Chess engine creator disqualified for cheating, forgot to say thank you

That familiar death-knell typically confined to Bobby Fischer's favorite pastime is taking a very real step outside the chessboard to corner one of its own. In a sweeping decision from the International Computer Games Association (ICGA), chess engine Rybka -- four-time World Computer Chess Championship winner -- and its creator, Vasik Rajlich, have been banned for life from chess' nerd World Cup for the uncredited use of competitor code. Reacting to controversy that the now-deposed winner owed its upper hand to rival engine Fruit's open-source roots, the ICGA assembled a 34-person panel and reverse engineered its way to a guilty sentence. Adding more insult to title-stripping injury, the gaming association has also demanded Rajlich (pictured above) return all trophies and prize money. It's a disheartening turn of events in the otherwise exciting man vs. machine board game battle that could have been easily avoided with a public 'please' and 'thank you.' Checkmate!

Chess engine creator disqualified for cheating, forgot to say thank you originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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