The Ministry of Science and Higher Education announced the start of the second International "Battle for Science" Esports Tournament

Competitions will be held in eight types of program and will end with grand finals on the site of the International RUSSIA EXPO.

The second International Esports Student Tournament "Battle for Science" will start in Russia. This was announced by Olga Petrova, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, at a press conference at the "Rossiya Segodnya" International News Agency.

The key task of the event is to popularize Russian science and higher education. For this purpose, information messages about the main achievements and discoveries of Russian scientists will be integrated into the mechanics of the tournament.

"We understand that when talking about popularization of science and higher education in the country, we cannot ignore the topic of esports. Therefore, responding to a request from students, we decided to hold a tournament, within the framework of which we will introduce its participants to the achievements of our scientists, as well as the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Today we are holding a whole festival, which includes sociological and scientific research on the topic of esports. It is important that working with this direction will also allow us to control the issue of preserving historical truth, which is sometimes violated by a number of developers", — the Deputy Minister said.

The rapid growth of students' interest in online games was confirmed by Ilya Yaskov, deputy vice-rector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, referring to the research on the state of student esports in higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation conducted by the research institute.

"Half of the country’s students play competitive online games. The education system should learn to take this into account and use esports not only as a way to communicate with young people, but also as an area for training professionals to work in new media", — the expert emphasized.

Compared to the 2021 competition, this time the number of program types has been significantly increased — eight games have been announced, among which many are produced in Russia. Student teams will be able to compete for the championship in Dota 2, League of Legends, World of Tanks, Tanks Blitz, Valorant, PUBG, Caliber and Standoff 2.

The organizers expect to break the record of the tournament "Battle for Science — 2021", for which more than 300 student sports clubs and more than 1,500 players applied.

"Two years ago we managed to organize an incredibly spectacular event that demonstrated the importance of university esports. I am sure that this time these competitions will be no less colorful. We expect more than 4 thousand participants", — said Andrey Matrosov, executive director of the Moscow FCS.

International experts also take part in scientific conferences and round tables held within the framework of the festival of student esports and computer sports science "Battle for Science — 2023", told Denis Vodov, director of the Federal Center for Innovative Competencies in Physical Education and Student Sports under the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

"Experts from China, Brazil, Morocco, Kazakhstan and a number of other foreign countries are integrated into the work. It is also expected to include experts from India, Arab Emirates, Argentina, etc. University students from BRICS, CIS, North and Central Africa, South-East Asia will take part in esports tournaments", — Denis Alexandrovich emphasized.

The news of the second tournament appealed greatly to the players of the past competitions, shared the captains of the teams — winners of the tournament "Battle for Science — 2021" Pavel Gorbunov and Ivan Lavrentiev.

"Of course, students are very positive about the work of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in organizing such tournaments", — said the esportsmen.

The grand finals of the competition will be held on November 18 at the International RUSSIA EXPO.

"Our lads occupy leading positions in the esports field. For the country, of course, this is an important achievement, and we must develop and support it in every possible way. Therefore, one of the notable events on the platform of our exposition will be the cyber tournament "Battle for Science", — emphasized Ruslan Kurbatov, deputy director general of the Autonomous noncommercial organization «Directorate of the Exhibition of Achievements "Russia"».

Qualification stages will start on September 27 and will last until November 5, playoff matches will be held on November 11-12. The winners in the six types of the program will be determined on November 17. The champions in Dota 2 and World of Tanks will be revealed in the grand finals, which will be held on November 18 in LAN-format at the RUSSIA EXPO venue. The two best teams from the playoffs will qualify for the Dota 2 grand finals, and the top 20 players will qualify for the World of Tanks grand finals. Applications for participation in the tournament are accepted on the website.

As a reminder, the International Festival of Student Esports and Computer Science "Battle for Science - 2023" is organized with the grant support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation