The Agon ban of live broadcasting of Candidates games except on its own website

[Mark Jordan]

Here is a link to an article on the website justifying this ban. Some interesting points made about the ban and about corporate sponsorship. What do you think?

http://worldchess.com/2016/03/06/and-no ... r-sponsor/

[NickFaulks]

If BMW's PR division really wishes to be seen as responsible for making sure that there is no live commentary in the German language, then I assume they are well satisfied. I mean, now that they have been dragged into the emissions scandal, who cares any more?

[JustinHorton]

One of the funniest things about the piece is the way Dylan SUDDENLY STARTS LAUNCHING INTO SHOUTY SENTENCES IN CAPITAL LETTERS as if rather than being employed as some kind of journalist he was actually SOME KIND OF LUNATIC TRYING TO SHOUT PEOPLE DOWN ON THE INTERNET. I think it's rather fitting.

[Richard Bates]

If BMW's PR division really wishes to be seen as responsible for making sure that there is no live commentary in the German language, then I assume they are well satisfied. I mean, now that they have been dragged into the emissions scandal, who cares any more?

In his brief foray onto the forum the other day Dylan McLain made mention to a number of other tournaments that Agon had been involved in, including some rapid/blitz event in Germany. I wonder if BMW were actually involved in that and he has just dragged them into this debate as an example of the "big corporate sponsors" with which they have engaged who are apparently demanding that they enforce 100% exclusivity with no dissemination (for a fee or otherwise) to other websites.

[Leonard Barden]

some rapid/blitz event in Germany

That would be the world rapid championship in Berlin, won by Magnus Carlsen, and the world blitz, won by Alexander Grischuk. I watched these and was not aware of any serious technical problems like those now in Moscow. Indeed, the visual closeups were excellent.

[JustinHorton]

One thing that seems clear to me is that you cannot provide any kind of satisfactory online coverage without providing the gamescore.

[NickFaulks]

Yermo's final comment was to ask what will happen when US sites are prohibited from reporting the moves of the WC match in New York. Yes, that will be fun to watch.

[Richard Bates]

One thing that seems clear to me is that you cannot provide any kind of satisfactory online coverage without providing the gamescore.

I was watching the official coverage when the Anand game ended and the commentators had been discussing another game - with the result (one gained the impression) that when they switched they were basically using informed guessing as to how the final position had been reached from what they had seen before.

[John Upham]

What do you think?

What is your opinion Mark?

[Mark Jordan]

What do you think?

What is your opinion Mark?

They own the material so it's up to them by whom and how it can be accessed. The points made about sponsorship are interesting and should be considered carefully.

[Carl Hibbard]

What do you think?

What is your opinion Mark?

They own the material so it's up to them by whom and how it can be accessed. The points made about sponsorship are interesting and should be considered carefully.

I am sorry Mark but I have to file that under tosh.

[Carl Hibbard]

What is your opinion Mark?

They own the material so it's up to them by whom and how it can be accessed. The points made about sponsorship are interesting and should be considered carefully.

I am sorry Mark but I have to file that under tosh.

The go match is a good example.

[Roger de Coverly]

They own the material so it's up to them by whom and how it can be accessed.

That is in fact disputed. It's generally recognised that a record of the moves of a game of chess is a record of historic fact and thus not anybody's intellectual property. pgn files are just a slightly modified version of the algebraic notation for the record of games promoted as a world standard by FIDE. It's also generally accepted that a video record and an audio commentary would remain the property of the originators. You could hold the Candidates in a closed room and not allow anyone access to what happened until after the games had been completed. If your stated objective is to build chess as a spectator sport, that's not a terribly effective way of going about it. The World Championship is a series of events that long predates Agon. It's perhaps worth revisiting the agreement between Agon and FIDE as to whether Agon were really given the right to abduct it and threaten individual members of the national Federations that make up FIDE with dire consequences should they comment on games whilst in progress.

[Mark Jordan]

They own the material so it's up to them by whom and how it can be accessed.

That is in fact disputed. It's generally recognised that a record of the moves of a game of chess is a record of historic fact and thus not anybody's intellectual property. pgn files are just a slightly modified version of the algebraic notation for the record of games promoted as a world standard by FIDE. It's also generally accepted that a video record and an audio commentary would remain the property of the originators. You could hold the Candidates in a closed room and not allow anyone access to what happened until after the games had been completed. If your stated objective is to build chess as a spectator sport, that's not a terribly effective way of going about it. The World Championship is a series of events that long predates Agon. It's perhaps worth revisiting the agreement between Agon and FIDE as to whether Agon were really given the right to abduct it and threaten individual members of the national Federations that make up FIDE with dire consequences should they comment on games whilst in progress.

Fair point

[Carl Hibbard]

You aim to provide the best coverage possible and the best site by far so any third party broadcast is just an advert for the main event.