[2] 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.

[8] The main sponsor was the Tashir Group, a Russian real estate company headed by Armenian-born businessman Samvel Karapetyan.

FIDE gave the qualifiers until January 11 to decide upon participation and sign the contract,[12] and all accepted even though Veselin Topalov was open in his dislike of Moscow as a location.

[24][25] 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).

[29] Round 6 had Svidler losing out of opening against Anand, while Karjakin held a materially imbalanced position to a draw against Caruana.

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.

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.

[39][40][41] 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.

[39] 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.

[43] 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.

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 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].

[45] Additionally, Mihailov noted the lack of equality of arms in Agon's legal salvo: "With lawyer white paper threats you have cut any journalist’s right to properly cover the Candidates.

Chess.com had an article on the matter, couching their Candidates preview with "a remarkable decision by the organizers might well be the biggest story here", while noting that it personally "lacks the technology [for automated PGN relay] and always relies on volunteers to bring grandmaster games in Live Chess.

"[47] In the Norwegian press, Magnus Carlsen was nonchalant toward the kerfuffle, saying that everyone could just watch the Agon broadcast, with their comments and computer evaluations.

[49] ChessBomb published that it would not use the Agon site due to non-agreement with terms and conditions,[50] and asked for volunteers to seed their Tor setup (though later dropped this initiative).

[52] 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.

[54] 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.

[56] 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.

[60] 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"),[61] but then also suspended activity.

[63] The Guardian newspaper covered an exposé of the ruckus,[64] 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.

"[66] 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.

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.

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.

[72] 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.