Rausis, who suffered from cancer for a long time, died on 28 March 2024. In an obituary, Roger Lorenz recalls the sympathetic side of the grandmaster. | Photo: Novy Bor Chess Club

8/23/2019 – A photo of a chess player using a mobile phone in a toilet during a tournament game made international headlines for the sport and rekindled fears of cheating in chess. Igors Rausis, the grandmaster caught in the act, says that it was his chance to quit the world of chess in one move. ANDRIS TIHOMIROVS spoke to the accused. | Photos: Playerbase

8/1/2019 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen hit an Elo rating of 2882 in May 2014. Five years later, he's back at that exact same number on the official August list, and arguably stronger than ever, following a string of successes in the first seven months of 2019. Alireza Firouzja and Jeffrey Xiong are two top Juniors now over 2700, and Ju Wenjun has narrowed the gap between herself and Hou Yifan to 59 points. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

7/12/2019 – Every once in a while we hear a story of a chess player who surpasses the established norms and achieves truly something special. At that point a thought does cross almost every chess fan's mind: Is he for real? This is the case of 58-year-old GM Igors Rausis who saw a phenomenal surge in his rating that brought him as high as 2686, gaining over 50 Elo points in the last year alone. For a player of his age, Rausis' performance was closely scrutinized. Was it just his beating many lower rated players honestly? On July 11th, suspicions of something more nefarious finally gained gravity in the Strasbourg Open in France where he stands accused of cheating with his mobile phone inside a toilet! | Photo: Dominique Primel, Sautron (2018)

7/1/2019 – Our monthly look at the FIDE ratings for July2019 with a focus on the outcome of the Women's Candidates tournament won by 20-year old Russian phenom Aleksandra Goryachkina (pictured). In blitz, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has taken the #1 spot away from World Champion Magnus Carlsen thanks to his Norway Chess blitz win. And 58-year old GM Igors Rausis continues his improbable climb up the raking list by bashing much weaker players. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/3/2019 – Our monthly look at the FIDE ratings for June 2019 starts with World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who has a chance to break his own all-time rating record this month. That would go a long way towards cementing a claim on the greatest-of-all-time honours. Pictured, however, is Cuban-born Leinier Dominguez, who now plays for the USA, and after a long hiatus is now knocking on the door of the Top 10 at 2760, just 8 points shy of his personal peak rating. That was set back in May 2014, when he briefly hit 2768. Do you know who else was at his peak that month five years ago? Magnus Carlsen! | Photo: Justin Kellar / Saint Louis Chess Club

8/1/2018 – July was relatively quiet, with the annual super tournament in Dortmund exerting the most influence on FIDE's classical ratings. It was a good month for Ian Nepomniachtchi who is now number 11 in the world in both classical and rapid chess. | Photo: Ritvo Photography