Vasik Rajlich (born 1971 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an International Master in chess and the author of Rybka,[1] one of the strongest chess playing programs in the world.[2][3][4][5][6] Rajlich is a dual Czechoslovakian-American citizen by birth; he was born in the United States of America to Czech parents, at that time graduate students, but grew up in Prague. He later spent years in the United States as a student, graduating from MIT.[7]
He married Iweta (née Radziewicz) on 19 August 2006. Iweta, who is also an International Master in chess,[1] helps him with the development of Rybka as its tester.[8] The couple presently live in Warsaw, Poland.[8]
Rajlich's handle on the Internet Chess Club is "vrajlich".[9]
On 28 June 2011, the International Computer Games Association (ICGA) determined that Rajlich had plagiarized two other chess software programs: Crafty and Fruit.[10] The ICGA sanction for Vasik Rajlich and Rybka was the disqualification from the World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.[11] Vasik Rajlich is banned for life from competing in the WCCC or any other event organized by or sanctioned by the ICGA.[12] Rajlich had already responded to these charges with an e-mail to David Levy, president of the ICGA, in which he stated:
| “ | Rybka has “does not include game-playing code written by others”, aside from standard exceptions which wouldn’t count as ‘game-playing’. [...] The vague phrase “derived from game-playing code written by others” also does not in my view apply to Rybka | ” |