GG Mäkinen

Juho Mäkinen surveyed forests for a living and was Finnish champion through the eighties and nineties. He is the fastest decider in the top tier: the dice land, he moves, and he has already stopped thinking about it.

He does not speak during a match and does not fill a silence afterwards. What he has instead of conversation is an endgame that has been taking positions apart since before most of the field was born, played at a speed that makes the whole thing feel decided long before it is. One student a season, no more, and the lessons are matches. The student plays him once a week and gets no commentary of any kind, before, during or afterwards, and three of them have said since that they preferred it that way.