Team Spirit member Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov explained why he places a pillow behind his back during tournament matches. In an interview with eScoreNews, the Russian esports player explained that it is necessary to prevent his elbow from touching the chair while playing. Dmitry acknowledged that this practice negatively affects his posture.
"It's very simple: if you take a regular office chair, it doesn't have wings like esports chairs do. As far as I understand, esports chairs originated from Formula 1.
I always play in a position where my elbow shouldn't hit the chair. When the distance from the wing to my elbow is small, it's uncomfortable for me to play because I can't flick with the AWP. I start thinking about it, which is an unnecessary distraction. I use a pillow to maintain a comfortable distance. Of course, this causes back problems—I slouch and all that. In the future, I'll address this when it becomes critical. But for now, I try to play with the pillow.
[What if there isn't one available?] I haven't encountered that situation yet. In any case, I would take a pillow from my room and find a comfortable distance to play. It's paramount for me. If there isn't one, I would still manage to play. It would feel unusual, but I could cope."
To recap, Sokolov's team defeated NAVI 3:1 in the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024 yesterday. sh1ro had an average rating of 1.26 over 12 maps in the tournament—the fourth best among all participants. The best player in the championship was Danil "donk" Kryshkovets.