World Chess Championship 2016


The World Chess Championship 2016 was a chess match between the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and the challenger Sergey Karjakin to determine the World Chess Champion. Carlsen had been world champion since 2013, while Karjakin qualified as challenger by winning the [|2016 Candidates Tournament]. The best-of-12 match, organized by FIDE and its commercial partner World Chess, was played in New York City between 10 and 30 November 2016.
The match opened with seven consecutive draws before Karjakin won the eighth game. Carlsen evened the score by winning the tenth game. All other games were drawn, leaving the match at a 6–6 tie, so tie breaks decided the match. After two draws to begin the rapid chess tie break, Carlsen won the remaining two games to win the match and retain his title.

Planning timeline

  • 27 November, 2014: At the closing ceremony for the 2014 championship, FIDE president Ilyumzhinov announces the 2016 match will take place in the United States.
  • 4 October, 2015: At the 2015 Chess World Cup, Ilyumzhinov reiterates the location as the United States, saying that the date and place were already final.
  • 15 December, 2015: FIDE and Agon sign media rights deal with Norwegian broadcaster NRK, listing 7-figures until 2020.
  • 8 January, 2016: FIDE announces that Agon has made operational an official broadcasting platform for the World Chess Championship cycle events.
  • 1 March, 2016: Agon announce that the city will be New York City, with approval from its mayor.
  • 4 March, 2016: Agon announce that only approved broadcasters will be allowed to retransmit moves from the Candidates and ensuing World Championship.
  • 28 March, 2016: Sergey Karjakin wins the Candidates Tournament 2016 to qualify to play Magnus Carlsen.
  • 26 May, 2016: Agon head Ilya Merenzon says that "The contract between FIDE and Agon is finalized and is being signed. The contract between the players and FIDE will be finalized in the next 2–3 weeks."
  • 7 June, 2016: Agon announces that a venue has been found in New York City, with only sponsor details and paperwork left to be finalized in the next 2 weeks.
  • 8 August, 2016: Agon announce the venue as the Fulton Market building in the South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan.
  • 30 August, 2016: Agon publish on their website that PhosAgro has signed a strategic partnership contract as a sponsor of the 2016 FIDE World Chess Championship.
  • 12 September, 2016: Agon announce EG Capital Advisors as a sponsor, and give pricing packages for virtual reality viewing options.
  • 30 September, 2016: Tickets go on sale. The lowest price listed is $75 per game.
  • 17 October, 2016: Agon announce their new broadcast model for the World Championship.

    Candidates Tournament

The Candidates Tournament to determine the challenger was held on 11–30 March 2016 in Moscow, Russia, with FIDE's commercial partner Agon as the official organizer, with support from the Russian Chess Federation. The tournament was an 8-player double round-robin, with five different qualification paths possible: the 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 who played in Chess World Cup 2015 or FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, and one player nominated by Agon.

Qualified players

Standings

Results by round

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

Summary

Going into the final round, Caruana and Karjakin were tied for the lead, half a point ahead of Anand, and played each other in the final round. Due to the tie breaks situation, the only possible tournament winners were Caruana and Karjakin, with the winner of their final game also the winner of the tournament. A draw would cause the tournament result to depend on Anand's game against Svidler; if Anand won then Caruana would win, but otherwise Karjakin would win. Karjakin had the further advantage of white in the final game. Caruana played for a win in the final round, but overpressed, and at the critical moment, Karjakin calculated correctly and won the game and tournament. In retrospect, Karjakin's draw with black in his other game against Caruana, which Chessbase called a "brilliant defensive effort", was critical. Karjakin's victory qualified him as the official challenger.

Championship match

The Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin was held from 10 to 30 November 2016 in New York City, United States, under the auspices of FIDE.

Previous head-to-head record

Prior to the match, as of 10 November 2016, Carlsen and Karjakin had played each other 21 times with Carlsen leading 4 wins to 1 with 16 draws. Their most recent encounter was at the July 2016 Bilbao Chess Masters double round-robin tournament, where Carlsen won one game while the other was drawn.

Lead up to match

After his victory in the Candidates Tournament 2016, Karjakin was scheduled to play in the Norway Chess event in April with a head-to-head game against Carlsen on tap, but cancelled his appearance, citing fatigue from the Candidates victory. He then surprised Carlsen by agreeing to play in the double round-robin Bilbao tournament in July. The games at the Bilbao tournament were played at a slightly faster initial rate than that used in the World Chess Championship. Carlsen defeated Karjakin in their first game in the Bilbao tournament, while the second was drawn. He credited the faster time control in making it difficult for Karjakin to deal with pressure.

Organization and location

The match was held under the auspices of FIDE, the world chess federation, with the organisation rights belonging to Agon, its commercial partner. It took place between 11 and 30 November in the renovated Fulton Market Building in the South Street Seaport in New York City, with the two contestants competing for a prize fund of at least 1 million euros. The chief arbiter was Takis Nikolopoulos from Greece.

Match regulations

According to the match regulations put forward by FIDE, the players could not draw a game by agreement before Black's 30th move, but they could claim a draw by threefold repetition. The time control was set at:
  • for full-time control games, 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.
  • for rapid games, 25 minutes with 10 seconds increment per move. The player with the best score after four games is world champion; if tied, players will play up to five two-game blitz matches.
  • for blitz games, 5 minutes with 3 seconds increment per move. The player with the best score after any two-game blitz match is world champion; if tied, players will play one sudden death game.
  • for the final sudden death game, 5 minutes for white pieces, 4 minutes for black pieces, no increment for the first 60 moves, 3 seconds increment per move starting at the move 61. The winner of this game is world champion; if drawn, black is the winner and world champion.

    Seconds

Magnus Carlsen's team for the match consisted of Peter Heine Nielsen, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Espen Agdestein. Additional support was from the analytic team which included Laurent Fressinet, Nils Grandelius, Jan Gustafsson, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Samuel Shankland took part in some training camps, and Magnus also played training games against Richárd Rapport.
Sergey Karjakin's team for the match included Vladimir Potkin, Alexander Motylev, Yury Dokhoian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and some undisclosed Russian grandmasters.

Opening press conference

The opening press conference was held on 10 November. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was unable to attend following sanctions from the US Government over his ties with the Syrian regime, but communicated by Skype instead with vice president Gelfer the official FIDE representative. Agon's CEO Ilya Merenzon attended, and the two major sponsors had representatives, with both players and the chief arbiter rounding out the principals.

Broadcast

The video feed on the official website was only available after paying a fee. Live commentary was provided by Agon and Chess24. Prior to the match AGON tried to deny other websites to show moves of the match. AGON went to court over this but lost their case.

Schedule and results

DateDayEvent
10 November 2016ThursdayOpening ceremony
11 November 2016FridayGame 1
12 November 2016SaturdayGame 2
13 November 2016SundayRest day
14 November 2016MondayGame 3
15 November 2016TuesdayGame 4
16 November 2016WednesdayRest day
17 November 2016ThursdayGame 5
18 November 2016FridayGame 6
19 November 2016SaturdayRest day
20 November 2016SundayGame 7

DateDayEvent
21 November 2016MondayGame 8
22 November 2016TuesdayRest day
23 November 2016WednesdayGame 9
24 November 2016ThursdayGame 10
25 November 2016FridayRest day
26 November 2016SaturdayGame 11
27 November 2016SundayRest day
28 November 2016MondayGame 12
29 November 2016TuesdayRest day
30 November 2016WednesdayTie-break games
30 November 2016WednesdayAwards and closing

The games commenced each day at 14:00 local time in New York City.