Back in Moscow, I decided to write a report about our tour without delay.

3 December

We left Moscow as planned, in the evening on 3 December. The day before LeXeR did his last training with Polosatiy in our office and went to sleep to the "Ismaylovskaya" hotel. There they stole all his money he had for the trip. Hm, I had offered him to go to stay at my place (like I knew that!). But there was nothing we could change.

The Russian delegation consisted of quakers - LeXeR, PELE, kik, CS M19 (Alarik, KalaGriB, NooK, Rider, MadFan) - Mila Masina, and journalists - Dima Estrin ("GameLand"), Andrey Ohm (Game.EXE) and me. Next day Polosatiy was leaving for Seoul, too. Our way was lying through Beijing because there were no direct flights Moscow-Seoul-Moscow at the right time. We flew to Beijing for about 8 hours, playing cards by the way, somebody just slept, and of course, we talked a lot about the forthcoming tourney.

4 December

Upon arrival to Beijing we found out that the registration to our flight Beijing-Seoul had been already over - an hour ago. Funny =). Not thinking long they put us on a Korean Airlines flight, and in 1,5 hours we were in Seoul. At the entrance we were met by the WCG representatives and Asmodey. PELE and kik passed him a bag of Russian food (Asma missed a lot Russian cuisine), then we exchanged some money and divided into two groups. The players were transferred to the Players Village and we went to the "Riviera" hotel. By the way, it's situated in immediate proximity to COEX, where World Cybergames 2001 took place. I must say that traffic jams in Seoul are quite like in Moscow, so the journey to the hotel took us about 1,5 hours. The first person I met in the hotel (btw, it was really cool - large comfortable rooms, three phones, a free minibar etc!) was GreenJek. I spotted may Western journalists in the lobby, but I recognized only Sujoy from XSR. Quickly done with registration, all our press crowd moved to the Players Village for the tournaments' sortition. The Samsung Olympic Centre turned out to be a big building with adjacent sports installations in one hour's journey from the hotel. Our guys were already there. They were accomodated in rooms next to Canadians, the team leader Nook was given a mobile (which he successfully lost later =)), and all the players - sand-colored WCG numbers. All the players and press gathered in the press centre to participate in sortition. I saw almost all the players I knew by previous champs, greetings and handshakes started. Communication went on... Then I spotted a green-haired Korean wearrin the tourney staff uniform, and realized that it was c58^RuFF^Rz. Naturally, I ran to greet him at once. Really surprised and glad, he introduced me to all the Koreans standing nearby. Lycos, Elan, Janus and many others... Elan complained that his consription to army was coming, that's why he didn't take part in the champ, but was only a part of the staff. Lycos was a funny guy speaking almost no English, but somehow we managed to understand each other and RuFF helped us in that. Of course they started asking about our players, and I brought LeXeR to them right away. It was fun watching Janus and LeXeR look at each other =). Leha kept his head and offered Janus at one stroke  to shoot on pro-t4 in the training hall. Janus said: "OK" and disappeared... =).

And then I went walking further. Almost every player I talked to was interested where Polosatiy is and when he would arrive. Actually, it was just interesting to watch representatives of 37 countries gathered there that evening. Prozac was sleeping in a cap pulled over his eyes in the first row until the Swedish national team was called to the random, Americans commented noisily the sortition's process (Makaveli excelled the most) and ate pizza, the rest made their acquaintances and looked watchfully at the recognized tourney's favorites - ZeRo4, Korean StarCrafters (especially Boxer), exotic French Crafter Elky (he had orange hair and spent all the tourney in sunglasses), and many others.

It was interesting to notice that Korean random is based on player's real name so during the sortition it was uneasy to understand who playes with whom and in which group. Of course, we were interested in our quakers and CS-ers layout. But at the end all became clear thanks to special brochures containing all the infomation about the tourney and data on players. Meanwhile the sortition was over and we went to the hotel, having said goodbye to the guys. All felt sleepy after the long day - and 6-hours time difference between Moscow and Seoul told upon everyone. In the hotel first thing I did was posting news from an Internet-cafe (an expensie pleasure!) and couldn't help having a walk in Seoul, visiting a Korean restaurant.

News from 4 December

5 December

In the morning we went straight to COEX at the champ opening. I have to say that COEX is an immense building where exhibition halls, shops, restaurants and business centres are located. So it's easy to get lost there at first! We passed the tourney accreditation and settled down in the press centre. It was our main base during all the competitions days. The WCG took place on a vast territiry of 40 000 square  meters. A gaming zone with different games' subdivisions, an auditorium with two stages and huge screens, stands with game-machines, presentation stands of different games etc. First quakers' games in subgroups A, B, C and D were beginning at 2 pm . Then Polosatiy appeared and work got rolling. Polos took care of demos and scores, I wrote news. As a result we were the fastest among the sites to put demos and results online =). Floppies rule =)... Press was allowed to the gaming with no problems, and many games we saw live behind players' backs. M19 started its first games, there were many difficulties, the team failed to be disqualified once because of the rules' misunderstanding, but everything turned out all right thanks to Mila Masina's efforts. That's how the day passed. In the evening we went again to a Korean restaurant with Polosatiy and GreenJek. It was funny to watch the guys trying to eat with chopsticks =). By the way, there are many local sorts of beer in Korea, which goes perfectly with spicy food! After supper we had a walk in the night Seoul and went to our rooms to sleep. I decided to watch TV and found out that two channel show only soccer and mini-soccer. In general, there's a mighty soccer propaganda in Korea now, on the threshold of World Cup 2002 which will take place next June in Korea and Japan. And they have their own music, rappers, popstars, ads and so on... An interesting culture different from European.

News from 5 December

6 December

That day preliminary games in groups A, B, C and D were finalizing, and also games in the rest 4 subgroups began. I wrote in details about that in the news from 6 December. That day it became clear that many stars are leaving the tourney. For example, Makaveli just couldn't manage his nerves and made an uproar after another defeat. Then he chilled down and asked organizers to dismiss him from the tournament. Many sites wrote at that time that he was disqualified, but in fact it's not quite true. Socrates played badly - he got a little cold in Korea and that told on his playing quality. Slinger also upset us with his three losses and a refuse to continue playing. And the ours were doing fine that day - all the quakers gor to the final with almost no defeats (only PELE and LeXeR lost each once), M19's game got better - they ripped the Americans headed by Court Shimada aka Immotral (you remember the guy?), the British, the Malaysians and the Dutch. The competitions were over as usual by 8 pm and we went to the hotel to have a rest.

News from 6 December

7 December

That day I overslept a little for the tourneys, but Polosatiy was on his place from the early morning and the work was in full swing. Our guys from M19 forced their way to the final, defeating again the Malaysians and Americans. And quakers started playing on full double system and continued until there were 4 best winners and losers defined. kik and PELE fell off to losers (because of a full absence of chocolate bars "Mars" in Korea, without which PELE can't get concentrated =)). The tourney Nation vs. Nation also began, we were asked to aply a Russian team for. Here we got a problem - LeXeR could play with Polosatiy, and PELE with kik. At the end we started to play a match for representing Russia at the tourney, but the server disconnected during the second half of the game, and PELE refused to play again (they were leading with 3 frags). Ukrainian CS team was disqualified from the tourneys for a rules inbfringement - there was some stupid trial where the Ukrainians failed to win.
And we spent the eveinig playing cards, Polos being punching everybody.

News from 7 December

8 December

In the morning we (Russian and Ukrainian journalists) went to the local analogue of Disneyland - Everland. Two limousines with drivers were sent for us from Samsung. We had a ride on different kinds of Russian mountains, bought presents for Polosatiy (he had Birthday on that day!) - a toy tiger and a zebra =). A very beautiful place in mountains - it was my first time to ride on Russian mountains =). Arrived to COEX, we found out that M19 lost both final games and left the competitions,  PELE also fell off having lost a frag to ProZaC, and kik cruelly punched by Stelam. LeXeR lost in winners a very nervous game to ZeRo4. We watched the action from behind players' backs. ZeRo's hands were shaking and he was very nervous during the last minutes. Wiping his hands every minute of his pants, he started just hiding at the end of the game. When the time was over, the American shouted: "YES!!!" and happily jumped off his place. The match's destiny was decided by one frag.
Then in losers' final LeXeR beautifully defeated Stelam in the first game on stage (about 200 people in the auditorium were watching), and after that the Germans lost a 2x2 game to the Swedish. Stelam looked very upset and couldn't play right. Then the final between Russia (kik&PELE) and Sweden (ProZaC&fuzz) passed. The ours were simply outgunned. ProZaC made miracles, and fuzz assisted correctly to him. In my opinion, the pair LeXeR&Polosatiy would have much more chances in this game against the Swedish, but... The result is 2nd place.
In the evening we celebrated Polosatiy's birthday until late at night.

News from 8 December

9 December

The morning started with some oversleeping, and we had to see off Polo back to Moscow in a hurry. After that we went to COEX to the finals. The game ZeRo4 vs. LeXeR was moved from noon to 2 pm. And here we find out that Leha as troubles with his mouse (stickers - an old illness). As a result - defeat on pro-t4. In general, it's rather difficult to play on stage for want of habit. Imagine about 1000 spectators watching you, loud comments in Korean, the seatings are a little unusual, and there are distracting moments like the stage's sophisticated lighting. Loud applause followed each frag. After the game LeXeR said that sometimes he hadn't even heard the opponent's respawn sound, and the game didn't get going. It's acomplicated moment - you have to learn how to play in such conditions. However, the Koreans made a real show out of the final matches - and we have to make an amendment on that. Playing to the tribunes' roar is very difficult - looks like we'll have to take this moment into account. By the way, the final BoXeR vs. Elky was really funny: commentators lead the report in Korean, commenting the players' actions - it's clear that the French won't understand a thing, but his opponent has it all in mind and doesn't leave his rival a chance. Many laughed at that =).

After the finals' end the ceremonial rewarding in all the disciplines began which was followed by the WCG 2001 farewell party in the Players Village. On a large open terrain a big campfire was made. A megadancing was organized, there were tables with fare from Friday's and a sea of beer. The folks warmed up with it and started to rock. Immortal showed how they dance lower break in US - his a father in that, too =). Miss WCG AU was igniting everyone on the stage. Our Ukrainian friends took out 3 bottles of gorilka - and the process started. Cr3sher and Slinger and caught first. Having had a drink for the friendship of peoples, their faces were slightly distorted by 56 degrees, but 15 minutes later they were with us again and asked to pour some more in their glasses. It is characteristic that Stelam was decently drinking beer motivating that he was too small and not allowed to have that =). We also engaged Pyton and blokey for drinks, and Socrates ran up by himself. But there wasn't enough for him... I made several photos there. In general, the atmosphere was incredible - the people was partying and making friends till the late in the night, a megaolympic spirit ruled...

News from 9 December

10 December

Early in the morning we left for Beijing (were almost late for the flight because of traffic jams!), and then to Moscow. We didn't really wanted to leave, all liked Korea, but there were families and business waiting for us in Russia...

Summary

I think, Russian team perfomed greatly, playing only in 3 nominations. Two 2nd places, and the recognition of our CS team by many foreign specialists. M19 lost to the strongest teams at this tourney in a hard persistent fight. b100.kik  was just brilliant, having defeated many foreign good players, and in my opinion, no-one can can reproach him with getting to the WCG by pure occasion.

Next year will be even more interesting, and I'm sure the Russian team will be more numerous, and will play in the maximum of nominations. One have to prepare to such champs in advance, and in a more accurate way, then the result is obvious, taking into account our players' recognized potential.

Korea is a wonderful country where people live in game. Matches are translated on TV, the gamers' army counts by millions, progaming industry is developing impetuously. The Koreans managed to make a real festival for gamers from different countries, and the tourney showed that games are interesting to a very large circle of public. At least, all the Korean gamers' attention was absorbed by the WCG. there is an opinion, actually, that the WCG had outshined the CPL a little all over the world - both tourneys took place at the same time, but the CPL US became a holiday mostly for American teams, and the WCG covered all the spectre of competitional games. A very high attention at the tourney was attracted by FIFA 2001 and Age of Empires II, sometimes these games gathered more public than Quake 3. This is Korea where strategies rule...

By the way, at the champ I had a talk with one of the best UT-players from Germany Floctus, and he said that the strongest players from his country could come to Russia to play. All we have to do is organize a tourney with good purse. Also in the intercourse with Slinger and Socrates we had an interesting idea - to organize a summer camp somewhere in the Moscow region and gather the best players from Russia and abroad. To play games, soccer, have fun. Many foreigners liked the idea - we'll see, maybe we'll realize it? There's a need for sponsors, as this is not a simple business.

I'd like to thank Russian Samsung headquarter for the organization of the Russian team's trip to this tourney. In my opinion, this company made an unestimable contribution to the development of the Russian cybersport, and I hope, they will continue working in this direction. Especially I want to mark Mila Masina's colossal work - it's her energy that made possible the organization of Russian qualifiers and solving all the problems of the Team Russia in Korea. My respect.

Also I'd like to thank all who made efforts to help cybersport development in Russia. We do common job. And of course, thanks to our players for the beautiful game! Good luck!

And finally I want to express my gratitude for the help in leading the direct translation from the WCG to the cyberfight crew: Mark Gukov aka xtr3m, Shane Tracey aka sommonel, and, of course, to Polosatiy =). Respect =).

The WCG 2001 is over, and soon the preparation for WCG 2002 starts. I'd like to see such tourney again - I'll remember it for all my life.

Gallery from WCG 2001:
The 1st World Cyber Games (61 photos )
The 1st World Cyber Games - part 2 (56 photos )