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July 22 2007, Chess Grand Master Vassily Ivanchuk, number four in the world, participates at the 2007 Empresa World Chess Tournament in Montreal. (Photo Dimitri Papadopoulos/QuebecPress.com)

PHOTOGRAPHER'S NOTE: OK here it goes: I think shooting Professional Chess is one of THE MOST challenging assignment I ever had to face. Let me explain. First of all, When these world's top Chess Grand Masters play, they want ABSOLUTE silence. When I walked into the room, I could literally hear a pin drop. I took out my 300mm 2.8, positioned myself as far as I could and, with some degree of apprehension, I aimed for Vassily Ivanchuk, placed my finger on the shutter button. And waited, and waited, and waited. And more waiting! (oh, did I mention waiting?) With players thinking, stretching, looking at the ceiling, etc. AND THEN, in a lighting-fast move, out of the blue, from nowhere and unexpectedly Vassily makes a move! And in this quiet room, I JUMP ON THE SHUTTER, and like penguins, everybody in the room JUMPS from their seats to the sounds the camera shutter!... CHA-CLUCK! (and that's only 1 photo, shooting 'continuous' will certainly guarantee one the door)

Now, why the photo is a bit on the soft side? Well, as I said, 99% of the time is waiting and out of the blue, chess moves suddenly happen like a lighting jolt, so in my attempt to "wake up from waiting", "track", "aim", focus" "shoot" (all this in a fraction of a second to get ONLY 1 shot), there's some degree of "motion burr". ....and figure, even wide open, I couldn't get enough light in this f/2.8 sucker to work at decent shutter speeds, even with the ISO pushed to the ceiling. ( I think it was one the rarest moments where I was dreaming for a 200mm f/1.8).

So what you see in the photo above, happened in a 'split second'. (and I wouldn't be surprised if the motion blur is not from the lens tracking him, but instead, a fast head movement of his)

To make a long story short, I shot only 25 frames. Next time I'm walking in this event with a quiet Leica Rangefinder film camera... shooting Pro Chess was quite an experience!

I have always been known for my dramatical water effects, both for how I position my waves and the degree of sheen placed on them. This is a tediuos and time consuming endeavor, but I am most satisfied when my collectors inform me of their daily study and observation of the work(s).