GG Hosni

Karim Hosni inherited a coffeehouse in Cairo's old quarter at twenty-four, together with its regulars, its debts and its reputation for the fastest tavla in the district. He cleared the debts, kept the regulars, and turned the reputation national: the café's winter tournament now runs a month and turns entrants away. He crossed to standard backgammon in his forties and won at that too.

His checker play is close to flawless, forty years of café tavla laid down so deep he does not appear to think about it. The cube is another matter. He grew up in a game that does not have one, he still treats it as somebody else's idea, and it is the single thing keeping him from being one of the best in the world. Everybody knows this, including him, and he would rather you stayed for tea than mentioned it. Over a single point there is nothing holding him back, and the DMP leagues are where that becomes obvious.