GG Papadopoulos

Kostas Papadopoulos captained island ferries for three decades, threading harbours in every mood the Meltemi could produce, and came ashore with a pension, a small boat and a standing seat at the cafe by the quay. He learned the game as a deckhand and refined it over ten thousand crossings. He is slow, exact and close to impossible to hurry, and he has one habit that gives away more than his face ever does: when you find the best move he says so, quietly, before playing his answer. His own good play passes without remark. The regulars have worked out that the compliments are honest and that they are also, taken together, a map of everything he has been thinking.