:Candidates Tournament 2016

The tournament was contested as a double round-robin with each player playing 14 games. Four rest days took place after rounds 3, 6, 9, and 12. The winner of this 8-player candidates tournament would be the challenger of Magnus Carlsen at the 2016 World Chess Championship. At the DI Central Telegraph Building, Agon had designed and built a 20000 square-foot space near the Kremlin to woo more spectators to the sport, with 99% of the focus on online viewership.[https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-to-host-2016-world-chess-championship-1456796982 NYC to host 2016 WCC] by Jonathan Zalman, Wall Street Journal, 1 March 2016 As the official organizer, they owned live moves and video broadcasting rights.[http://www.agonlimited.com/news/2016/3/4/live-moves-and-video-from-candidates-tournament-to-be-shown-exclusively-by-worldchesscom-and-approved-broadcast-partners Live moves and video from Candidates exclusively on WorldChess ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323173201/http://www.agonlimited.com/news/2016/3/4/live-moves-and-video-from-candidates-tournament-to-be-shown-exclusively-by-worldchesscom-and-approved-broadcast-partners |date=2016-03-23 }} (Agon)[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/14/kramnik-the-organizer-has-full-transmission-rights The organizer has full transmission rights ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331205340/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/14/kramnik-the-organizer-has-full-transmission-rights/ |date=2016-03-31 }} (WorldChess) Legal actions were commenced against sites who had acted otherwise.[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/12/official-agon-statement-on-ddos-attack-and-legal-action Official Agon statement on DDOS attack and legal action] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315050606/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/12/official-agon-statement-on-ddos-attack-and-legal-action/ |date=2016-03-15 }} (WorldChess)

The prize fund (Regulations 3.8.1) was 420,000 euros, with 95,000 to the winner, 88,000 to 2nd place, 75,000 to 3rd, 55,000 to 4th, 40,000 to 5th, 28,000 to 6th, 22,000 to 7th, 17,000 for 8th place. Prize money would be divided equally between players on the same score.

FIDE's commercial partner Agon was the official organizer,[https://www.fide.com/images/stories/NEWS_2012/Congress/Annex_11_-_Agreement_between_FIDE_and_Agon.pdf FIDE-Agon agreement] (3.1a) of Annex 11, 2012 FIDE General Assembly with support from the Russian Chess Federation.[https://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/9179-2016-fide-world-chess-candidates-tournament.html World Chess Candidates Tournament] (FIDE) The main sponsor was the Tashir Group, a Russian real estate company headed by Armenian-born businessman Samvel Karapetyan.{{cite web|last=Fischer|first=Johannes|title=Candidates will take place in March in Moscow|url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates-will-take-place-in-march-in-moscow|publisher=ChessBase|accessdate=23 March 2016|date=2015-11-05}}{{cite web|last=McGourty|first=Colin|title=Aronian gets wild card for Moscow Candidates|url=https://chess24.com/en/read/news/aronian-gets-wild-card-for-moscow-candidates|publisher=chess24|accessdate=23 March 2016|date=2015-11-05}}

The FIDE supervisor was Zurab Azmaiparashvili and the chief arbiter was Werner Stubenvoll from Austria.[http://moscow2016.fide.com/officials Officials] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409110620/http://moscow2016.fide.com/officials |date=2016-04-09 }} (Moscow 2016)

There were five different qualification paths to the Candidates Tournament.{{cite web | url=http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/regscandidates2016.pdf | title=Rules & regulations for the Candidates Tournament of the FIDE World Championship cycle 2014–2016 | publisher=FIDE | accessdate=17 February 2015}} In order of priority, these were: loser of the World Chess Championship 2014 match, the top two finishers in the Chess World Cup 2015, the top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, next two highest rated players (average FIDE rating on the 12 monthly lists from January to December 2015, with at least 30 games played) who played in Chess World Cup 2015 or FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, and one player nominated by the organizers (Agon).

FIDE gave the qualifiers until January 11 to decide upon participation and sign the contract,[http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/9266-2016-candidates-tournament-announcement-.html 2016 Candidates Tournament] Announcement and Contract (FIDE) and all accepted even though Veselin Topalov was open in his dislike of Moscow as a location.[http://www.newsbg.ru/sport/105-sport/13568-bolgarskij-grossmejster-nedovolen-vyborom-moskvy-dlja-provedenija-turnira-pretendentov.html Bulgarian grandmaster unhappy with choice of Moscow for the Candidates Tournament] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209174156/http://www.newsbg.ru/sport/105-sport/13568-bolgarskij-grossmejster-nedovolen-vyborom-moskvy-dlja-provedenija-turnira-pretendentov.html |date=2015-12-09 }} (Russian)[http://chess-news.ru/en/node/20415 Danailov Says Choosing Moscow for the Candidates is "Outrageous"] (Chess-News Russia) Topalov did not attend the opening ceremony,[https://www.chess.com/news/second-loss-for-topalov-aronian-joins-leaders-at-candidates-tournament-2992 Second Loss For Topalov, Aronian Joins Leaders At Candidates' Tournament] (Chess.Com) leaving himself open to a forfeiture of 5% of his prize money to each of FIDE and the organizers, by 3.11.2 of the Regulations.

The ratings and rankings in this table are taken from the March 2016 FIDE list. They are provided for information purposes only, and were not used for seeding. Notable highly ranked players who did not qualify include Vladimir Kramnik, a former World Champion and the world number 2 as of March 2016, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the world number 5.[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=393 Top 100 Players March 2015] The age column is in years as of 15 March 2016. FIDE uses a country-diversion system, so that Svidler and Karjakin, similarly Nakamura and Caruana, are paired together in rounds 1 and 8, to avoid conflicts in late rounds, as seen in the pairings.[http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/9421-candidates-tournament-2016-pairings.html Candidates Tournament Pairings (2016)]

The following were the final placings of players attempting to qualify by the 2015 rating lists.FIDE Top 100 lists for 2015:

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=337 January],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=341 February],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=345 March],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=349 April],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=353 May],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=357 June],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=361 July],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=365 August],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=369 September],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=373 October],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=377 November],

[https://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=381 December]

The list omits world champion Magnus Carlsen. Players who qualified for the Candidates Tournament by other means are shown with a shaded background. The two qualifiers by rating were Topalov and Giri (marked with a green background).

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{{Candidates Tournament 2016 table}}

;Notes

Tie-breaks are in order: 1) head-to-head score among tied players, 2) total number of wins, 3) Sonneborn–Berger score (SB), 4) tie-break games.

Pairings and results{{cite web|url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=87151|title=World Chess Championship Candidates (2016)|work=chessgames.com}}

Numbers in parentheses indicate players' scores prior to the round.

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For each player, the difference between wins and losses after each round is shown.

The players with the highest difference for each round are marked with green background.

{{Chess diagram

| tright

| Karjakin–Anand, round 4

| | |rd|qd| | |kd|

|pd| | | |nd| |pd|pd

|rd| | | | | | |

| | |pd|pd| |pd| |

| | | | | | | |pl

|pl|pl| | |pl|nl|pl|

| | |ql| | |pl| |

|rl| | |rl| | |kl|

| Position before 20. Qc3

}}

{{Chess diagram

| tright

| Topalov–Karjakin, round 5

|rd|nd| |qd|rd| |kd|

|pd| | | |bd|pd|pd|pd

|bd| | | | |nd| |

| | |pd|pd| | | |

| | | | | | | |

| |pl|nl| | |nl|pl|

|pl| | |bl|pl|pl|bl|pl

| |rl| |ql| |rl|kl|

| Position before 13. Ne5

}}

{{Chess diagram

| tright

| Aronian–Nakamura, round 6

| | | | | | | |

| | | |rl| |pd|kd|

| | | | | | | |pd

| | | | |pl|kl| |

| | | | | |pl| |pl

| | | | | | | |

|rd| | | | | | |

| | | | | | | |

| Position on move 74 with Black to move. Black touched his king, and so had to move it, thus allowing 75. Kf6 with decisive advantage

}}

The first round saw Anand beat Topalov after mutual blunders around move 20, then again around move 40, to get an early lead as all other games were drawn, two of them right at the (minimal) 30-move mark.[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/11/candidates-results-anand-wins-three-other-games-are-draws Anand wins, three other games are draws] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403020444/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/11/candidates-results-anand-wins-three-other-games-are-draws/ |date=2016-04-03 }} (WorldChess)[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/11/d%C3%A9j%C3%A0-vu-anand-takes-early-lead-at-candidates Deja Vu: Anand takes early lead] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403095519/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/11/d%C3%A9j%C3%A0-vu-anand-takes-early-lead-at-candidates/ |date=2016-04-03 }} (WorldChess)

Similarly went Round 2, with two of the 3 draws occurring in 30 moves, while Nakamura missed a tactic against Karjakin and played a large unforced blunder on move 29 resulting in loss.[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/12/karjakin-joins-anand-as-co-leader-of-candidates Karjakin joins Anand as co-leader] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404180846/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/12/karjakin-joins-anand-as-co-leader-of-candidates/ |date=2016-04-04 }} (WorldChess)[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/12/flash-report-karjakin-wins-after-nakamura-blunders-other-games-drawn Karjakin wins after Nakamura blunders] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405061131/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/12/flash-report-karjakin-wins-after-nakamura-blunders-other-games-drawn/ |date=2016-04-05 }} (WorldChess)

Round 3 saw both leaders draw, as Giri made two knight sacrifices before forcing an early draw by repetition against Karjakin, while Anand had a nagging edge against Caruana that eventually evaporated. Meanwhile, Aronian joined the leaders by beating a very off-form Topalov with Black, while Svidler as Black out-prepared Nakamura in a complicated Semi-Slav line to move 25, but failed to convert a pawn-up endgame in which Mark Dvoretsky questioned his lack of killer instinct.[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/13/flash-report-round-3-aronian-wins-to-join-leaders-other-games-drawn Aronian wins to join leaders] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404162958/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/13/flash-report-round-3-aronian-wins-to-join-leaders-other-games-drawn/ |date=2016-04-04 }} (WorldChess)[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/13/three-lead-candidates-after-three-rounds Three lead after three rounds] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404224122/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/13/three-lead-candidates-after-three-rounds/ |date=2016-04-04 }} (WorldChess)

After a rest day, two of the leaders faced each other in Round 4, with Karjakin as White choosing a passive opening and coming up with an early novelty against Anand, and then saddling him with hanging pawns (see diagram). He then switched to a pressing endgame against Black's pawn weaknesses, and soon after the time control an Anand miscue led to his immediate resignation. This was Karjakin's first career victory over Anand at classical time controls.[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/15/flash-report-round-4-karjakin-wins-and-is-sole-leader Karjakin Wins and is Sole Leader] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331100209/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/15/flash-report-round-4-karjakin-wins-and-is-sole-leader/ |date=2016-03-31 }} (WorldChess)[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/15/karjakin-takes-charge-of-candidates Karjakin takes charge] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331234705/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/15/karjakin-takes-charge-of-candidates/ |date=2016-03-31 }} (WorldChess)

Nakamura and Giri drew in just over an hour in 30 moves in a game that might have been completely pre-analyzed, while Svidler and Aronian drew a rook ending at the time control. The game between Caruana and Topalov saw a Giuoco Pianissimo opening, before Topalov opened up the position and later blundered in time pressure, but Caruana spoiled a large advantage right after the time control by miscounting the pieces, and in the end a double rook endgame was drawn.

In Round 5, all the games were drawn, three of them at move 30 and the other at move 40.[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/16/flash-report-all-games-are-drawn-in-round-5 All games drawn in Round 5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331164228/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/16/flash-report-all-games-are-drawn-in-round-5/ |date=2016-03-31 }} (WorldChess) Unlike the previous round, here when Karjakin himself had hanging pawns it did not matter (see diagram) and he drew comfortably.[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/16/a-day-of-draws-leaves-karjakin-in-the-lead Day of draws leaves Karjakin in the lead ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404112651/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/16/a-day-of-draws-leaves-karjakin-in-the-lead/ |date=2016-04-04 }} (WorldChess)

Round 6 had Svidler losing out of opening against Anand, while Karjakin held a materially imbalanced position to a draw against Caruana. The Topalov-Giri game saw a practical novelty already at move 3, with a resulting drawn knight endgame after the 60-move mark. In the game Aronian-Nakamura, Aronian nurtured an advantage for some time, but the endgame appeared to be drawn. But on move 74, Nakamura made a fingerfehler and touched his king, forcing him to make a losing move (see diagram). The incident was controversial as Nakamura initially tried to claim j'adoube, the international term to convey that one intends to adjust the piece, not move it.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puRR65UUKAs Touch Move in Aronian-Nakamura ] (YouTube, WorldChess)Mark Crowther, [http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews/events/fide-candidates-2016/nakamura-in-touch-move-drama-at-the-end-of-candidates-round-6 Nakamura in touch move drama at the end of Candidates Round 6], The Week in Chess, 17 March 2016 This win brought Aronian into the lead with Karjakin, with Anand just behind, going into the second rest day.[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/17/flash-report-rd.-6-anand-and-aronian-win-aronian-leads-with-karjakin Anand and Aronian win, Aronian leads with Karjakin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404205527/http://worldchess.com/2016/03/17/flash-report-rd.-6-anand-and-aronian-win-aronian-leads-with-karjakin/ |date=2016-04-04 }} (WorldChess)

{{section-stub|date=March 2018}}

The tournament winner was decided in the final round game between Karjakin (playing white) and Caruana. Before this round, these were the only two players who could win the tournament, having 7.5 points each. For Caruana to win the tournament, he needed to win the game, or draw and rely on Anand to win with black against Svidler.[http://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates-r13-it-s-karjakin-or-caruana Candidates R13: It's Karjakin or Caruana!], Chessbase, March 27, 2016

Caruana chose the Sicilian Defence, signalling his intention to play for a win. Karjakin continued with the Open Sicilian. Caruana took the initiative and it appeared as if a win for black could be possible. His pawns were attacking the white king that had castled on the queenside. However, his own king had not castled and became a requirement for the defense of three pawns on d, e, and f file. Eventually, this weakness (aided by an imprecise move 36...Re4?) led to the collapse of the black defense. Caruana resigned on move 44, making Karjakin the winner and challenger for the World Chess Championship 2016.

In a matter that dominated early discussion of the Candidates, Agon controversially tried to claim that only approved broadcasters were able to put forth the game moves in real time.[http://www.agonlimited.com/news/2016/3/4/live-moves-and-video-from-candidates-tournament-to-be-shown-exclusively-by-worldchesscom-and-approved-broadcast-partners Moves from Candidates Tournament exclusively shown by approved broadcast partners] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323173201/http://www.agonlimited.com/news/2016/3/4/live-moves-and-video-from-candidates-tournament-to-be-shown-exclusively-by-worldchesscom-and-approved-broadcast-partners |date=2016-03-23 }} (Agon) However, a similar restriction was attempted by Sofia organizers first for the Topalov-Kamsky match in 2009 and then the World Chess Championship 2010,[http://www.chessvibes.com/?q=columns/bulgarian-organizers-take-chessbase-to-court Bulgarian organizers take ChessBase to court] (ChessVibes)[http://interviews.chessdom.com/chessbase-copyright-danailov ChessBase copyright, Danailov interview]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702041645/http://interviews.chessdom.com/chessbase-copyright-danailov |date=2014-07-02}} (Chessdom)[http://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/a-fight-over-relaying-chess-moves/?_r=0 A fight over relaying chess moves] Gambit Blog (NY Times)[https://web.archive.org/web/20100605121529/http://www.dnevnik.bg/sport/2010/05/31/909514_organizatorite_na_macha_topalov_-_anand_ochakvat_pone The organizers of the match Topalov - Anand expect at least 500 thousand. Euros if ChessBase site convicted] (Bulgarian) with the end result that ChessBase was found non-culpable in a resulting lawsuit.[http://www.chessvibes.com/?q=reports/bulgarian-chess-federation-vs-chessbase-0-1 Bulgarian Chess Federation versus ChessBase 0-1] (ChessVibes)[http://www.berlin.de/imperia/md/content/senatsverwaltungen/justiz/kammergericht/presse/16_o_270_10_urteil_vom_29.03.2010_landgericht_berlin_anonymisiert.pdf?download.html Landgericht Berlin decision 16 O 270/10] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304221820/http://www.berlin.de/imperia/md/content/senatsverwaltungen/justiz/kammergericht/presse/16_o_270_10_urteil_vom_29.03.2010_landgericht_berlin_anonymisiert.pdf?download.html |date=2016-03-04 }} (German)[http://medienrecht-blog.com/2011/04/13/uebertragungsrechte_weltmeisterschaft_schach Internet Law Blogpost] (German) The judge in that case took only half an hour to reject all demands from the Bulgarian Chess Federation (BCF), while ChessBase relied on the legal definition of a database. The most important aspect was that the judge did not agree that a chess game can be seen as a database, and therefore the BCF could not refer to their rights as database producers. The president of the BCF, Silvio Danailov, estimated the loss at 1 million euros in a Forbes interview,[http://www.europechess.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ECU-NEWSLETTER-102.pdf Danailov profile] Forbes Bulgaria, translated to English by ECU though they had only asked 15000 euros from ChessVibes for retransmission rights, and crucially only spent 8000 euros themselves, which the judge found insufficiently substantiated as a realistic amount toward a database endeavor.

Agon produced a legal position white paper (Shekhovtsov & Partners), asserting that chess fans should have to agree to terms and conditions that include not re-transmitting the moves elsewhere, before being allowed access.[http://www.agonlimited.com/s/white_paper_position.pdf Agon Limited, White Paper Position]{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} This is in line with a 2011 European Chess Union memo that produced a legal opinion from Morten Sand, indicating that contract law formed a superior basis for exploiting the chess audiences, with the expectation that viewers could be made to bear 75 euros (each) for the world championships, so that "the financial upside is huge" to generate 750000 euros.[http://www.chess.sk/files/subory/1320353998ECUCommissionforCopyrightontheuseofchessgamesfromtheECUcompetitionsreport.pdf Memo Re: Copyrights of chess games – internet transmission of chess games] ECU Copyright Commission, Section 2.4

The Bulgarian website Chessdom had the strongest editorial on the matter (from CEO Anton Mihailov), calling Agon's decision a multi-level blunder, even pointing out that Agon's decision actually violates Section 4.7.3.6.4.1 of the [http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/regscandidates2016.pdf Candidates Regulations] ("All live images, live broadcasting (Internet TV) pictures and all the other content for the full event details will be carried on the official domain [moscow2016.fide.com]. The organizer shall not develop any other website.").[http://www.chessdom.com/agons-new-policy-puts-the-candidates-tournament-idea-in-jeopardy Agon's new policy puts the Candidates tournament idea in jeopardy] (Chessdom) However, this item is enforceable only between Agon and FIDE. Their main thrust though, was:

Millions of fans will not learn about this year’s Candidates matches because of AGON’s policy. Many will miss the live coverage and only learn about the games after the tournament is over, when Carlsen’s challenger is known. What is the commercial value of that? Can you calculate how much are the lost benefits for the sponsors of the event? And for the hosts? And for the players? And for the sponsors of the players?

ChessBase ended up taking the threats seriously, which could have been to the dismay of Agon, as the official commentators (Alexandra Kosteniuk and Evgeny Miroshnichenko) were trying to use their software in Round 1. Instead, they had to switch to manual entry from ChessBomb.[https://www.chess.com/news/anand-beats-topalov-in-first-round-candidates-tournament-6638 Anand beats Topalov in the first round] (Chess.com) Alleged violators included not only ChessBomb and Chessdom, but also ICC, Chess24, and Der Spiegel. Although the Terms and Conditions (#10) mention New York state law as applicable to those who signed up, Merenzon sent a cease and desist letter that invoked 10 years imprisonment under Russian law. The specifying of choice of venue and choice of law in a contract of adhesion can also be in dispute.[http://uakron.edu/dotAsset/728194.pdf Contractual choice of law in contracts of adhesion and party autonomy] by Mo Zhang, Akron Law Review, Vol. 41, 2007

Agon also impeded the credentials of Salim Fazulyanov, allegedly as retaliation against his website Kavkaz-Chess.ru for being the first Russian site to publish Chessdom's open letter.[http://www.chessdom.com/candidates-chess-2016-round-1-live Candidates Live] (Chessdom)

Eventually Agon's own worldchess.com editorial staff broke ranks, declaring that an embargo was not the way to go, but a show.[http://worldchess.com/2016/03/11/win-audiences-and-sponsors-with-a-show-not-an-embargo Win Audiences and Sponsors with a Show, not an Embargo] (Agon) The main argument is: holding all the trumps like live video and exclusive interviews with players (and other VIPs) should be enough, without resorting to legal blusterings. Before Round 2, Agon partially relented, dispensing with its presumptory 2-hour PGN embargo, designating the game's end instead.[http://www.agonlimited.com/news/2016/3/12/zvwkqafbxzlo38pzozsa310zzcvi5s Change in the timing of the release of PGN files] (Agon)

In round 1, the moves were carried live without restriction by official partner NRK.[http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/9281-fide-and-agon-sign-historic-media-rights-with-nrk.html FIDE and Agon sign historic media rights with NRK] (FIDE press release)[http://www.nrk.no/sport/sjakk NRK.no access to games] About 45 minutes into second round, the NRK live move transmission became suspended, causing other sites to also experience confusion. According to reporter Tarjei Svensen on Twitter, Agon was actively pursuing lawsuits against ChessBomb, Chess24, ICC, and ChessGames.com,[https://twitter.com/TarjeiJS/status/708632720302338048 Tweet] (Tarjei Svensen) with the chilling effect of causing them to essentially suspend activity.[https://twitter.com/ChessBomb/status/708676377701183488 Tweet] (ChessBomb) The Norwegian online newspaper site VG Direkte (also an official partner) initially stayed active (with the browsewrap language: "By viewing this page you expressly agree not to publish any information concerning the chess moves of the candidates tournament 2016 chess games until the end of such game"),[http://direkte.vg.no VG Direkte game access] but then also suspended activity. Der Spiegel continued its live ticker of Aronian-Anand analysis throughout.[http://www.spiegel.de/sport/sonst/schach-kandidatenturnier-anand-gegen-aronjan-a-1081811.html Live Aronian-Anand Ticker Round 2] (Der Spiegel, German)

After Round 2, Agon officially announced its rumored legal action against the above four broadcasters.[http://www.agonlimited.com/news/2016/3/12/agon-ltd-commences-legal-action-against-chess24-internetchessclub-chessgames-and-chessbomb-for-breaching-broadcast-restrictions Agon Limited commences legal action] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312232235/http://www.agonlimited.com/news/2016/3/12/agon-ltd-commences-legal-action-against-chess24-internetchessclub-chessgames-and-chessbomb-for-breaching-broadcast-restrictions |date=2016-03-12 }} (Agon)

The Guardian newspaper covered an exposé of the ruckus,[https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/13/world-chess-champion-magnus-carlsen-candidates-tournament-moscow-agon World's chess fans await next move in battle over tournament broadcasts] by Stephen Moss (The Guardian) noting that Agon's tactics may be hoping to at least scare off its rivals and keep the big prize (coverage of the World Championship match with Carlsen) to itself.[http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8218&start=60#p175859 Re: Agon ban of live move transmissions] by Paolo Casaschi (English Chess Forum) Vladimir Kramnik was quoted from an ensuing interview as saying: "If you want to make chess professional, if you want to help chess to grow, you have to understand very clearly that the organiser of any chess tournament has full transmission rights. Because the organiser has invested a lot of money and effort to organise the tournament, morally and legally they have full rights over the live transmission."[http://www.agonlimited.com/news/2016/3/14/former-world-champion-vladimir-kramnik-supports-agon-over-live-broadcast-rights Kramnik supports Agon] (Agon) Kramnik contended such control was the way football, tennis and other sports had become successful, and by doing the same, chess could jump to a totally different level. He also imposed his own view upon any end user's opinion of the coverage, declaring that "no one is suffering" from Agon's decision. Top organizer Stuart Conquest was also quoted: "However you look at it, pretty clear that start of Candidates has been a PR [press relations] disaster for organisers / Agon / FIDE."[https://twitter.com/stuthefox/status/708287882738401280 Tweet] (Stuart Conquest)

ChessBomb's whole site went down (due to a component upgrade gone wrong) 10 minutes into Round 3 without any moves having been shown, while Chess24 intermittently carried the moves of two of the four games (Giri–Karjakin and Nakamura–Svidler) in the early going. Chessgames.com similarly had Giri–Karjakin, while Der Spiegel had the Anand–Caruana game on their live ticker.[http://www.spiegel.de/sport/sonst/schach-kandidatenturnier-die-dritte-runde-im-blog-a-1081816.html 3rd round live ticker] (Der Spiegel, German) After rectification 10 minutes later, ChessBomb had all three of the above-mentioned games, and Chess24 quickly added Anand–Caruana also.

By round 4 the immediate frenzy appeared to have dissipated, as Grandmaster David Smerdon was given an all-clear from Agon (or World Chess Events Limited) to run a live blog.[https://www.chess.com/blog/smurfo/live-blog---2016-world-chess-candidates-round-4 Live Blog] by David Smerdon, Candidates Round 4 However, the main sites were still lagging in their relays by about 20–25 minutes during the opening moves. The (Agon affiliated) sites NRK and VG Direkte relayed the games with a delay of about 20 minutes.[https://twitter.com/TarjeiJS/status/709719598866767872 Tweet ] (Tarjei Svensen) Later, at approximately an hour into the games, the alternative feeds were nearly keeping pace with Agon's site, though some slowdown sporadically remained. Agon boasted that PGNs were now going to be available as Flash Reports within minutes of the finish of each game.[https://twitter.com/theworldchess/status/709762641896579073 Tweet ] (Agon) Their own onsite live commentators were still having problems getting the moves to the games at some junctures.[https://twitter.com/ChessVibes/status/709713144512442368 Tweet ] (ChessVibes) Renowned trainer Mark Dvoretsky was deeply unsympathetic to Agon's position, particularly as the official site was so inconvenient to use, and he also mentioned the privacy issues with the necessity of registering there.[http://chess-news.ru/node/21179 Interview, Mark Dvoretsky ] (Chess-News, Russian)

Agon, through a company called Turnir Pretendentov LLC (the name meaning 'Candidates Tournament' in Russian) attempted to sue eLearning Ltd. for 20 million roubles, for the live broadcasting of the moves of the Candidates Tournament on chess24.com. Agon's legal claim was rejected in its entirety on 25 October 2016. Agon are also suing ChessGames and ChessBomb; the final hearings in these cases are due to take place on 17 January 2017 and 28 February 2017 respectively.[https://chess24.com/en/read/news/chess24-win-moscow-case-announce-new-york-line-up chess24 win Moscow case, announce New York line-up] (chess24)

{{Reflist|3}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160312213605/http://moscow2016.fide.com/ Official tournament site]
• [http://worldchess.com/ Official live broadcast]

{{Candidates Tournaments}}

2016

Category:2016 in chess

Category:Chess in Russia

Category:2016 in Russian sport

Category:International sports competitions hosted by Russia

Category:Sports competitions in Moscow

Category:2016 in Moscow

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Category:March 2016 in Russia