Russian High League 2017

Translated from Russian by Sandra Jones

Tomorrow, Sat 18 Feb, is the first day of the 25th Russian renju championship. The random draw is scheduled to take place at 7 pm in Kotorosl Inn and will determine the starting number of each participant as well as the order of the games to be played.

It is the second year in a row in which Soosyrv-8 is the opening rule for the League. The time control is 120+30.

To remind, the eligibility criterion to play in the High League is as follows: To be eligible, a player has to
(1) have finished in top 6 last season,
(2) have finished in top 9 in the All-Russian Tournament, which was
held in Rybinsk last November, or
(3) have won the sponsor’s place.

The current list of participants is as follows:
1. Konstantin Nikonov (Elektrostal)
2. Oleg Fedorkin (Mytishi)
3. Pavel Salnikov (St. Petersburg)
4. Denis Fedotov (Podyuga)
5. Dmitry Epifanov (Moscow)
6. Alexander Mikhailov (Moscow)
7. Victor Balabai (St. Petersburg)
8. Anton Golomaryov (Yakutsk)
9. Pavel Makarov (Moscow)
10. Ivan Danilin (Moscow)
11. Oleg Semyonov (Podyuga)
12. Vladimir Filinov (St. Petersburg)
13. Alexander Radzevelyuk (Rybinsk)
14. Maxim Karasyov (Nizhny Novgorod)
15. Maxim Lavrik-Karmazin (Moscow)
16. Danil Yusupmurzin (Podyuga)

Yury Tayblin and Karen Sirategyan, both from Moscow, who fulfilled condition (2) above, decided not to play this year, so their places were given to other players. The competition for the sponsor’s place was quite dramatic, as there were two strong players who could win it, and it is Maxim Karasyov who succeeded.

It is noteworthy that the squad of the participants is apparently the weakest as compared to a few previous years. This is caused by a few factors, including the decrease of the interest to the All-Russian Tournament in the last two years as well as the refusal of a few strong players to play in qualification competitions. Four players are new to the League this year: Ivan Danilin and Maxim Lavrik-Karmazin (both from Moscow) as well as Oleg Semyonov and Danil Yusupmurzin (both from Podyuga).

The fight for the champion title was always very intense the last few years. However, no surprise was expected about the geographic region of the future champion. It is hard not to notice that since 2012 the champion title was always won by players belonging to the Moscow renju club – Pavel Makarov in 2012 and 2015, Dmitry Epifanov in 2013 and 2014, and Konstantin Nikonov in 2016. Moreover, since 2012 the 2nd place was also always won by players belonging to that club – Konstantin Nikoov in 2012 and 2014, Alexander Mikhaylov in 2013, and Oleg Fedorkin in 2015 and 2016. Another aspect is the number of participants from that region. It has de-facto reached 8, which is exactly one half of the total number of participants, while usually it is 6 (as, e.g., in 2016). Thus, the Moscow club was superior to all other clubs the last five years, even despite some loss of interest to the Moscow championship. How long will it stay this way? When will the superiority of Moscow come to its end?

This question is, of course, very hard to answer, as it is not expected that something unexpected happens this year, although the fight for the first place is going to be as intense as it always was the last few years. The most probable winner is Oleg Fedorkin (Mytishi), and it is expected that his main competitors from other regions will be Maxim Karasyov (Nizhny Novgorod), Denis Fedotov (Podyuga), and Pavel Salnikov (Saint-Petersburg).