STATE DUMA DEPUTIES LOSE DOMINO MATCH TO AFRICAN DIPLOMATS

A team of State Duma deputies led by Deputy Speaker and Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky lost to a combined team of African diplomats in the first-ever international domino championship, "White and Black," held in the African cuisine restaurant Limpopo on Feb. 28.

"It is not a coincidence that dominoes have been chosen as a vehicle to strengthen cultural and business ties between Russia and Africa," the event's moderator, showman Oleg Nazarov, said. "Invented some eight centuries ago, the game has been a favorite form of entertainment for various strata of society throughout the globe. Dominoes is truly the most democratic of games."

A heavy snow that happened to befall Moscow on that day delayed the African participants en route and some of them only managed to arrive by the time the championship was nearly over. In order to save the situation, the Economic Freedom Party's former leader Konstantin Borovoi volunteered to play for the African team.

Zhirinovsky dropped out in the second round. The finals involved State Duma Deputies Alexei Alexeyev and Leonid Mayevsky on the Russian side and biblically named Togo representative Zachariah Gogli and Chairwoman of the Center of Business and Cultural Relations with African Countries Zhanna Belyustova on the African side. After some 30 minutes of the thrilling game, the Africans won and the room was filled with reverberating cries of "Hurrah!"

The Africans got the main prize – a 1.5-meter-long sturgeon – and the Russians received a coconut-shaped piece of chocolate as a consolation prize.

"I've lost deliberately," Zhirinovsky explained. "How can you think I can't play dominoes? I've practiced the game since childhood and I have always won. Look, how could we win against people who have never played dominoes in their lives? That would be unethical!"

By Dmitry MOZHEITOV

ANDREI KONCHALOVSKY: GRANDFATHER HOPEFUL

Actress and photo-model Lyubov Tolkalina, wife of movie-director Yegor Konchalovsky, who is the son of famous Andrei Konchalovsky, is six-months pregnant. According to ultrasound tests, she is going to have a daughter. In an interview with Zhizn, Tolkalina said Konchalovsky Jr. is very happy about becoming a father and is enormously attentive and caring. His mother Natalia Arinbasarova and sister Katya also help her when they can. "My husband," Tolkalina said, "wanted to name the child ‘Natalia,' but I read somewhere that people with this name are foreordained to have difficult lives. Therefore, we have agreed on either Masha or Sonya." Asked about her work, Tolkalina said she has gone on maternity leave from the theater but continues to star in commercials. Recently she acted in a Coca-Cola commercial and a scene for the film "Antikiller."

FOMENKO: SHOWMAN-CUM-RACER

Nikolai Fomenko, a well-known pop singer and showman, is also an excellent car racer, Zhizn wrote. He won the Russia – 2000 track race, racing for the TNK Racing Team, and now plans to climb to a higher level. Together with his fellow team-member Alexei Vasilyev, Fomenko will take part in the Grand Touring world championship. He said that they had already begun training and are realistic about their low chances of winning the race, but will try their best to score a respectable number of points. Admitting that it will be difficult for him to combine car racing with show business, he said he was not going to quit his radio or stage projects. A 10-episode TV-movie will soon be made about the TNK Racing Team, he added.

GAZMANOV GETS A MILITARY PROMOTION

Pop-star Oleg Gazmanov has been promoted to a higher military rank – Third Captain of the Reserves – 7 Dnei wrote. Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev issued a decree to that effect for the occasion of Defenders of the Fatherland Day, Feb. 23. Congratulating his father, Rodion Gazmanov, 19, joined him in a concert held in the Rossiya Concert Hall. Gazmanov Jr. performed four songs from his father's repertoire; however, Gazmanov Sr. declined his son's persistent requests to allow him to perform the famous song "A ya dyevushek lyublyu" (I Love Girls).

KRISTINA ORBAKAITE: AN ACCIDENT-PRONE LADY

The gossip mills keep on releasing stories about Kristina Orbakaite's traumas. Rumors about a quarrel with her husband where some damage was inflicted on her nose were followed by stories about a broken jaw and leg. This time, Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote that Orbakaite suffered from a fragment of stage decor that fell on her head during the filming of a music video in one of Moscow's clubs. Doctors classified the trauma as a "minor brain concussion." The fragment also apparently hit Orbakaite's make-up man and camera operator. The pop star decided to postpone the filming until April and choose a different song.

ZHVANETSKY HOPES MAGAZIN'S PRINT RUN WILL NEVER FALL BELOW EIGHT COPIES

Satirical writer and comedian Mikhail Zhvanetsky threw a party in the Petrovich restaurant to mark the first 10 years of his brainchild, the humorous magazine Magazin, 7 Dnei reports. Incidentally, the restaurant is named after the famous cartoon character, Petrovich, created by Andrei Bilzho, who is also its artistic director and Magazin's chief artist. In addition to Magazin's staff, Zhvanetsky's friends attended the party. Saying "Happy Birthday" to Magazin, Zhvanetsky joked: "I hope Magazin's print run never drops below eight copies, so that it will be enough for our staff of seven and its longest-standing subscriber." As 7 Dnei found out, the devoted subscriber in question lives in Yakutia and has been receiving the magazine for 10 years now.

TATTOO GIRLS ARE FREE TO FALL IN LOVE

Rumors have circulated, Tattoo girl-band member Yulya Volkova, 16, has fallen in love with 140 Udarov v Minutu (140 Beats per Minute) soloist Zhenya Krupnik, according to MK-Bulvar. They met in the Gnesiny Musical School and fell in love with each other at first sight. The grapevine has it that Volkova has publicly kissed Krupnik on the lips and presented him a heart-shaped trinket on a golden chain. It has been rumored that the Tattoo girls are prohibited from having romantic relations with guys after their hit song about lesbianism – "Ya soshla s Uma" (I went out of my mind) – and that there is a clause to that effect in their contract. Denying the rumors, Tattoo producer Ivan Shapovalov said that, according to information at his disposal, the girls do not have any serious romantic relations at this point and their contracts do not impose any prohibitions on their private life.