AN EYE FOR DETAIL

Photographers explain how they look at chess through the lens and why they have to be on their toes

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

THERE'S a photo of Magnus Carlsen immediately after the World Championship he won in 2021. In the image, there's a chessboard with pieces and the trophy to its left in the foreground, with the Norwegian all smiles in the background. It's one of Niki Riga's favourite clicks.

To the average sports fan accustomed to sports images being full of action, this particular image may not seem all that arresting. To Riga, it means the world. "It isn't artistic or anything but I'm the only one who has it," she says. Riga and a select few have one of the toughest jobs in elite chess.

Chess photography.

There's a mantra David Llada, one of the foremost chess photographers in the world today, swears by. "I always say the easiest part of chess photography is that your subject doesn't move," Llada, who, like Riga and many others, is in the city-state for the ongoing World Championship between D Gukesh and Ding Liren, tells this daily. "But the difficult part is that the subject doesn't move. That doesn't give you many opportunities to get a good shot."

When you think of images in sports, you think of vibrant photographs rich in colour, action, detail and life. That may not necessarily be possible in chess, especially at the World Championship because there are just two players, one chessboard (most other top-level events like the Olympiad or the Candidates are held in convention centres), a table and not enough movement. The one between Liren and Gukesh, for example, is being held in a large room, colloquially known as a fish tank.