Risk and Reward

Shamus

Anyone who has played the game of Risk -- that board game in which players compete with their armies to take over all of the territories on the different continents -- are aware of the strategic importance of Ukraine to winning the game.

Kind of resembles poker, actually, in which players move chips back and forth in an effort to control the field. A similar end goal, too. In Risk, the idea is to take over all of the territories. Here players complete for chips, not countries, but we're still talking an all-or-nothing affair in which the game won't end until one player achieves total domination, claiming all there is to claim.

Right now the Ukrainian Alexander Dovzhenko has the advantage, with the most chips to marshal as he tries to conquer his foes. Here's how the five players' fighting power compare as the new level begins:

Alexander Dovzhenko -- 3.49 million
Maxim Lykov -- 1.852 million
Vitaly Tolokonnikov -- 1.625 million
Lucasz Plichta -- 1.2 million
Arthur Simonyan -- 766,000