The final stretch of the season has officially begun. The very next Saturday tournament will be a key moment that will finally put everything in its place...
The situation around B2B MASTERS: the decisive week of the season
Нудик Володимир · 2026-01-07
The final stretch of the season has officially begun. The very next Saturday tournament will be a key moment that will finally put everything in its place and shape the final standings ahead of the main event of the year — B2B MASTERS. Based on its results, we will get the final list of seeded players and the complete lineup for the season’s final tournament.
An important point — this time the tournament carries not only sporting, but also social significance. 80% of all entry fees will go to the overall B2B MASTERS prize pool, and 20% will be donated to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. So every match, every point, and every shot will matter not only for the rankings.
At the top of the standings, there is no longer any suspense. Yurii Semko has secured first place early: the gap of 16,860 rating points between him and his closest challenger leaves no chance for the leader to change. He will head into B2B MASTERS as the undisputed favorite and the No. 1 seed.
But after that — it’s a real thriller. The battle for the top 8 is still wide open, and an important factor fuels it: one of the players currently in the top eight has officially announced that he will not participate in the Masters. This means that the player in 9th place will automatically become a seeded player.
At the moment, ninth position is held by Viacheslav Halkin, who has an advantage of 3,440 points over Lagodzynskyi. We definitely will not see Matvii at the Saturday tournament; instead, Maksym Potapov could actively join the race. To “jump onto the last train,” he needs 6,090 rating points. Given the tournament format, this is quite realistic. A win on Saturday gives the Ternopil player the best chance to break into the top 8.
No less intense is the fight for the top 16. Due to the guaranteed absence of one of the seeded players, now even 17th place offers a chance to make it into the season’s final tournament.
Arsen Petrosov is currently in that position. He will be watching the events from Kyiv and, without exaggeration, will be hoping that his competitors fail to pass him. However, the task looks almost impossible: Andrii Rodionov and Ihor Rii are right behind him — they hold 18th and 19th places and are separated from the coveted Masters by only 1 and 501 points, respectively.
At the same time, Dmytro Kovalov and Mykola Hudenko will try to hold onto their spots in the top 16 — both are in the danger zone. Dmytro is already registered for the Saturday tournament and will definitely have a chance to add to his rating. Mykola, however, is not yet on the list of participants, although there is still time to decide.
Close to the coveted top sixteen are also Oleksii Dulyba, Roman Vasyliv, Valerii Dymytriiev, and Oleksandr Akimov. And that is not the end of the list of contenders. Under ideal conditions, the tournament winner can earn 10,760 points, second place — 7,780, third — 5,700.
To understand the scale of the suspense: right now, the 16th-ranked player has 8,450 points. This means one strong tournament can flip the entire table.
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See you at B2B. It will be loud. It will be decisive.