UTRECHT - During the WMC 2010, Mahjong News puts various participants in the spotlight. A talk with Russian player Alla Danilevskaya: “Mahjong is so thrilling.”

All About Alla - Day 0

As a child, Alla Danilevskaya from Saint Petersburg played dominos with her parents. “Perhaps that is why I got interested in mahjong”, she tells me in the National Minds Sports Center at Utrecht, the venue of the World Mahjong Championship, just some minutes before the official opening of the tournament.
Yet, she did not learn mahjong until much later, from her girlfriend. Some six years ago, Evgenia Netrebina taught her how to play.
Alla hesitates as she is asked what kind of mahjong that was. “US type? I am not sure… No, it was not with jokers, but with 8 points for a closed pong of terminals and so… Yes, it must have been Chinese Classical. I am not quite sure, since I did not play it so long.”

Friends

One year later, Alla learned the Mahjong Competition rules, which she liked much better than the Chinese classical game. “Much more interesting. Less luck involved. More attractive.”
She plays it a lot with her friends. She has to laugh when I tell her that I think it is strange for Russians to play mahjong. “Why? It is such an thrilling game.”
She qualified for the World Championship and made the long trip to the Netherlands just this morning. “What I knew about Holland? Absolutely nothing. We know only about Escher. We are fond of the graphics by Escher, he is very famous in Russia. So I went to visit the Escher Museum in… what do you call that? Haag? Den Haag, yes.”
And the Dutch tulips?
Tulips are very popular in Russia, says Alla. “But just because we like them. Not because they come from Holland.”