lets talk about the candidate's coverage

All Things Chess
1

stolen from reddit and adapted for here…

Do you know what’s the worst about the boneheaded decision to ban all websites except for the official site?

Forget their stupid embargo

Forget their apparently mediocre commentary team

Forget the fact that you have to over come dozens of 500 and 502 errors to see said team because their site is maxed on capacity…

Well don’t forget those things they are important.

What i find especially scummy about Agon/Fide/Kirsan is that they want a facebook and or email signup with other identifying information just to watch.

That’s why there’s no youtube stream.

They say it’s to make coverage better and get data on who is watching. There were like two or three paragrpahs on why it was important.

Let’s be honest, they will be datamining your ass.

I get that when something is free that you, the audience are what’s being sold, but you can do it tastefully, as chess24 does with an ad at the start and occasional one thereafter, or same as st louis chess club.

It almost encourages me to make up an outlandishly fake facebook account just to troll those dimwits.

I am as excited about the field as I ever have been, but suspect I will be watching less than ever.

The corruption to FIFA is damaging, but the game prints so much money a few execs stealing tens of millions doesn’t ruin it.

The corruption and incompetence in chess is almost crippling.

I think I’m going to watch the go coverage instead tomorrow and as long as that match is going on. And I suck at go and have no real understanding of the game.

Beyond disgusted

EDIT:

Pasted the message. seriously, this is a piece of corporate bull**** if I’ve ever seen one written…

Further upgrading of the broadcast and the website on the whole requires knowledge about our users, means you. Therefore we would like to know the geo location, statistics, ages and the whole lot.

The information received will be used to improve the broadcast overall, as well as to add new features to make it more comfortable and useful to watch. Our Privacy Policy.

2

+1 on everything you said.

…scot…

3

The only live coverage seems to be on chess24.

4

Correct. and unless you enter the moves independently, you won’t be able to get a pgn from them during the game or immediately after. BTW, Kirsan was at he opening ceremony–so much for his having stepped aside until the sanctions issue is resolved for him.

5

chess24 has decided to ignore the blockade figuring that agon has no legal standing in banning live transmission of games…

credit to them, and that is who i’m watching as opposed to the official coverage.

of course that coverage is slightly delayed, but is better than nothing.

6

[Event “Candidates 2016”]
[Site “Moscow, Russia”]
[Date “2016.03.11”]
[Round “1.2”]
[White “Nakamura Hikaru (USA)”]
[Black “Caruana Fabiano (USA)”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A30”]
[LiveChessVersion “1.4.8”]

  1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. e3 e6 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 Ne7 7. d5 exd5 8. cxd5 d6 9. Nc3 Nd7 10. Nf3 O-O 11. O-O h6 12. h4 Nc5 13. Re1 Bg4 14. Bf4 Nf5 15. Qd2 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 Qf6 17. Rac1 a5 18. Nb5 Qxb2 19. Qxb2 Bxb2 20. Rc2 Bf6 21. Bxd6 Nxd6 22. Nxd6 b6 23. Rb1 Rab8 24. Nc4 Na4 25. Bg4 Rfd8 26. d6 h5 27. Bh3 b5 28. Nxa5 Rxd6 29. Nc6 Rb6 30. Nb4 Nc3 31. Rb3 1/2-1/2
7

ICC had live coverage and commentary by Seirawan/Dlugy. I was also able to get live coverage on my phone with the Android app Follow Chess. There were probably numerous other sites which defied the “ban” as well.

– Hal Terrie

8

That’s good to hear. Just installed Follow Chess on my tablet. Nice app. Thanks.

9

Agon has announced that they will be commencing legal action against chess24, chessbomb, ICC, and chessgames: http://www.agonlimited.com/news/2016/3/12/agon-ltd-commences-legal-action-against-chess24-internetchessclub-chessgames-and-chessbomb-for-breaching-broadcast-restrictions.

10

Good luck to them. Agon’s actual broadcast is subject to copyright, but the moves of the games are not. If these sites only relay the moves which they get from watching Agon’s broadcast, Agon will not have a legal leg to stand on. As to the denial of service attack claims, I hope they have proof (apparently they don’t) that these entities actually perpetrated a denial of service attack. Perhaps Agon’s servers just weren’t up to the task of service a billion chess fans. :slight_smile:

BTW, the Follow Chess Android app is carrying live coverage.

11

chessdom.com/agons-new-polic … -jeopardy/

They note decision by the courts in the US and EU holding that the moves of chess games can not be restricted from distribution.

12

They don’t have a copyright claim against those sites, but might they have a claim on some other grounds?

They require a sign in to access the moves, and creating an account requires agreeing to a terms of service agreement. Relaying the moves to another chess site for public display violates those terms.

On first glance, that sounds like it might support a lawsuit for tortious interference against the sites that are encouraging people to violate their contracts with Agon by providing the moves to those sites.

13

Agon said Sunday it will sue four websites, two of them in US courts because the sites are US-based.

14

They will get nowhere in the US Courts. As long as the sites aren’t rebroadcasting the Agon transmission, they can’t prevent dissemination of the moves, the running pgn, of the game as that is not copyrightable. There is case law on that.

I suppose they could make the players compete in a sealed, secure room and make all who watch agree to not convey the moves to anyone while the games are in progress, but Agon’s cause of action would be against the people in the room who made an agreement akin to a confidentiality agreement.

I think Agon is blustering to see if they can intimidate these web sites. It might work. They were braying that they were going to go before a Russian court for an injunction based on trademark infringement. The moves aren’t a trademark. A Russian court could certainly rule that way, but then Agon would have to go to court in the country where the “offending” sites are located and seek judicial enforcement of the Russian judgment—good luck to Ago with that.

I suggest that all fans of chess simply boycott the Agon site. Give them a dose of fan driven consumer capitalism. :slight_smile:

15

Agon has already backed down on not releasing the pgn’s on the "official site until two hours after the games are completed. They will now be available immediately at the conclusion of the games.
Pe rAgon:
“Please note that from Round 2 of the Candidates Tournament, the PGN files of the moves will be released on the official site and WorldChess.com immediately after the conclusion of each game, rather than two hours afterwards.
This step has been undertaken after consultation with media organisations around the world and we are delighted to take this step so news of the results can be distributed with greater speed.”

theguardian.com/sport/2016/m … oscow-agon

16

Round 4 can be followed live on the app Follow Chess, chessbomb.com and chess24.com. I guess Agon is having trouble obtaining injunctive relief.

17

Has anyone seen any reports of Agon, Ltd. actually commencing legal action anywhere as they threatened to do? I haven’t seen any reports of legal proceedings having commenced.

18

I don’t know if it’s connected to legal issues but ICC, while continuing live coverage of the games, has stopped providing live GM analysis. That’s very uncharacteristic for them; in my experience, if they announce live analysis of a tournament they have it every day right through the last round of the event.

– Hal Terrie

19

Interesting. All the other outlets are still relaying live moves. Don’t know if they’ve cut back on their independent commentary.

20

ICC is still relaying moves, close to live. There’s just no audio commentary.