The Long Game

Photographer

Iain Banks

Category

People Photography - Sports

Company

Submission Group

Amateur

Year

2026

Country / Region:

United Kingdom

This was taken at the Széchenyi Baths in Budapest, Hungary. I was drawn in by the generational mismatch between the two players, separated by a chessboard resting on the pool's edge. The captain's hat was the detail that made it for me. It turned an ordinary game into something that looked like a lesson being passed down, master to apprentice, in the middle of the water.