Gaming enthusiasts from across the world are heading to St Petersburg for the EPICENTER e-sports tournament, where they will pit their wits against each other for prizes worth $500,000.

Axar.az reports citing Sputnik that, ten teams from Asia, Europe and the Americas have arrived in St. Petersburg ahead of the EPICENTER cyber-sports tournament, a world championship for players of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive multiplayer game.

The tournament, which last year took place in Moscow, kicks off on October 23-26 with the group stage, followed by a knock-out tournament October 28-29. There is $500,000 worth of prizes up for grabs.

"We started thinking about holding a premium e-sports tournament like EPICENTER outside of Moscow at the beginning of this year. We are convinced that taking EPICENTER to other big cities around the country will significantly increase interest in e-sports and contribute to the development of this sport in Russia," Maxim Maslov, general manager of Epic Esports Events, explained.

"We are bringing the best teams in the world to St. Petersburg and organizing an incredibly entertaining show. This will be an unmissable event for all e-sports fans," he said.

This month's show is the second annual Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament to be held in Russia. Last year's competition, which won recognition at the European Best Event Awards 2016, was won by UK-based gamers, Team Dignitas.