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Indian Sudoku Championship 2010 - Finals

The top 40 from the online rounds held on 3rd and 9th January and the top 30 from the offline preliminary round held on 23rd January qualified for the finals of the Indian Sudoku Championship 2010 at Techfest, IIT-B.



Round 1: Linked Classics - 35 mins - 350 points + Time Bonus
Download Puzzle Booklet
Download Solution Booklet
The puzzles were quite easy (compared to Deb's standards ;-) ). I was the first to complete it and I did in 20mins with a 15min time bonus followed closely by Rishi Puri who completed just one minute later. Many others completed the puzzles and got time bonuses too.

Round 2: Samurai Sudoku - 45 mins - 450 points + Time Bonus
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Download Solution Booklet
A typical Deb-type puzzle. It was too tough to do within 45mins. Rishi again did a phenomenal job by completing the sudoku within 45mins. No one else completed it completely. I could solve only the Diagonal and Irregular regions.

Round 3: Mixed Bag - 45 mins - 550 points
Download Puzzle Booklet
Download Solution Booklet
A tough round for everyone. I solved the Extra-Region, Roman, Fortress and Inequality. I made a stupid error in Distance :-( Most of the other participants solved 2-3 puzzles out of 6.

Round 4: Mechanical Sudoku - 35 mins - 200 points + Time Bonus
Download Puzzle Booklet
Download Solution Booklet
Undoubtedly, this was the puzzle that spoiled everyone's mood... well, except mine :-) I was the first to complete the puzzle and did it with 6mins of time bonus. It was tough and very very interesting. Hats off to Amit and Deb for this superb puzzle!

After these four rounds, the standings were as follows:

1. Rohan Rao - 1235
2. Rishi Puri - 1185
3. Rakesh Rai - 1030
4. Jaipal Reddy - 775
4. Himani Shah - 775
6. Asha Siddaiah - 765
7. Gaurav Korde - 730
8. Ritesh Gupta - 720
8. Nidhi Sarawagi - 720
These 9 participants then played the Semi-Final. It was great fun. Rishi and me were going hand-in-hand until the last No Even Neighbours Sudoku. Its the variation that I (and Tejal Phatak) have created myself which got me hooked up long enough for Rishi to complete before me : Gaurav raced through the puzzles to finish a deserving 3rd. Then the fun. Rakesh, Jaipal, Himani, Asha and Ritesh were all on the 6th puzzle, wanting the 4th place to qualify for the last final round. Ritesh made it!
So, the standings after the semi-final were as follows:

1. Rishi Puri (19:36)
2. Rohan Rao (20:26)
3. Gaurav Korde (21:48)
4. Ritesh Gupta (33:44)
5. Asha Siddaiah
6. Rakesh Rai
7. Jaipal Reddy
8. Himani Shah
9. Nidhi Sarawagi

Final
Download Puzzle Booklet
Download Solution Booklet
The top 4 qualified for the finals which were 3 puzzles to be solved on a white-board with a marker pen. It was difficult for me due to my height :
1st puzzle was a Classic Sudoku. Rishi was first to complete in 3m 21s, followed by Gaurav and Ritesh. I was last at 5m 45s :
2nd puzzle was an Extra-Region Irregular Sudoku. Rishi was again first to complete followed by Gaurav and Ritesh. I was last again and finished 4 secs before the end-time (15mins). The great news (for me) was, Rishi unfortunately left one cell blank and Gaurav and Ritesh made an error! So, I was the only one to solve it correctly! :-)
3rd puzzle was a Snail Sudoku. Rishi completed his hat-trick by finishing first again, followed closely by Gaurav and me. This time Ritesh was last! ;-)

Based on the number of puzzles solved and the time taken to solve them, the final standings were as follows:

1. Rohan Rao (3 Correct - 52:32)
2. Rishi Puri (2 Correct - 49:06)
3. Gaurav Korde (2 Correct - 52:18)
4. Ritesh Gupta (2 Correct - 61:59)
Complete Results

It was great to meet the best puzzlers of the country, most of them part of LM community on orkut. It was a good learning experience and a fun-filled strong competition.

Thanks to Amit Sowani and Deb Mohanty for creating some great and fun puzzles. Thanks to Techfest and IIT-B for hosting this event and making it a grand success. Thanks to all the organisers and others involved.

Hope to have many more championships like these :-)

22 comments:

Rohan Rao said...

Finally I am the national champion! :-)

Fred76 said...

Congratulation for your title !

Fred

Neeraj said...

U really deserve it!!!!!!!!
It was nice to meet u guys..........

Rishi Puri said...

Controversy or not... You deserved it.... It was a fun time battling against you and Gaurav and I have hope that age has not dimmed my speed :D All in all the team is becoming strong with the top 4 names that I see...congrats once again

Unknown said...

It was a gr8 experience wid all u guys though i juss missed the top 9 ....puzzles wer really gud...especially d samurai sudoku.....hats off 2 rishi for completing dat one.....congrats to all d winners....cheers to rohan for becoming the national sudoku champ(nd beating the serial winner, ritesh...lolz)!!!!

Murali... said...

Congrats Rohan. It was also amazing to see u get 700/700 in online 2/3 rounds. Thanks for putting up this blog on finals. Nice to read it.

Rohan Rao said...

Thanks everyone...

I really dont know what to say to you Rishi. Maybe I deserved it but you were far better in the final round than me. I'm happy I won the title, but I hope to win 'more deservingly' next time :-)

Nice to see a non-Ritesh champion :D

Thanks Murali... will keep blogging :-)

Rishi Puri said...

I may have been faster in the finals but you showed consistency throughout. And these type of blank cell errors dont work at WSC... :) To my credit I will take the liberty of comparing myself to Thomas Snyder and what happened to him at US championship this year... lol ...

Rohan Rao said...

Lol!

Ok, but to answer your question. Age is not a concern for you. You may be 30+ but you 'almost' beat a 20- ;-)

Anyway... now we work together for India :-)
So, no blank cell errors allowed!

Rishi Puri said...

Yup.. We are a team now and our realistic target is a top 5 finish in the team event.... and If I dont do any blank cell errors then I lose my identitiy man!!!!

Harmeet said...

Rohan, Rishi, Gaurav, Ritesh

Congrats to you all!
You are the Gems of Indian Sudoku team! In fact old wine in new bottle.

Rohan you provided a very good description of the championship, taking the readers to the field!

Unknown said...

Congrats finally you get the elusive top spot.. :)

made stupid mistakes throughout the championship and was really lucky to be in the top 9. and that last one cell mistake in the finals cost me the title or so i believe as i wasnt knowing rishi had made a mistake until the end.

Anyways the worst part was i miscalculated my score and wasnt sure how i managed to reach semis and hence lost all enthu while solving thinking that something is wrong. Anyways it was great fun and the finals should have had few more puzzles ;)

Gaurav

Ritesh said...

Congrats to Rohan, Rishi and Gaurav. From the very starting I was expecting for you 3 to be in top 3 positions. I was always trying for 4th position and finally made it after have such a close competition for the same!!! :-)
Its great to see a Non-Ritesh champion this time as you all three deserved the same this time. Somewhere in my inner soul, a thought was going on that if I don't make it to the team this time then it will mean that its high time for me to retire from Indian Sudoku Team!!! ;-)

But was very happy to get into the Top 4 and reach finals. Atleast, I don't have to retire so early :-)
And I'm sure we'll get into top 5 positions this time not only in team rankings but also individual rankings as this is the all improved version of Indian Team!!! :-)
Best of Luck to whole of the Indian Team and to me too....

Rohan Rao said...

Thanks Harmeet, Gaurav and Ritesh.

Yaa, I should thank Rishi first, then Gaurav second for goofing up in the 2nd puzzle of the final round ;-)

Ritesh, you just had a cold day. Your scores were way below your calibre. We know what you're capable of Mr. CA, three-time champ!
Anyway, lets all work hard and work together and make India proud!

Rohan Rao said...

@All

I have updated the post. You can download the puzzle and solution booklets...

Bastien Vial-Jaime said...

Congratulations to you four. It seems that we will meet in Philadephia... ;-)

Rohan Rao said...

Hopefully...

(Fingers crossed)

Caca said...

Congratulation to you, Rohan, and all the finalists.
Caca (from FED)

(unfortunately need Mechanical password, but I never see him, can you help me?)

Anonymous said...

Congrats to all fantastic four. I am feeling sad that I was not part of this wonderful event but could not participate this time because of work load. Anyway hopefully I will be able to create Sudoku for the Indian Team whenever required. All the best for the WSC 2010.

Rishi Puri said...

@Raul

You will have to download the correct file Raul... We had accidentally uploaded a wrong file. The correct file has been put up on the site which is not password protected... Rishi (purifire)

Caca said...

Thank You Rishi (purifire). I am glad that I can assign a nick name, I did not know who is Rishi. But I know well who is purifire! Many battles in Speedsudoku.
Raul (Caca)

Rohan Rao said...

Thanks Raul... The updated link has been posted :-)

Rajesh, we all really missed you :|
Hope to meet you next time :-) And I'm sure you'll come up with some great practise sudokus for us.