GG Caruana

Daniel Caruana guided tourists up the Rock for decades and still auditions every match the same way he auditioned every tour group, opening with a story and watching to see who laughs. The backgammon is almost incidental. He treats the first few moves as a warm-up for the conversation he actually wants, asking where you are from, what brought you to the club, whether you have heard the one about the apes stealing a sandwich. Silence from the other side does not slow him down. He simply talks for both of you and waits for an opening, and remembers names, stories and jokes far better than he remembers positions, losing most matches still mid-anecdote.