Gaioz Nigalidze, 25, is Georgia’s current chess champion. He’s also now facing a ban of up to 15 years from the game after being caught cheating during a tournament by looking at an iPod.
The Washington Post reports that while competing at the Dubai Open Chess Tournament, Nigalidze kept retreating to the bathroom. The fact he kept returning to the same stall (not to mention how often he kept heading back there) aroused suspicions, and after officials (pictured above) checked the cubicle they found what looks like an iPod Touch wrapped in toilet paper.
Here’s the statement from the tournament’s official site:
When the officials initially checked Nigalidze, they did not find any device with him. Tournament Director and Chief Arbiter suspected he is using the same cubicle . When they checked the cubicle in question, they found a smart device and a headset hidden behind the pan and covered with toilet paper. When confronted, Nigalidze denied he owned the device, 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 kicked out of the tournament, and his current titles and results are also being investigated. Below is the device in question.
UPDATE: This story originally reported the device as being an iPhone. Thanks to Milery for pointing out it’s actually an iPod Touch.