The 2016 FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament is a 14-round event, which determines the next Challenger to Magnus Carlsen's title, is taking place in Moscow from March 10–30. Eight players, including six of the World's top-ten rated grandmasters. The time control is 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 one. The guaranteed prize fund is US $420,000.
In a dramatic finale Sergey Karjakin took the first place
at the Candidates 2016 by beating Fabiano Caruana in 42 moves
Sergey Karjakin who finished first went home richer by €95,000. Fabiano Caruana and Vishy Anand took home €81,500. Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian and Peter Svidler won € 36,250 and Veselin Topalov got €17,000. (Note: 10% of Hikaru Nakamura's fees will be deducted for his absence in the press conference after his game against Levon Aronian.)
The closing ceremony of the Candidates 2016 was held in the Central Telegraph Building on the 29th of March at 5.30 p.m. Some of the dignitaries present at the event were the aide to the President of Russia Igor Levitin, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, head of Russia's Olympic committee and first deputy head of the state of Duma, Alexander Zhukov, Russian deputy sports minister Pavel Kolopkov and President of Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov. Here are some of the pictures from the event (Click on the picture below to view in higher resolution, and then use the arrow keys to browse through all the photos in this report):
The winner Sergey Karjakin came early and did interviews with many Russian channels.
In the picture is seen a very special person watching Sergey.
Sergey was obviously distracted and smiles back at the lady! Can you guess who she is?
She was none other than Galiya Kamalova, wife of Sergey Karjakin
The winner with his proud possession
A closer look at the trophy and the medal which bear the AGON logo
From left to right: Vishy Anand, Peter Svidler, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura, Veselin Topalov, Fabiano Caruana, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Sergey Karjakin, Igor Levitin, Andrey Filatov, Alexander Zhukov and Pavel Kolopkov.
It feels so good to be with each other after such a grueling event. Sergey and Galiya were not the only romantic couple in the hall...
....Meet Romantic couple #2, Anish Giri and Sopiko Guramishvili. They keep the magic alive in spite of being together with each other for the entire event!
Is Deputy Chief Arbiter Hal Bond trying to take a selfie with Vishy?! Hal has been the deputy chief chief arbiter for many important events like 2014 Candidates, World Championships 2008 and many more. He was also the chief arbiter in the 2012 Women's World Championship in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
"Take care in New York!" Advice from the man who has twice faced Magnus Carlsen in a World Championship Match is always welcome!
Peter Svidler in his element!
Top left: Topalov has a look at his trophy. Top right: Nakamura also has a look whether Veselin has got a bigger trophy than him. Bottom left: Topalov to Nakamura,"Even the winner gets the same size of trophy as us!" Bottom right: Both are happy at this discovery!
With the US Championships beginning from the 13th of April, Kris Littlejohn and Hikaru Nakamura do not have a moment to rest. This year the US Championship will be the strongest in the history with the participation of Caruana, Nakamura and So.
Veselin Topalov with Anish Giri's coach Vladimir Tukmakov
Peter Svidler chats with one of Karjakin's seconds, Alexander Motylev
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Darya Tkachenko is a Ukrainian draughts player, FMJD (International Draughts association) Grand Master, multiple times World champion in international draughts (2005, 2006, 2008, 2011) and two-times European champion in international draughts (2004, 2006). She was here to support Karjakin at the event.
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Levon Aronian's fiance Arianne Caoili was in Moscow right from the start of the event. Did you know, Arianne speaks several languages fluently, and has studied for a Ph.D. at a German university on "Russian foreign policy, especially its economic and business relations with Armenia on a state and individual level"?
The pressure, stress, tension of the Candidates doesn't seem to have affected Sopiko, who looked as fresh as a daisy!
Meet Boris Dolmatovsky (left). He is a legend in chess photography. Ever since photography became his hobby, he started to travel to various chess events taking pictures like Kasparov-Karpov match in Sevilla, Kasparov-Short match in London, Kasparov-Anand in New York, Karpov-Anand match in Lausanne, 1988 Olympiads in Thessaloniki, Tilburg (Holland), Paris and more. It was an honour and my good fortune that I got to meet such an accomplished photographer.
This man was single handedly responsible for taking the broadcasting of this tournament to a new level. He was proficient in English and with his minimum knowledge of chess posed fresh and interesting questions to the players and commentators throughout the tournament. You can watch all his videos on the World Chess Youtube Channel.
The chief organizer of the event, CEO of Agon Ilya Merenzon, can be happy that the tournament has successfully concluded
"I cannot conceal the fact that the representative of Russia winning the event has made me very happy", Aide to the President of Russia Igor Levitin was the chief guest at the closing ceremony
The four speakers at the closing ceremony, clockwise from top left: Igor Levitin, Alexander Zhukov, Pavel Kolopkov and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
Sergey Karjakin received these styles Liquour bottles from Beluga
Beluga Noble Russian Vodka were the VIP Program partner at the event and provided free drinks to everyone at the closing ceremony!
With a glass of Vodka and a game of chess, you can forget everything else!
According to me, keeping these chess sets for the guests, not only for the closing ceremony but also during the entire duration of Candidates, was an excellent move by the organizers
"It's my dream," said Sergey Karjakin when he was presented with the BMW i8 model. Did he really win this beast which goes from 0-60 kmph in 4.4 seconds, and has a top speed of 250 kmph? More about it will follow in a separate article shortly!
Life as a winner is busy! On 30th of March Sergey was invited to the Evening Urgant show on Channel One. It is a Russian late-night talk show hosted by Ivan Urgant and is the first show of its kind on Russian television, and bases its format and look on similarly styled American late-night shows. (picture taken from Sergey Karjakin's facebook page)
Watch the 52-minute video of the closing ceremony
Photos by Amruta Mokal of ChessBase India
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By IM Lorin D'Costa
