Trooped along to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery on Saturday morning, to check out the second day's play at the 2008 Glasgow Chess Congress. It was the 47th time the event's been held, but the first at this rather posh venue. A few people were concerned in advance about the background noise (chess players can be a bit snooty about distractions, although personally it doesn't really bother me at all), but it was certainly a coup to get chess on such high profile display.The chess looked good, the photos less so; I found myself consistently struggling with the light. Some passers-by with point'n'shoot cameras were popping off flashes, but as an occasional player myself that'd have been annoying, so I was shooting at ISO 800 or 1600 out of consideration. Results were noisy. I'm seriously leaning towards getting the 5DII next year, even if it does cost the earth; the benefits of a full-frame sensor and much higher ISO capability is something I'd benefit from in a big way.
I haven't seen the final results yet, but top-ranked GM Jonathan Rowson (rated 2622) beat second-ranked Jacob Aagard (2551) in their afternoon match to become the only player with three points out of three.
