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Chess Grandmaster Used iPhone To Cheat During Tournament

Posted by Soulskill on from the there's-an-app-for-that dept.

SternisheFan sends this quote from the Washington Post: Gaioz Nigalidze's rise through the ranks of professional chess began in 2007, the year the first iPhone was released. In hindsight, the timing might not be coincidental. On Saturday, Nigalidze, the 25-year-old reigning Georgian champion, was competing in the 17th annual Dubai Open Chess Tournament when his opponent spotted something strange. "Nigalidze would promptly reply to my moves and then literally run to the toilet," Armenian grandmaster Tigran Petrosian said. "I noticed that he would always visit the same toilet partition, which was strange, since two other partitions weren't occupied." Petrosian complained to the officials. After Nigalidze left the bathroom once more, officials inspected the interior and say they found an iPhone wrapped in toilet paper and hidden behind the toilet. "When confronted, Nigalidze denied he owned the device," according to the tournament's Web site. "But officials opened the smart device and found it was logged into a social networking site under Nigalidze's account. They also found his game being analyzed in one of the chess applications." Nigalidze was expelled from the tournament, which is still ongoing and features more than 70 grandmasters from 43 countries competing for a first-place prize of $12,000. The Georgian's career is now under a microscope. His two national titles are under suspicion.

11 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Shouldn't the title be reversed? by timrod · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think the real story here is that a Georgian man's cellphone became sentient and was using him as a proxy to enter chess tournaments. The phone is the real grandmaster here.

  2. Toilet Partitions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently he opted for the logical partition, rather than the extended. Wise move.

  3. Hire this man, right now! by Jawnn · · Score: 5, Funny

    "He's got the kind of moral fiber we're always looking for, that will to win."

    - [insert name], CEO
    [insert big business name], Inc.

  4. Solution to electronic cheaters by anagama · · Score: 4, Funny

    Chess tourneys should be played by naked participants in a large faraday cage.

    --
    What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    1. Re:Solution to electronic cheaters by DigitAl56K · · Score: 5, Funny

      This isn't as unusual as it sounds, Deep Blue always plays this way!

  5. Professional chess players are so bling... by Snufu · · Score: 5, Funny

    they use iPhones for toilet paper.

  6. Want to be a grandmaster? by Phics · · Score: 5, Funny

    There's an app for that.

    --
    There are two types of people in the world; those who believe there are two types of people, and those who don't.
  7. This dimwit became a grandmaster? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Funny

    How can such a simpleton become the grandmaster? It belies imagination. Everyone knows the way to cheat at that level of chess tournament is to have a team analyze the game in the audience and have them send color coded yogurt to the player in the middle.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  8. Re: How is the phone model relevant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Siri, what move should I make next?"

  9. Re:a phone by itzly · · Score: 4, Funny

    This guy used his iPhone to connect to the internet

    It was probably connected to an Android phone in his car.

  10. Re: title is wrong by SeaFox · · Score: 4, Funny

    If he can argue his way out of the charges, he might be a masterdebater, though.