The 2016 Candidates Tournament Site is Announced

February 1, 2016 — The Central Telegraph, an historic building on Tverskaya street in the heart of Moscow, will be the site of the 2016 Candidates tournament to select a challenger for the World Championship. The 14-round tournament will be from March 11 to 29. DI Telegraph, a large multifunctional space within the building, will be the actual venue for the tournament.

The Candidates tournament, which features eight of the top players in the world, is organized by Agon Limited, the commercial partner of the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

Tashir Group, a large real estate developer in Russia, is one of the principal sponsors of the Candidates. The company’s president is Samvel Karapetyan.

The Russian Chess Federation is also involved in running the event.

The Central Telegraph, which is named for the Russian telecommunications company, is the digital hub of Moscow and is home to many of Russia’s high-tech companies.

The building was built in 1927 and designed by Ivan Rerberg, who also designed several other iconic Moscow buildings, including the Kiyevsky railway terminal and the Kremlin Presidium. The building has both modernist and constructivist features and unusual geometrical elements.

The DI_Telegraph space was originally designed to house equipment to send and receive wire telegrams and to provide other analog telecommunication services. As the equipment generated a lot of heat, the room had to be well ventilated and the ceilings had to be very high — seven meters — to house the cooling fans.

The space had fallen into disrepair but was recently renovated and restored to its original state by the architecture firm Archiproba. The renovation, along with photographs, is described on the Domus Web site.

You can see the photos of the venue on worldchess.com.