As I entered Brown’s Hotel, there was an apprehensive atmosphere and plenty of adrenaline-fueled good humor. Backgammon players are a friendly crowd even when the stakes are high and this tournament was no exception. I was struck by how academic and studious some of the players seemed; we could have been in a university maths department common room. Indeed, it turned out that many of the players were highly skilled at maths. Chartered accountants and taxi drivers alike were rapidly crunching numbers, calculating the odds.
—Simon Hill