2016 Candidates Moscow 10-29 March

[MJMcCready]

I've heard a rumour that F.I.D.E are interested in making it the theme tune of the upcoming world championship match.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Closing ceremony report from Chessbase:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates ... g-ceremony

Speelman looking ahead to the Carlsen-Karjakin match:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/speelman-h ... st-carlsen

[Kevin Thurlow]

http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/ ... s-for.html

may be of interest. For the uninitiated, (i.e. not Justin) this is the blog for "Intellectual Property" experts.

Agon's threats to sue for millions of dollars are interesting. I thought the courts normally decided the amount of damages (if any).

In one spectacular case somebody sued a local Parish magazine for libel (the editor said the complainant looked like a horse). After a lengthy court case, the court decided this was libel, but as nobody read the local magazine, and nobody had ever heard of the complainant, the damages would be £1 (and pay your own costs). The judge pointed out that the national newspaper coverage meant that considerably more people had now heard the libel, whereas if the complainant had just shut up, nobody would have noticed.

[Roger de Coverly]

For the uninitiated, (i.e. not Justin) this is the blog for "Intellectual Property" experts.

I think they are assigning undue technological sophistication when they say

Instead, the moves are displayed on graphic boards near-instantaneously.

That's not really the case, it's just a list of the moves previously played that is the minimum transmission standard. For example, to display a game on this forum, you just need the moves and the embedded pgn4web tool does the rest. Game scores as a list of moves are acknowledged to be records of facts.

There's no dispute that they have broadcast rights over live video and audio commentary.

[Chris Rice]

60,000 real viewers? Hmmm. Check out Magnus Carlsen's Facebook page: 410,000 likes. And NRK paid 7 figures for the right to a "fantasy" audience. Oh, and since this is already out now, Google is partnering with us on this broadcast. They are going to be taking some of the content we produce and posting on Youtube, which Google owns, in case you forgot, with their own advertising marketing against it. Yes, they are paying Agon. But Google is just the tip of the iceberg. BMW was one of the sponsors of the launch party tonight. When was the last time BMW got involved with chess as a sponsor? When was that? I'm sorry... what did you say? Never. Yes, never would be correct. But again, these are just some of the companies and sponsors we are dealing with and lining up. And they all have the same demand, which I've already stated above. How about you get your heads out of, you know where... We are on the cusp of changing chess. To put on this little production is costing a lot of money and is a big investment. It is professional in a way chess has never been professional. Sites in Berlin, Moscow, New York. When is the last time that happened in a 12-month period? Like I said, the players are all behind this. They understand what this will mean. But go on in your tra la la la land.

Do you remember this nasty little post? Particularly the BMW part? Looks like another balls up has just surfaced when it appeared BMW announced it had awarded an i8 car to Karjakin for winning the Candidates. Turns out it was only his to drive for a month! https://www.chess.com/news/karjakin-rec ... a-bmw-9191