Турниры: историческая справка

Dots have been around for several decades, and there's no doubt that some form of competitive activity has accompanied them throughout this time. The desire to prove one's superiority over one's peers is a natural part of any player's life. However, the game's strictly amateur status, the fragmented community, and the lack of a unified information space make it difficult to study the sporting history of Dots in the pre-internet era. Yes, we know from veterans' stories of numerous school and faculty championships, and there are even recollections of a certain Moscow student championship held in the early 1990s. However, without dates, names, and other details, all this is little more than folklore. Only with the widespread use of the Internet did the process of community crystallization begin, and information about sporting events stopped fading into oblivion, settling on the pages of thematic resources.

That's why the tournament history of Dots in the post-Soviet space is closely linked to projects built around online gaming clients. Only there could one find a sufficient number of like-minded individuals, gain gaming experience and motivation, and develop leadership skills, as competitions don't just organize themselves. The legendary Points XT is considered the starting point in this process. Its team of creators not only held several in-person and online tournaments, but also made a name for themselves so well that the memory of these events has been preserved across the vastness of the World Wide Web.

Since then, many new projects have appeared and disappeared, but the tournament history of the Dots has never been interrupted. Its visible embodiment is the summary table of winners, which successive informal community leaders take up like a battle flag. The table contains information about the players who took the top three places in individual tournaments that were officially recognized or had a more or less reasonable claim to it. Clearly, the list of such tournaments is largely arbitrary (especially in the first few years), but it has already become part of the tradition and certainly has a certain internal logic. The main selection criteria are: the organizer's authority, the presence of pre-established rules (regulations), sufficient information, and the participation of players whose skill is unquestioned by the most active part of the community. The format (in-person or remote) and time control (classic, rapid, blitz) are irrelevant.

The Hall of Fame's growth accelerated in 2015, when the "Sport Dots" project launched and the number of competitions increased dramatically. Romantic chaos gradually gave way to meticulous systematization, and the threat of oblivion was finally averted. A symbolic bridge between history and modernity was drawn by the 2016 Sport Dots Remembrance Cup, which marked the tenth anniversary of the first recorded tournament. This event was marked by a commemorative awardpresented to all winners of previous years, as well as a series of essays presenting a retrospective of Dots competitions from 2006 to 2013. The essays were written in reverse chronology - from the last tournament to the first, so when you read the historical information below, supplemented with links to them, do not be surprised by the corresponding turns of phrase (as well as individual anachronisms - a lot has happened since the first publication).

Historical background

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2011

2013

2014