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This weekend I visited Moscow for the very first time to play in the latest leg of the World Series of Snooker and it was a really interesting experience.

As well as the snooker, we got to see a bit of the city, we visited the Kremlin where the World Series Grand Final will be in March and I will be really excited to go back.

I just hope it will be a little warmer in March because last weekend it was REALLY cold.

Snooker was a bit of a curiosity for the Russian fans but they really came out in good numbers.

There were was about 700 people there for the first session and then 800 for the next and they seemed to really enjoy the game.

The Russians don't know too much about snooker but they are very into a game called "pyramid billiards" which sounds like a very interesting cue sport.

It is a game without any set cue ball and the diameter of the pockets is only a couple of millimetres wider than the diameter of the ball so you have to be extremely accurate to pot a ball especially if you are trying to take a shot along the rails.

We were hoping to get out to a club to try and play the game ourselves but we never got the chance but it is certainly something I would like to try when I'm back over there in March.

I've already travelled a good deal around Europe for non-ranking events this season, and it is great to visit different countries, but the main reason I'm there is because it offers such great match practice.

A lot of the top players travel to these events so it really does help you stay sharp for the bigger tournaments.

There are only eight ranking tournaments on the calendar but you want to be constantly playing good players in a competitive environment.

World Snooker has done some good work in Asia in recent years but Europe is definitely a market that they could be exploiting more. I think the interest is equal, if not bigger, in Europe than it is China for example.

One of the highlights of the year for me so far was playing Shaun Murphy the final of the German Open when there must have been 1,500-1,800 people there. It was a similar story in Poland so there is definitely the possibility of expansion in these type of markets.

In Moscow, I lost to Ding Junhai in the semi-finals but while my results this season have been mixed, I feel that I haven't been playing too badly and it has been more a case of me coming up against players who have been playing very strongly.

At the Grand Prix I came up against Ryan Day early in the competition and he just edged me by playing very well. Ryan has probably impressed me more than any other player this season in the way that he has improved. He just seems so hungry and confident this year and has become a very dangerous player.

Then in China (at the Shanghai Masters) I lost to Ricky Walden in the semi-finals. I suppose Shanghai was a good chance for me to make it to another ranking event final, but to be fair to Ricky, he went on to win the tournament that week so you can't really complain.

The main thing for me is that all the big tournaments are still to come; last season I really kicked into form after Christmas and I'm hoping to do the same this year.

Finally, even though I was in Russia, I had friends on call to keep me up-to-date with the Leicester City score.

We had a great 2-1 victory at Scunthorpe United which was a massive result for us as they are one of our main rivals for promotion.

We play Crewe on Tuesday night and I'm hopeful of another victory and a few goals too, which will help keep us top of the League One table.

Have you got a question you would like to ask world number four Mark Selby? If so, just leave a comment below and he will try to answer it in his next blog.

Mark Selby / Eurosport