VENICE - Russia is entitled to send just two players two the Open European Championship 2011, as it is a ‘smaller’ EMA-country. (Which is rather weird, knowing that Russia is the world’s largest country.)
But two online qualifiers by EMA sponsor Dragon Kong later, Russia has doubled its delegation. Last month, Vitalii Savickii won the first online qualification tournament. The second Dragon Kong qualifier, which took place last weekend, was won by Italian player Orietta Serafini, but since she had already qualified via the Italian competition, the ticket for Venice was given to the runner-up, Aleksey Bolshakov, who is the happy fourth Russian we will see in the OEMC.  Time for some questions to Aleksey (36).

Mahjong News: How long have you played mahjong?

Aleksey Bolshakov: “Twenty years ago I came in contact with mahjong. At the time, I lived in the Russian Far East and for some time I played the Japanese version of mahjong. Then, for a long time I did not play mahjong. Not until 2008, I joined the Russian Federation of mahjong, and I started playing by the MCR-rules.”

How is the mahjong situation in your country?

Aleksey: “Nowadays in Russia, there are more opportunities to play mahjong, especially MCR and riichi. Much credit for this can be given to the Russian mahjong federation and a number of active players who are involved in organizing the events. For instance, in 2011 in Russia three tournaments with MCR-rules will take place: the Moscow Championship 2011, the Saint-Petersburg Championship 2011 and the Russian Championship  2011. They are all included in the EMA calendar and have a MERS certification. There are plans to hold a riichi championship.

“I participated in all the championships that were organized by the Russian federation, and I'm glad that more and more tournaments are taking place. This allows me to improve my game.”

Great that you qualified for the OEMC2011 via Dragon Kong the online tournament!

“Thank you, but it is still too early to congratulate me, because I have not yet formally registered as a participant. But I expect this will happen soon. To get to the OEMC, I participated twice in the Dragon Kong qualifier and the second time I won the second prize. I'm glad with this result, since for a place on the OEMC I fought against strong Russian players whom I know personally.

“It is not surprising that so many Russians tried to qualify via the Dragon King tournaments. The quota for Russia's participation in OEMC2011 is just two places. This is a very small, considering the number of players from other countries. I know at least another six or seven people who would love to come to Italy. It seems to me that the allocation of seats for the countries - participants EMA should be more equitable.

“I'm glad about the development of mahjong in Europe. I like to play with strong players, meet new players from different countries who met at international competitions. I wish them all much  success in the game and a lot of mahjong.”