Remembering Igors Rausis (*7 April 1961, †28 March 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