Chess and tabletop-strategy tournaments

A chess hall holds a hundred people who barely move. Players stare at boards, press clocks and write down moves. The competition is intense, and it is almost invisible from outside. Photographing it needs a different approach from most events.

This page belongs to our guide to specialist competition photography. For another quiet format, see snooker and cue-sport competitions.

Where the story is

Most of what happens in a tournament is internal. A photograph cannot show a plan or a mistake. It can show people: the stillness, the tension, a long think, a handshake at the end, a young player beside an older one.

Good coverage therefore rests on faces, hands, clocks and the room. Tabletop-strategy games add miniatures, cards and pieces, which are visual, but the same principle holds. The people are the story.

Live positions and ongoing information

In some tournaments, the position on a board, the score sheet or the result of a game is sensitive while the round is running. Information could help another player or affect pairings. Organisers set rules to prevent that.

Ask the organiser or arbiter what applies. Questions to settle include:

• May boards be photographed during play?
• May score sheets or clocks appear in an image?
• Must images be held back until the round ends?
• Are there rules about publishing live content online?

Law, contracts, venue rules and the organiser's own policy are separate layers, and they differ between events. We cannot give legal advice, so ask a qualified adviser if you need an interpretation. Then tell us the rule as a clear instruction. Our guide to embargoes and photographs restricted from publication explains how to record conditions.

Silent working

Tournament halls are among the quietest places an event photographer works. Players are sensitive to sound, movement and light. Ask the arbiter for the rules, which may ban flash, restrict movement near boards and limit where photographers stand.

We follow them. The venue photography checklist records these rules in one place. Our guide to venue permission, participant permission and photographer terms explains how venue and event rules combine.

What to photograph

Typical images include:

• The hall, with rows of players, from an approved position.
• Players concentrating, from a distance that respects the rules.
• Arbiters and organisers at work.
• Registration, pairings boards and information desks.
• Prize-giving, trophies and group images.
• Young players with coaches or family, with permission.

Rank them. Where two events clash, say which wins. The image-use and approval register helps you manage what is cleared for use.

Names, sections and results

A hall may contain many sections, ratings and age groups. Names and results must be exact. Agree a source such as the official pairings and results, and nominate a person to check captions. See identifying athletes across categories for approaches that reduce errors. The event photograph caption worksheet provides a simple form.

Young players

Many tournaments include school-age players. Ask for the rules on images of minors and the person who approves publication. We follow an authorised institution or a parent-led process, and we do not publish identifiable images of children without the permission it requires. Our page on junior competitors in mixed-age specialist events covers the questions in more detail.

A hypothetical example

For example, imagine a one-day rapid tournament in a school hall with four sections and about 120 players. The arbiter bans flash and says boards may not be photographed during rounds. Photographers may stand along two walls.

The brief ranks the top-section final, the junior prize-giving and wide images of the hall first. The photographer works from the walls, avoids the boards and photographs the winners afterwards. Captions come from the official results. This is an illustration only.

What we confirm

We confirm date, venue, crew, deliverables and quotation in writing. That includes the rules on boards and live information, the positions we may use and the sections we plan to cover. If the arbiter changes a rule on the day, we follow it.