The lights are low in the British Museum when Igor Tulchinsky slips quietly into the room. There is no swagger, no entourage, no theatrical display of wealth. Slight, with a close-cropped beard and warm, enquiring eyes, he is dressed almost entirely in black, his leather jacket bearing the WorldQuant logo. He has the air of a man who would rather look than be looked at.
Observation is his instinct. He watches, asks questions, absorbs information and only then decides. It is a habit formed early, when, aged 11, he left the Soviet Union with his Jewish parents in search of a life beyond communism, antisemitism and the grey monotony of a society that offered little freedom or possibility.
