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World Puzzle Championship 2011


The 6th World Sudoku Championship and 20th World Puzzle Championship was held on 6th-10th November, 2011 in Eger, Hungary.

Championship Page


This is the first time the WSC and WPC was held as a combined event.

Team India
The national finals of the Indian Sudoku Championship and the Indian Puzzle Championship was held in June 2011. Unfortunately, Ritesh Gupta and Gaurav Korde were unable to attend the WSC, and Harmeet Singh was unable to attend the WPC. So, we were forced to go down the list and finally are team consisted of:

Sudoku Team
Sumit Bothra (Bengaluru)
Tejal Phatak (Mumbai)
Prasanna Seshadri (Mumbai)
Rohan Rao (Mumbai)

Puzzle Team
Rajesh Kumar (Bengaluru)
Rajib Ranjan Borah (Mumbai)
Tejal Phatak (Mumbai)
Rohan Rao (Mumbai)

I was very busy since I had three exams before my trip and have my entire end-semester examinations immediately after my trip, so I spent minimal time for puzzles. Not the best thing to do by a national champion but I was left with little choice.

Last year I stood 41st in WPC and my goal this year was to reach the top 25.


6th November, 2011 - 8th November, 2011
World Sudoku Championship 2011

9th November, 2011
We had a day before WPC began. A city tour to an ice cave seemed exciting but no one was prepared for the surprise that awaited us. Right in the midst of the cave, was held the WSC prize distribution and the photo session!

It was an excellent idea, and it went pretty smoothly. It was nice on the organisers part to do something different of this sort, yet, not overly change things.

10th November, 2011
The World Puzzle Championship 2011 began.


Round 1: In Memorium
It was a pretty ordinary start. Not too good, not too bad. Ulrich Voigt (Germany) outperformed everyone by a good margin.


Round 2: Assorted Puzzles
I started feeling weary and tired. Mental strain was winning over my body. I seemed very slow in a lot of puzzles this round, and I knew this was going to be a bad round. And it was.


Round 3: Cows
I'm usually good at recovering after bad rounds, and this was no exception. The 75-pointer Small Regions was my strength and I'm glad I could crack it. The 'Knight' puzzle had no solution, so I'm sure many players would've been affected.


Round 4: Borderless
Clueless in borderless. I do not know how other players felt about this round, but I had no strategy in this round. I was not comfortable with any variant, and I couldn't see a path other than guesswork in solving these puzzles. I wasn't even confident of getting a non-zero score.

During the first 15 minutes, I kept switching from one puzzle to another, having no progress at all. Then, I found a clue in Easy As ABC (big) and I solved it. That encouraged me to do the smaller one too, and that was all. Palmer Mebane (USA) scored 295. I wonder...


Round 5: Evergreens
I thought this was one round where I could really score well. I was quite disappointed with my performance. Got stuck in a couple of puzzles, made an error in one. On my day, I could've done much much better.


Round 6: Board Games
The concept and puzzles was very nice. It was fun solving them. Lets not talk about the scores though.


Round 7: Naval Puzzles
By this time, all of us were tired and we knew we had no hope to getting into the top 15 in the team rankings. We just solved this for the fun of it.

Not a very good first day for me. I was ranked around 40th at the end of Day 1. Too difficult to get into top 25 from here. I just hoped to better my last year's rank of 41.


11th November, 2011
Day 2 of WPC.


Round 8: Screen Test
This was the best round of WPC. A screen test with animations! Some beautiful puzzles, and great ideas. A huge round of applause followed the test which shows most people enjoyed the test. I hope some players benefitted by the Screen Test I had organised on LMI a week before :-)

In terms of scores, Annick Weyzig (Netherlands) and Jason Zuffranieri (USA) topped with 185 points. I scored 125 and at least I beat Palmer Mebane (USA) and Ulrich Voigt (Germany) in one round!


Round 9: Sprint
Anyone loves Numberlink and Train puzzles? Try solving these ones. These were some tough ones for me. I think some of them were the toughest I've ever solved.

Round 10: Divide And Conquer
I love this puzzle type. And the puzzles that appeared, were simply superb. Even the easier ones, had some fantastic logic to it.


Round 11: Magic 11
This round was themed around the number '11'. It was a good round for me.


Round 12: Hungaricum
A couple of good rounds earlier, but this round was not good. I was floating around the mid-30's and I had a good chance to squeeze myself in the top 30 with one round left.


Round 13: Innovative
Another average round.


Round 14: Best Of
The last individual round. And I messed it up. I got the lowest points among the players in the top 35 and I lost three ranks directly.

Bad finish, but I'm glad I was able to better my rank. I finished 34th.


WPC Playoffs
The format of the playoffs was interesting. Top 10 puzzlers start solving based on a time difference in proportion to their scores. The last 3 players to finish the first 3 puzzles are eliminated. Then the last 2 players to finish the next 3 puzzles are eliminated. Then a fight to the finish with the last 3 puzzles.

Ulrich Voigt (Germany): 7-time World Puzzle Champion. He had a big lead, and would surely win if the playoffs went smoothly.

Palmer Mebane (USA): Beating Thomas Snyder at USPC is no joke. Beating him again at WPC is no luck. I was pretty confident he would make it to the podium.

Thomas Snyder (USA): Performed poorly in Day 2, and lost chunks of points. But, you could never count him out till the end.

The fight for the title had to be between these three players. It was unlikely someone else would win.

Hideaki Jo (Japan), Bram de Laat (Netherlands), Peter Hudak (Slovakia), Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia), Roland Voigt (Germany), Wei-Hua Hwang (USA) and Neil Zussman (UK) complete the top 10. Michael Ley (Germany) finished 7th in the standings, but surprisingly (and unfortunately), he was not in the official team, and hence could not participate in the playoffs.

The playoffs began and it was going like everyone had expected. Ulrich had a one puzzle lead for a major portion and Palmer was catching up quickly. Thomas was unable to catch up to them. It all seemed to going well, and Ulrich reached the second last puzzle, with a one puzzle lead. Then the tables turned. Ulrich kept making a mistake. He was desperately erasing and trying. Palmer on the other hand, completed the puzzle and was the first one to reach the last puzzle. A few minutes later, he had won. Ulrich was still stuck on the puzzle. Now even Thomas reached the puzzle and solved it too! Just a few seconds after Thomas reached the last puzzle, was Ulrich able to complete his second last one. But he beat Thomas in the last puzzle to take silver.


Playoff Results

1. Palmer Mebane (USA)
2. Ulrich Voigt (Germany)
3. Thomas Snyder (USA)


Individual Results

1. Ulrich Voigt (Germany) - 5085
2. Palmer Mebane (USA) - 4769
3. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 4546

Indian Results

34. Rohan Rao - 2898
85. Rajesh Kumar - 1691
91. Rajib Ranjan Borah - 1495
97. Tejal Phatak - 1143

Complete Individual Results


Team Results

1. USA - 20447
2. Germany - 20304
3. Japan - 18026

Complete Team Results

Overall, it was a great championship. The puzzles, the rounds, and the format and organisation was as good as it could get. With WSC and WPC combined, it involves a lot of effort and work, and the Hungarians did a wonderful job.

I am happy with my performance. Top 25 would have been ideal, but at least I was able to improve my rank.

Congrats to Palmer Mebane for winning his maiden WPC title.


Congrats to Thomas Snyder for finishing on the podium in both events. Congrats to Thomas Snyder, Hideaki Jo and Nikola Zivanovic (and Michael Ley) for making the playoffs (top 10) in both events.

It was good meeting up with old friends and new ones, and I hope this trend of WSC+WPC continues (maybe with a little more rest time or little less puzzles!)

World Sudoku Championship 2011


The 6th World Sudoku Championship and 20th World Puzzle Championship was held on 6th-10th November, 2011 in Eger, Hungary.

Championship Page

This is the first time the WSC and WPC was held as a combined event.

Team India
The national finals of the Indian Sudoku Championship and the Indian Puzzle Championship was held in June 2011. Unfortunately, Ritesh Gupta and Gaurav Korde were unable to attend the WSC, and Harmeet Singh was unable to attend the WPC. So, we were forced to go down the list and finally are team consisted of:

Sudoku Team
Sumit Bothra (Bengaluru)
Tejal Phatak (Mumbai)
Prasanna Seshadri (Mumbai)
Rohan Rao (Mumbai)

Puzzle Team
Rajesh Kumar (Bengaluru)
Rajib Ranjan Borah (Mumbai)
Tejal Phatak (Mumbai)
Rohan Rao (Mumbai)

I was very busy since I had three exams before my trip and have my entire end-semester examinations immediately after my trip, so I spent minimal time for puzzles. Not the best thing to do by a national champion but I was left with little choice.

Last year I stood 15th in WSC and my goal this year was to reach the top 10. I really thought I could make it this time, especially with my improvement in the LMI tests and other championship results.



6th November, 2011
We reached Eger around 6pm, rested for a while, and went for the Welcome Party. All of us were quite tired and sleepy after an 8-hour journey and being 4.5 hours behind our usual time-zone, we immediately hit the sac.


7th November, 2011
The World Sudoku Championship 2011 began.

Part 1: Wrong Puzzles
Many players were of the opinion that this is not a 'sudoku-solving' round. I was indifferent. I didn't think it was completely random, nor was I convinced it was the best round to start a WSC with.

The puzzles were a pleasant surprise. There were a good mix of grids, with various fonts, styles, sizes and overall, it was a fun round. I don't think many people would have complained after the round, but surely, it was better than expected for most players.

In terms of scores, I started very poorly with a mere 68 points in this round compared to the highest 150 by David McNeill (UK).


Part 2: Sudoku Pieces
It took me a while in understanding the puzzle when I was studying the booklet. Once it was clear, I wasn't comfortable with this. I'm not very good at these kind of sudoku rounds. When it was announced that we had to place the pieces on the sheet itself, I thought I was doomed. I just wanted the round to begin and then end, as soon as possible. I was glad this round had partial scoring.

When the round started, it was a little comforting that there were 81 clues and no empty cells. I was slow to start, but after getting a few pieces, I was quickly able to crack the grid. I was mighty pleased with myself as (I think) this was the first time I said 'Finish!' at a WSC :-)


Part 3: Easy Classics
This round went quite average for me. Tiit Vunk (Estonia) scored an exceptional 605 points.


Part 4: Halved Squares Sudoku
I had a bad feeling about this round. I did not practise at all (not even the ones of the Hungarian championship) and I was quite sure this would be one of the bad rounds.

I will not say it was good, but it went better than I expected. A below average score though.

Thomas Snyder (USA) took a considerable lead from many top players after this round.


Part 5: Sudoku Central Clues
This round was good, and I was able to move up a few ranks. I think I was 17th or 18th after this round at the end of Day 1 of Individuals.


Part 6: Circle Sudoku (Team)
The concept of this round was well thought of. The execution, even better. I always enjoy solving linked puzzles and this was very exciting. We were able to solve 4 sudokus and missed one more by a few seconds.


Part 7: Vasarely Sudoku (Team)
Another nice team round and we were quite happy we were able to finish it in time. A lot of other teams finished it too.


8th November, 2011
Day 2 of WSC. I needed all my rounds to go extremely well in order to be in the top 10. Tough chance, but possible.


Part 8: Decorated Sudoku
This was one of the big rounds. I started well and scored 465 points. Just for argument sake, I equalled Thomas Snyder (USA) in this round!


Part 9: Sprint Sudoku
A fast-paced round. I need to practise these Sprint rounds. I tend to do better in longer rounds. Probably because of my mental stamina.


Part 10: Sudoku Mix
Another big round. This round pulled me down a bit. I got stuck in Tetris and Increasing Roundabout and lost some time.


Part 11: Not Easy Classics
I got the highest score in Hard Classics in WSC 2010 in Philadelphia. Well, fluke rarely happens twice!


Part 12: 3D Sudoku
I'm not particularly good at solving Cube Sudokus, but I surprised myself and was able to solve it in time. So, second time in one WSC, I said 'Finish!'. Pretty cool!


Part 13: Weakest Link (Team)
A standard weakest link round where each player of the team solves an individual puzzle and then goes to the team table. Our team finished this round and we were confident of finishing in the top 10 in the team rankings.

WSC Playoffs
I finished 12th. Missed the playoffs by about 80 points. The playoffs consisted of a good set of players.

The format of the playoffs was interesting. Top 10 puzzlers start solving based on a time difference in proportion to their scores. The last 3 players to finish the first 3 puzzles are eliminated. Then the last 2 players to finish the next 3 puzzles are eliminated. Then a fight to the finish with the next 4 puzzles.

Thomas Snyder (USA): World Sudoku Champion 2007, 2008. He had a big lead and would surely win if the playoffs went smoothly for him.

Jan Mrozowski (Poland): World Sudoku Champion 2009, 2010. He was probably the biggest threat to Thomas.

Tiit Vunk (Estonia) and Kota Morinishi (Japan) were looking very strong in the championship.

Florian Kirch (Germany), Jan Novotny (Czech Republic), Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia), Michael Ley (Germany), Hideaki Jo (Japan) and Jakub Ondrousek (Czech Republic) complete the top 10.

The playoffs started with a shock. Jan Mrozowski was stuck on the second puzzle while everyone else proceeded. He probably had some problem on his end. Kota Morinishi was racing through the puzzles and catching up with Thomas who was always one table ahead. Thomas kept the lead and calmly finished all the puzzles. Kota finished second, and Tiit,  with a slight stumble midway finished 3rd. Hideaki, after starting 9th, finished a creditable 4th.


Playoff Results

1. Thomas Snyder (USA)
2. Kota Morinishi (Japan)
3. Tiit Vunk (Estonia)


Individual Results

1. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 3760
2. Jan Mrozowski (Poland) - 3525
3. Tiit Vunk (Estonia) - 3459


Indian Results

12. Rohan Rao - 2983
44. Sumit Bothra - 2154
54. Tejal Phatak - 1966
71. Prasanna Seshadri - 1725
101. Rajesh Kumar - 1314

Complete Individual Results


Team Results

1. Germany - 16436
2. Czech Republic - 16181
3. USA - 14488

8. India - 11708

Complete Team Results

Overall, it was a great championship. The sudokus, the rounds, and the format and organisation was as good as it could get. With WSC and WPC combined, it involves a lot of effort and work, and the Hungarians did a wonderful job.

I am happy with my performance. Top 10 would have been ideal, but at least I was close. Maybe next time.

Congrats to Thomas Snyder for winning his 3rd WSC title. He has been very consistent throughout the year and is a deserving winner.

It was good meeting up with old friends and new ones, and I hope this trend of WSC+WPC continues.

Logic Masters India - Screen Test 2


Logic Masters India announces the second edition of Screen Test. It will be held on 1st-4th November.

I authored last year's Screen Test 1 with Deb Mohanty. This year, I authored it alone. I learnt a lot from last year and was quite happy with the response. I'm hoping this time it turns out to be better and bigger since there are some changes that have been made based on the feedback.

Championship Page
Download Screen Test Guide
Forum

For new-comers as well as regulars, it is very important to read through the Screen Test Guide and go through the examples on the webpage before starting the test to have maximum benefit of the system.

You may ask any queries on the forum or here.

I hope you enjoy the puzzles and relish the 35-minute puzzle-ride!

Logic Masters India - October 2011 Puzzle Test

Logic Masters India announces the October 2011 Puzzle Test 'Double Decathlon'. It will be held on 15th-16th October, 2011.
The author of the puzzles is Thomas Snyder. You will find a lot of practise puzzles on his blog 'The Art Of Puzzles'.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password will be available when you start the test.
Forum

Results will be declared on 17th October.

Logic Masters India - October 2011 Sudoku Test

Logic Masters India announces the October 2011 Sudoku Test 'A or B'. It will be held on 1st-2nd October, 2011.
The author of the puzzles is Deb Mohanty.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password will be available when you start the test.
Forum

The list of sudokus that will appear in the test are:

Odd Sudoku
Extra Region Sudoku
Greater Sudoku
Lesser Sudoku
Even Sudoku
Small Neighbours Sudoku
Sequence Sudoku
Palindrome Sudoku
Marked Quadro Sudoku
Multiplication Table Sudoku
Neighbouring Sudoku
Sum 10 Sudoku
Multiple Sudoku
Touchy Sudoku
Antiknight Sudoku
XV Sudoku
Kropki Sudoku
Consecutive Sudoku
Fiver Sudoku
Skyscraper Sudoku
Outside Sudoku
Odd/Even View Sudoku

Please read the instructions carefully. This is a different type of sudoku test.

Results will be declared on 3rd October.

US Sudoku Championship 2011

The US Sudoku Championship 2011 was held on 24th September, 2011.

View Championship Page

You can download the booklets from the website.

USA Results


1. Jonathan Rivet - 255
2. Jason Zuffranieri - 230
3. Jim Schneider - 224

International Results


1. Branko Ceranic (Serbia) - 289.29
2. Bastien Vial-Jaime (France) - 280
3. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 275
4. Ko Okamoto (Japan) - 260.17
5. Rohan Rao (India) - 260

Complete Results


Logic Masters India - September 2011 Sudoku Test


Logic Masters India announces the September Sudoku Test 'Crazy Arrows'. It was held on 10th-11th September, 2011.
I am the author!

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is CrazyzarCArrowsworrA
Forum

The list of sudokus that appeared in the test are:

0-9 Arrow Sudoku
Count Arrow Sudoku
Difference Arrow Sudoku
Incomplete Arrow Sudoku
Missing Arrow Sudoku
Parted Arrow Sudoku
Product Arrow Sudoku
Skyscraper Arrow Sudoku
Sum Arrow Sudoku
Symmetric Arrow Sudoku
Wrong Arrow Sudoku

Results

1. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 925
2. Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia) - 805
3. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 760
4. Palmer Mebane (USA) - 740
5. Branko Ceranic (Serbia) - 715
6. Sinchai R (Thailand) - 700
7. Zafer Huseyin Ergan (Turkey) - 680
8. Sylvain Caudmont (France) - 660
9. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 635
10. Peter Hudak (Slovakia) - 635

Best Indians

32. Rakesh Rai - 485
34. Amit Sowani - 465
42. Jaipal Reddy - 410
44. Sudhir Shankar Raman - 400
56. Rajesh Kumar - 350

Complete Results

Congrats to Thomas for winning Crazy Arrows with a big lead. Congrats to Nikola and Kota for 2nd and 3rd respectively.

I got the idea of Crazy Arrows last year, and I'm glad I could finally conduct this test. The test was tough, and some of the sudokus were very challenging for players.

0-9 was my favourite variation of this set, and also was the first variant that I had thought of.

Count was the easiest sudoku of the set and 90% of the players solved it.

Difference was difficult to start, but once you get few numbers correctly, the grid solves quickly.

Incomplete was another easy sudoku and this was Deb's idea that I worked on.

Missing was the toughest of the set. Guesswork was needed in multiple places and only 5 players were able to solve it. This is now the least solved individual sudoku on LMI so far. Maybe you can try to crack it!

Parted was not easy. After getting a few initial numbers, there is a little guesswork required.

Product was one of my favourite sudokus. The idea was taken from USA where it appeared in WSC 2010.

Skyscraper was relatively easy compared to the other sudokus.

Sum 1 was tough. As Jason mentioned in his post on LMI, it had a very 'Killer feeling'.

Sum 2 was my favourite. And it also is the favourite of the players. Most people commented on this grid and it has the maximum rating too, so, I consider this the cream of the set.

Symmetric was the one sudoku that couldn't make this test a neat one. It was worth 75 points and I apologize for the mistake on my part. It was much tougher and deserved a lot more points. It was also very difficult and a lot of players might've been affected by this and I regret the mistake.

Wrong was one of my top 3 sudokus of the set. Many players might have had a hiccough while solving when seeing a '9' on an arrow and a '1' in a circle. But I guess most of the players realised that it does work that way :-)

I thank all the participants for removing time and participating in Crazy Arrows and I hope you'll enjoyed at least a few of the sudokus. Hope to see you again in 'Crazier Arrows'!

Logic Masters India - September 2011 Puzzle Test

Logic Masters India announces the September 2011 Puzzle Test 'Sprint Test'. It was held on 3rd-4th September, 2011.
The author of the puzzles is Bastien Vial-Jaime (Ours Brun).

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is SroSis201246
Forum

The list of puzzles that appeared in the test are:

Akari
Fillomino
Fortress
Galaxies
Heyawacky
Horse Snake
LITS
Masyu
Nurikabe
Pointing Evens Sudoku
Slitherlink
Snail
Star Battle
Tapa
Yajilin

Results

1. Palmer Mebane (USA) - 348
2. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 345
3. Ko Okamoto (Japan) - 336
4. Nagata Yuta (Japan) - 312
5. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 306
6. Psyho (Poland) - 306
7. Zoltan Horvath (Hungary) - 297
8. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 288
9. Phillip Edwards (Australia) - 287
10. Michael Ley (Germany) - 285

Best Indians

46. Rakesh Rai - 180
49. Rohan Rao - 175
72. Amit Sowani - 140
97. Jaipal Reddy - 115
112. Harmeet Singh - 105

Complete Results

Another new dimension to LMI! A fast-paced test where every second counts. Puzzles were excellent. Full credit to Bastien for this fantastic set.
You make one error, and you lose chunks of relative time. Its quite disappointing that I wasn't able to finish all the 15 puzzles, especially when there are players who do it in half your time.
Congrats to Palmer and Thomas (I guess you'll are continuing the battle here too) and the Japanese for their excellent results.

Sudokucup 6 (Part 2)

The sixth Sudokucup was held in two parts. Sudokucup 6 Part 1 was held on 23rd-24th July, 2011.
Sudokucup 6 Part 2 was held on 3rd-4th September, 2011.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is KNASUQ91?3JMEP


The list of sudokus that appeared in the test are:

1. Classic Sudoku
2. Diagonal Sudoku
3. Irregular Sudoku
4. Extra Region Sudoku
5. Antiknight Sudoku
6. Sequences Sudoku
7. Kropki Sudoku
8. All Even All Odd Sudoku
9. Surprise Sudoku
10. Clock-Faces Sudoku
11. More-Less Sudoku
12. Arrow Sudoku
13. Little Killer Sudoku
14. Decimal Killer Sudoku

Results

1. Jakub Ondrousek (Czech Republic) - 300 (01:10)
2. Jan Mrozowski (Czech Republic) - 300 (01:17)
3. Tiit Vunk (Estonia) - 300 (01:22)
4. Michael Ley (Germany) - 300 (01:24)
5. Jason Zuffranieri (USA) - 300 (01:25)
6. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 300 (01:27)
7. Branko Ceranic (Serbia) - 300 (01:30)
8. Rishi Puri (India) - 300 (01:35)
9. Chen Cen (China) - 300 (01:36)
10. Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia) - 300 (01:38)

Best Indians

8. Rishi Puri - 300 (01:35)
15. Rohan Rao - 300 (01:46)
58. Jaipal Reddy - 227
69. Prasanna Seshadri - 211
83. Rakesh Rai - 171

Complete Results

Sudokucup 6 Part 2 was definitely much easier than Part 1. 27 Players finished all sudokus within the 2 hours compared to just 7 in Part 1.

Now that both parts of SC6 are over, I wonder who is the winner of 'Sudokucup 6'?

US Puzzle Championship 2011

The 2011 US Puzzle Championship was held on 27th August, 2011.

View Championship Page

USA Results

1. Palmer Mebane (USA) - 415
2. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 349
3. William Blatt (USA) - 309

Complete Results

This was my first 'complete' USPC. Since it is midnight in India during USPC, I dozed off last two years.

Congrats to Palmer Mebane for ending Thomas Snyder's five-year reign at the USPC! Both of them have been performing consistently well in championships throughout the year, and I'm sure they would be among the top guns at the WPC in Hungary.

You can read more about the championship on the champions' blogs:
Thomas Snyder's views
Palmer Mebane's views

Looking forward to meet you'll and your team in Hungary.

Logic Masters India - August 2011 Puzzle Test

Logic Masters India announces the August 2011 Puzzle Test 'Japanese Puzzle Land'. It was held on 20th-21st August, 2011.
The authors of the puzzles are Yosuke Imai, Atsumi Hirose, Takeya Saikachi and Daisuke Takei.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Download Solution Booklet
Forum

The list of puzzles that appeared in the test are:

Sudoku
Kakuro
Fillomino
Numberlink
Slitherlink
Masyu
Heyawake
Akari
Shikaku
Hitori
Shakashaka
Mochikoro
Yajilin

Results

1. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 550
2. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 434
3. Tarotaro (Japan) - 426
4. Endo Ken (Japan) - 426
5. Volxa (Japan) - 424
6. Ko Okamoto (Japan) - 421
7. Palmer Mebane (USA) - 410
8. Shinichi Aoki (Japan) - 398
9. Psyho (Poland) - 381
10. Yukkuri (Japan) - 356

Best Indians

37. Rakesh Rai - 266
58. Rohan Rao - 219
87. Rajesh Kumar - 178
101. Amit Sowani - 160
105. Harmeet Singh - 150

Complete Results

Excellent set of puzzles. For the first time, Japanese authored an LMI and test and what a huge success! It saw maximum number of participants in an LMI test!
Congrats to the Japanese authors and also to the Japanese participants who had some tremendous results. And needless to say, congrats to Thomas for winning yet another LMI test.

Rules of 'Heyawake'

Blacken some cells so that all remaining cells are connected orthogonally. No two black cells can share an edge. Any single horizontal or vertical line of white cells cannot traverse more than one thick line. Numbers indicate the amount of black cells in that region.

EXAMPLE:


UNIQUE SOLUTION:

Logic Masters India - August 2011 Sudoku Test


Logic Masters India announces the August Sudoku Test 'Sudoku City'. It was held on 6th-7th August, 2011.
The author of the puzzles is Nikola Zivanovic.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is SkyIsTheLIMIT
Forum

Results

1. Yuhei Kusui (Japan) - 93
2. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 83
3. Branko Ceranic (Serbia) - 81
4. Jason Zuffranieri (USA) - 79
5. Jakub Hrazdira (Czech Republic) - 79
6. WaterlooMathie (Canada) - 77
7. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 77
8. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 73
9. Bastien Vial-Jaime (France) - 71
10. Rohan Rao (India) - 71

Best Indians

10. Rohan Rao - 71
17. Rakesh Rai - 57
53. Neeraj Mehrotra - 33
54. Harmeet Singh - 32
83. Prasanna Seshadri - 22

Complete Results

Before
Skyscraper Sudoku variants. This promises to be an exciting contest. The variation look good and Nikola has never disappointed me :-)
I'm been performing below par in the last couple of tests, maybe I can redeem with this one.



After
What a city! Nikola has proved he's the best architect among puzzlers by building this beautiful city. I'm sure most citizens who entered the city did not want to leave!

Logic Masters India - July 2011 Puzzle Test 2

Logic Masters India announces the July Puzzle Test 2 'Magic Cube'. It was held on 29th-30th July, 2011.
The authors of the puzzles are the puzzle-makers of the 20th World Puzzle Championship (which will be held in November).

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is WPCandWSCinHungary2011
Forum

The list of puzzles that appeared in the test are: (In cube format)

1. Magic Snail
2. Hitori
3. Cave
4. Dutch Loop
5. Sudoku
6. Capsules
7. Heyawake
8. Fillomino
9. Slalom
10. Star Battle
11. Crosswords

Results

1. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 1226
2. Ko Okamoto (Japan) - 1085
3. Palmer Mebane (USA) - 1080
4. Peter Hudak (Slovakia) - 1065
5. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 1045
6. Ulrich Voigt (Germany) - 950
7. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 935
8. Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia) - 900
9. Jan Mrozowski (Poland) - 845
10. Shinichi Aoki (Japan) - 825

Best Indians

56. Rohan Rao - 510
68. Rajesh Kumar - 460
73. Rakesh Rai - 440
75. Amit Sowani - 430
79. Swaroop Guggilam - 420

Complete Results

Thanks to all the organisers of this test and the WPC for having this test. It is a very good set of puzzles, especially for those who will be present in Hungary for the WPC.

Sudokucup 6 (Part 1)

The sixth Sudokucup will be held in two parts. Part 1 was held on 23rd-24th July, 2011. Players can participate in any one or both the parts.
The author of the puzzles is Jan Novotny.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is UWA61GA!711EXK

The list of sudokus that appeared in the test are:

1. Classic Sudoku
2. Diagonal Sudoku
3. Irregular Sudoku
4. Extra Region Sudoku
5. Antiknight Sudoku
6. Sequences Sudoku
7. Kropki Sudoku
8. All Even All Odd Sudoku
9. Surprise Sudoku
10. Clock-Faces Sudoku
11. More-Less Sudoku
12. Arrow Sudoku
13. Little Killer Sudoku
14. Decimal Killer Sudoku

Results

1. Jan Mrozowski (Poland) - 300 (01:10)
2. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 300 (01:35)
3. Minfang Lin (China) - 300 (01:46)
4. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 300 (01:49)
5. Florian Kirch (Germany) - 300 (01:52)
5. Bastien Vial-Jaime (France) - 300 (01:52)
7. SJ Kwak (South Korea) - 300 (01:55)
8. Vincent Bertrand (Belgium) - 286
9. Jakub Hrazdira (Czech Republic) - 274
10. Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia) - 273

Best Indians

14. Rohan Rao - 260
51. Rakesh Rai - 171
78. Prasanna Seshadri - 121
79. Akash Doulani - 121
80. Neeraj Mehrotra - 121

Complete Results

Logic Masters India - July 2011 Sudoku Test

Logic Masters India announces the July Sudoku Test 'Fivefold'. It was held on 16th-17th July, 2011.
The author of the puzzles is Serkan Yurekli.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is inthememoryofmyFather
Forum

The list of sudokus that appeared in the test are:

1. Classic Sudoku (Solving Techniques)
2. Extra Region Sudoku
3. Outside Sudoku
4. Pandigital Sudoku
5. Distance Sudoku
6. Quadruple Sudoku
7. Crossnumber Sudoku
8. Number 5 Still Alive Sudoku
9. Numeral Sudoku
10. Odd Sum Sudoku
11. Quad Max Sudoku
12. Group Sum Sudoku
13. Musketry Sudoku
14. Killer Sudoku (Solving Techniques)
15. Triangles Sudoku
16. Odd-Even-Big-Small Sudoku
17. Thermometer Sudoku
18. Just One Cell Sudoku
19. Double Diagonal Sudoku

Results

1. Rishi Puri (India) - 1061.8
2. Jan Mrozowski (Poland) - 1022.0
3. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 990.5
4. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 973.2
5. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 972.4
6. Seungjae Kwak (South Korea) - 851.7
7. Jason Zuffranieri (USA) - 787.5
8. Don3232 (Taiwan) - 772.5
9. Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia) - 762.3
10. Vincent Bertrand (Belgium) - 745.6

Best Indians

1. Rishi Puri - 1061.8
11. Rohan Rao - 741.6
46. Tejal Phatak - 442.2
72. Rakesh Rai - 380.0
77. Himanshu Mittal - 367.0

Before
These sudoku types have been taken from the last five World Sudoku Championships. The set features many of my favourite sudoku types and I would be disappointed if I do not perform well.
Good luck to all participants!


After
Beautiful test. I think every sudoku had its own charm in solving and thats the mark of a good author.
I personally liked Group Sum and Quadruple the best of the set. I'm sure now everyone considers Serkan as a great sudoku author as well!
How about a Serkan Screen Test next?

Logic Masters India - July 2011 Puzzle Test

Logic Masters India announces the July Puzzle Test 'Nikoli Selection 2'.
The author of the puzzles is Tom Collyer.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet 1
Download Puzzle Booklet 2 (Marathon Puzzles)
Password is Fi3VenOcee
Forum

The list of puzzles that will appear in the test are:

1. Akari
2. Fillomino
3. Hashiwokakero
4. Heyawake
5. Hitori
6. Kakuro
7. LITS
8. Masyu
9. Numberlink
10. Nurikabe
11. Ripple Effect
12. Shikaku
13. Slitherlink
14. Sudoku
15. Suraromu
16. Yajilin

Results

1. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 492
2. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 431
3. Nagata Yuta (Japan) - 352
4. Jan Mrozowski (Poland) - 330
5. Tarotaro (Japan) - 320
6. Palmer Mebane (USA) - 315
7. Volxa (Japan) - 311
8. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 310
9. Psyho (Poland) - 310
10. Jason Zuffranieri (USA) - 298

Best Indians

43. Rohan Rao - 215
84. Amit Sowani - 150
94. Rajesh Kumar - 140
100. Swaroop Guggilam - 130
115. Harmeet Singh - 105

Complete Results
There were totally 168 participants.

Before
This is the second set of Nikoli Selection on LMI. Tom Collyer had authored Nikoli Selection 1 in October 2010.
You will find lots of practise puzzles on Tom Collyer's Blog 'Detuned Radio'

This test will be very similar to the previous one with the format and puzzles the same. Hopefully, it will be a better than last time :-)
Looking forward to this test and good luck to all participants!


After
Very nice set of puzzles! Enjoyed every one of them.
Slitherlink and Kakuro were well-constructed, I lost a little time in these two puzzles.
Hitori and Sudoku were easy.
Nurikabe is a puzzle that I struggle in very often, but this time, I got it fairly quick. I guess I'm making some progress.
Numberlink is always fun.
Suraromu! The exclamation says it all! This is my choice of the best puzzle of the set. Brilliantly thought and beautifully executed, perfect for a Suraromu puzzle. Being a little experienced, I quickly realised how the top-left corner would be with straight lines and the rest just followed.
This is the first time I solved a Yajilin puzzle in a contest!
Fillomino was tricky while Akari was simple.
Masyu was the puzzle that realised snatched my chances of finishing all the 16 main puzzles. I dont know how I went wrong, but I had to erase thrice.
Ripple Effect is very enjoyable to me, I like the concept a lot.
Hashi and Rectangles were both tricky, and had some nice solving steps.

I'll solve the marathon puzzles on another lazy Sunday evening.
Overall, a good contest, with some really good puzzles.

Congrats to Hideaki Jo, who finished all the 16 main puzzles and the 3 marathon puzzles! With WPC coming soon, players have already started to make a mark!

Solving Star Battle: (Solved Example 1)

Take a look at Puzzle No.189

Each region is represented by an alphabet for convenience. Refer to this while reading through.

Using Region E, R5C7 can be eliminated. Using region F, R6C5, R6C6 and R8C5 can be eliminated. Using region H, R7C2 and R6C3 can be eliminated.

Observe regions G,F and H. If R6C8 is a star, the both stars of region G will be in the 8th row, which results in stars in R7C1 and R7C3 for region H leading to a contradiction in Region F. Hence, R6C8 is NOT a star.

Now the puzzle becomes very easy. Using Region E, R4C7 can be eliminated. One out of R4C6 and R5C6 has to be a star and hence R4C5 and R5C5 is eliminated.

Using Region F, we get a star in R7C6. All adjacent cells is eliminated.

Using Column 7, we get stars in R1C7 and R3C7, followed by stars in R5C6 and R5C8. After eliminating the remaining cells of row 5, you should be able to finish the puzzle.


Other Solving Techniques

Logic Masters India - June 2011 Sudoku Test

Logic Masters India announces the June 2011 Sudoku Test 'Logidoku'. It was held on 18th-19th June, 2011.
The authors of the puzzles are Zuzka Hromcova (zuziik) and Matus Demiger (greenhorn).

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is uKODiGOL
Forum

The list of sudokus that appeared in the test are:

1. Battleship Sudoku
2. Domino Sudoku
3. Easy As ABC Sudoku
4. Fence Sudoku
5. Japanese Sums Sudoku
6. Kakuro Sudoku
7. Kropki Sudoku
8. Pairs Sudoku
9. Skyscrapers Sudoku
10. Tapa Sudoku

Results

1. Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia) - 348
2. Michael Ley (Germany) - 260
3. Ulrich Voigt (Germany) - 260
4. Jan Mrozowski (Poland) - 257
5. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 250
6. Jakub Hrazdira (Czech Republic) - 233
7. Seungjae Kwak (South Korea) - 231
8. Takuya Sugimoto (Japan) - 230
9. Psyho (Poland) - 222
10. Zoltan Horvath (Hungary) - 222

Best Indians

11. Rohan Rao - 215
50. Tejal Phatak - 120
55. Harmeet Singh - 115
59. Swaroop Guggilam - 112
77. Rakesh Rai - 88

Complete Results

Before
Looks to be an interesting set. Puzzles combined with sudokus would be advantageous to players who are comfortable with puzzles. Lets see if the results prove it.

After
A very nice set of sudokus (or puzzles!). I loved the Tapa 9x9 and the Easy As ABC 9x9.
Congrats to Nikola for the big victory! It is very rare to see Thomas not in the top 3. Congrats to Michael and Ulrich for a close fought 2nd and 3rd.

Indian Puzzle Championship 2011

The Indian Puzzle Championship 2011 will consist of 13 regional rounds held in the months of January to March 2011. The top 3 from each of these regional rounds will be invited for the national finals on 12-Jun-2011. The team which will represent India at the World Sudoku Championship will be selected on the basis of the performance in the Indian Sudoku Championship National Final.

Championship Page
Forum

There are several ways in which you could qualify for a position in the National Finals.

You could be amongst the top 3 at one of the regional rounds.
You could be amongst the top 15 from the Online Qualifying round which will be held on date.

The 13 regional rounds will be held as a part of the college festivals in reputed colleges in different colleges across the country. The regional rounds will be held in the cities of Mumbai, Kharagpur, Rourkela, Goa, Guwahati, Bangalore, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Bhopal, Delhi, Roorkee and Pilani in the months from January to March. The regional round finals will be held between the top 60 participants from the region. The 60 finalists will be selected from Regional Prelims which will be open to all participants. For more details regarding the venue and dates of the regional round nearest to you please have a look at the Schedule.

The national finals was held on 12th June at Community Hall inside DRDO Complex, CV Raman Nagar, Bengaluru (Bangalore).

Download Instruction Booklet

10th June, 2011
I took a flight to Bengaluru and reached Rajesh's house around 6pm. After a brief nap, I spent some time with Rajesh's family and relaxed. Last year, I won the Indian Puzzle Championship (and the Indian Sudoku Championship) and going into this year's finals being the defending champion was not the easiest thing for me. There were a lot of first-timers due to the regional rounds and the regular group of good players were anyways there. These were my thoughts about some of the players

Amit Sowani: Has been itching to get back to participation after creating puzzles for previous IPCs. He has been the best performing Indian at WPC and could win the title this time.
Rajesh Kumar: 5-time national champion is a force that could shake me down. I considered him to be my biggest threat.
Rakesh Rai: Has been consistent and has beaten me in LMI Monthly Puzzle Tests. He could've been the dark horse.
Ritesh Gupta: Does not enjoy solving puzzles as much as sudoku but you can never count him out.
Tejal Phatak: Has been consistent and was part of the team last year.

Unfortunately, Amit could not make it to the event. Rakesh pulled out too. And, as expected, it turned out to be a battle between Rajesh and me (like last year), where I won IPC 2010 by just 40 points.

11th June, 2011
Indian Sudoku Championship

12th June, 2011
I was hoping to be in the Indian team at least, if not win the championship. The finals had a lot of new variations, so I was confident of making it in the top 3.

Round 1
Download Puzzle Booklet
This was a Sprint Round and we had to solve as many puzzles as possible in 60 minutes. It was a modest start by me as I could solve 13 whereas Rajesh solved 15 and took an 80-point lead.

Round 2
I had to do well in this round. And I did. I solved 4 puzzles worth 340 points and Rajesh solved 1 puzzle worth 120 points. 220 points more than Rajesh! Now, the IPC title was almost surely mine. But, one puzzle turned out to be incorrect. Both Rajesh and me spent time on the puzzle. The round had to be cancelled and it was the fairest possible decision. Of course, it was disadvantageous to me foregoing such a big lead, but then there was nothing I could do.

Round 3
Download Puzzle Booklet
The decider round. Rajesh had 80 points more than me. I had to come up with something spectacular to win. The round timing was increased from 60 minutes to 90 minutes. When the round started, my heart starting beating very fast and I started to get nervous. I really wanted to win. With confidence, speed and accuracy, I put all my puzzling skills into action and it did result in an extremely important performance. I completed all the 20 puzzles in 86 minutes, thus getting a 40 point time bonus. I couldn't have ended it better. I never ever thought I would be able to complete the round. I scored 740 and had a comfortable lead over Rajesh's 415 in the final round.

Results

1. Rohan Rao (Mumbai) - 1020
2. Rajesh Kumar (Bengaluru) - 775
3. Harmeet Singh (Bengaluru) - 555
4. Sumit Bothra (Kolkata) - 460
5. Ritesh Gupta (Delhi) - 460
6. Rajib Borah (Mumbai) - 445
7. Swaroop Guggilam (Mumbai) - 425
8. Tejal Phatak (Mumbai) - 405
9. Zalak Ghetia (Bengaluru) - 350
10. Prasanna Seshadri (Mumbai) - 350

Complete Results

I won IPC again. I won ISC and IPC in the same year again. So, that makes it four titles on a trot. I'm very happy and I've worked hard for this. I thank my family and friends for all the support.

As for the results, it may look like I won with a comfortable 245-point lead, but it was closer than it looks. Rajesh likes competing and he complimented me. His words 'I tried giving you a fight, but you were unbeatable today' mean a lot to me. Harmeet Singh's performance got lost in our battle, but I must say, a terrific performance by him. He could well be a contender for the title next year. Sumit and Ritesh had modest performances and always seem to be ranked one after the other!

Rajib Borah had an excellent Round 3 and had he done better in Round 1, he would surely have been ranked higher. Swaroop Guggilam almost made it to the top 4 with a good Round 1 and Round 3. A few silly mistakes cost him a few points and was pulled down to 7th. Tejal Phatak and Zalak Ghetia were the best performing women.

The puzzles were beautiful, some of them created by Foreign Puzzlers. It was organised very well, and ended successfully.

The entire event was co-ordinated by one man, Deb Mohanty, who spent a lot of time and effort in ensuring the success of the event.

Credits

I thank Rajesh Kumar, Deb Mohanty and their families for giving me accomodation. Special thanks to Deb Mohanty and his team (view credits) for organising this wonderful event which went very smoothly and was a huge success.

Indian Sudoku Championship 2011

The Indian Sudoku Championship 2011 will consist of 14 regional rounds held in the months of January to March 2011. The top 3 from each of these regional rounds will be invited for the national finals on 11-Jun-2011. The team which will represent India at the World Sudoku Championship will be selected on the basis of the performance in the Indian Sudoku Championship National Final.

Championship Page
Forum

There are several ways in which you could qualify for a position in the National Finals.

You could be amongst the top 3 at one of the regional rounds.
You could be amongst the top 15 from the Online Qualifying round which will be held on date.

The 14 regional rounds will be held as a part of the college festivals in reputed colleges in different colleges across the country. The regional rounds will be held in the cities of Mumbai, Chennai, Kharagpur, Rourkela, Goa, Guwahati, Bangalore, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Bhopal, Delhi, Roorkee and Pilani in the months from January to March. The regional round finals will be held between the top 60 participants from the region. The 60 finalists will be selected from Regional Prelims which will be open to all participants. For more details regarding the venue and dates of the regional round nearest to you please have a look at the Schedule.

Download Instruction Booklet (Online Qualification)
Download Puzzle Booklet (Online Qualification)

The regional rounds went really well and it was nice to see so many participants in the online round too.

List of Qualifiers

The national finals was held on 11th June at Community Hall inside DRDO Complex, CV Raman Nagar, Bengaluru (Bangalore)

Download Instruction Booklet

10th June, 2011
I took a flight to Bengaluru and reached Rajesh's house around 6pm. After a brief nap, I spent some time with Rajesh's family and relaxed. Last year, I won the Indian Sudoku Championship (and the Indian Puzzle Championship) and going into this year's finals being the defending champion was not the easiest thing for me. There were a lot of first-timers due to the regional rounds and the regular group of good players were anyways there. These were my thoughts about some of the players

Gaurav Korde: Has been away for a while, but a great performance in Beijing shows how he can pull himself at critical times.
Rakesh Rai: Has been very consistent and I believed him to be the dark horse.
Rishi Puri: Last year's runner-up, who has been in tremendous form lately with his recent exploits in Beijing.
Ritesh Gupta: 3-time national champion would be raring to get his title back.
Sumit Bothra: Out of practise, but can deliver when needed.
Tejal Phatak: Has been consistently rising and offline events are her strength.

It was a big disappointment when Rishi had to cancel his trip. His absence at the finals meant a pillar went missing. Some people felt I should've been happy since a big contender of the title had pulled out. But I like competition and I've always enjoyed a fight, irrespective of the result. Adding to Rishi's absence, Rakesh and Jaipal too pulled out at the last moment thus thinning the competition to a great extent. I was very disappointed but I couldn't do much about it.

11th June, 2011
The competition hall was huge and as Sumit mentioned 'It gave the feel of a puzzle championship'. I felt comfortable and I was hoping to make it in the Indian team at least, if not win the championship.

Round 1
Download Puzzle Booklet
It was a perfect beginning for me. I was able to finish the round with a 1-minute time bonus. I was shell-shocked when the results came out to see I already had a 95-point lead over 2nd place Tejal and a 190-point lead over 3rd place Ritesh.

Round 2
Download Puzzle Booklet
I finished 6 of the 7 sudokus in 50 minutes and had 10 minutes to complete Odd-Even Frame. It was disappointing to miss the last one, but good enough to top the round and extend my lead.

Round 3
Download Puzzle Booklet
I never expected to complete this round, but I had a big advantage by finishing Equal Sum and Multiplication Table within 25 minutes. I even checked every 2x2 region of Equal Sum to make sure I didn't go wrong. I finished all the sudokus with a 5-minute bonus and this was when I was sure of retaining my ISC title.

Round 4
Download Puzzle Booklet
I wanted to win ISC by topping all four rounds and it went exactly as I would've liked. I spent more than 10 minutes on the 'very difficult' Touchy but couldn't crack it. I got the first Classic wrong with a silly error, but I topped the round with 350, just 20 more than Tejal!


Results

1. Rohan Rao (Mumbai) - 1895
2. Ritesh Gupta (Delhi) - 1155
3. Sumit Bothra (Kolkata) - 1140
4. Tejal Phatak (Mumbai) - 1105
5. Gaurav Korde (Mumbai) - 970
6. Prasanna Seshadri (Mumbai) - 765
7. Harmeet Singh (Bengaluru) - 740
8. Himanshu Mittal (Delhi) - 725
9. Akash Doulani (Kolkata) - 710
10. Rajesh Kumar (Bengaluru) - 670

Complete Results

Sumit Bothra and Deb Mohanty

Ritesh Gupta and Deb Mohanty

Rohan Rao and Deb Mohanty

Relieved, excited and happy, I won ISC 2011 and retained my title. I knew we were going to be given certificates but I had no idea there were trophies for the top 3. The certificates and trophies were both wonderful!

Looking at the results, Gaurav Korde had a disappointing day. Most of us expected him to be in the top 3. Tejal Phatak performed extremely well and so did debutant Prasanna Seshadri. Harmeet Singh had a fantastic weekend, too.

The sudokus were exceptionally good, especially Round 3. I felt the 6x6 Linked Sudokus of Round 1 were slightly tougher than what it should've been.
I liked Odd-Even View from Round 2, Mulitplication Table from Round 3 and Classic-Diagonal from Round 4.
All the rounds were well-timed, without any problems.

It was a wonderful event, had excellent puzzles, was organised infallibly and ended on a successful note.

The entire event was co-ordinated by one man, Deb Mohanty, who spent a lot of time and effort in ensuring the success of the event. Not only did he organise the event, he created every one of the sudokus of the championship. I wonder how he managed to do this all by himself. He must be super-man!

Credits

I thank Rajesh Kumar, Deb Mohanty and their families for giving me accomodation. Special thanks to Deb Mohanty and his team (view credits) for organising this wonderful event which went very smoothly and was a huge success.

Logic Masters India - June 2011 Puzzle Test

Logic Masters India announces the June 2011 Puzzle Test 'Fillomino-Fillia'. It will be held on 4th-5th June, 2011.
The author of the puzzles are Grant Fikes (mathgrant) and Palmer Mebane (mellowmelon).

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password will be available when you start the test
Forum

Logic Masters India - May 2011 Sudoku Test

Logic Masters India announces the May 2011 Sudoku Test 'Something Is Missing'. It was held on 28th-29th May, 2011.
The author of the puzzles is Jakub Hrazdira.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Forum

The list of sudokus that appeared in the test are:

1. Non-Consecutive Sudoku
2. Kropki Sudoku
3. Jigsaw Sudoku
4. Toroidal Sudoku
5. Number X Is Alive Sudoku
6. Incomplete Sums Sudoku
7. Draw A Jigsaw Sudoku
8. Missing Digit Sudoku
9. Hidden Sum Blackout Sudoku
10. Instructionless Sudoku

Results

1. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 437
2. Ulrich Voigt (Germany) - 400
3. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 380
4. Michael Ley (Germany) - 380
5. Yuhei Kusui (Japan) - 370
6. Sylvain Caudmont (France) - 335
7. Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia) - 330
8. Psyho (Poland) - 330
9. Richard Hoffer (USA) - 320
10. David McNeill (UK) - 320

Best Indians

18. Rakesh Rai - 260
21. Rohan Rao - 240
45. Prasanna Seshadri - 145
46. Utkaarsh Somaiya - 145
64. Harmeet Singh - 115

Complete Results

Another tough set from Jakub. Beautifully constructed sudokus. Instructionless was lovely. I got the logic in about 20 seconds. The concept of 'missing' was used very neatly. Thanks Jakub for another exciting contest.

Logic Masters India - May 2011 Puzzle Test

Logic Masters India announces the May 2011 Puzzle Test 'MAYnipulation'. It was held on 13th-14th May, 2011.
The author of the puzzles is Murat Can Tonta.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is 1_888_PUZZLES
Forum

Results

1. Palmer Mebane (USA) - 758
2. Ulrich Voigt (Germany) - 710
3. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 683
4. Shinichi Aoki (Japan) - 683
5. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 643
6. Michael Ley (Germany) - 553
7. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 533
8. Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia) - 505
9. Olivier (France) - 498
10. Nagata Yuta (Japan) - 480

Best Indians

23. Rohan Rao - 345
47. Amit Sowani - 255
59. Rakesh Rai - 165
65. Tejal Phatak - 125
77. Ravi Kumar - 60

Complete Results

Before
Interesting set of puzzles. Looking forward to it.

After
Nice tough puzzles. A below par performace by me, but enough to beat my country-mates.

Solving Along The Lines: 'Singular Cells'

The best way to begin Along The Lines puzzles is by identifying 'Singular Cells', cells which can be touched by only one single clue, enabling you to draw a line from the clue to the cell.

Take a look at Puzzle No.30


Observe the two marked cells. R4C4 can be touched either by the '8' clue, or by the '3' clue. But R3C3 can only be touched by the '6' clue.


Hence we draw the line from the '6' clue to R3C3. Now observe R4C4, which was earlier not a singular cell.


R3C3 has become a singular cell since the '3' clue now cannot touch the cell. Hence it has to be touched by the '8' clue.

This is the best way to start and solve Along The Lines puzzles. In fact, many times you can solve the entire puzzle using this rule effectively.

Other Solving Techniques

Logic Masters India - April 2011 Sudoku Test

Logic Masters India announces the April Sudoku Test. This test has been merged with the online qualification test for the Indian Sudoku Championship.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is Ki2sVeheMi
Forum

The list of sudokus that appeared in the test are:

1. Odd-Even Sudoku
2. Diagonal Sudoku
3. Extra Region Sudoku
4. XV Sudoku
5. Consecutive Sudoku
6. Trio Sudoku
7. Outside Sudoku
8. Inequality Sudoku
9. Irregular-Scattered Sudoku
10. Killer Sudoku
11. Product Frame Sudoku
12. Classic Sudoku

Results

1. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 650
2. Jan Mrozowski (Poland) - 645
3. Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia) - 640
4. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 635
5. Michael Ley (Germany) - 630
6. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 625
7. Minfang Lin (China) - 620
8. Rohan Rao (India) - 615
9. Fred Stalder (Switzerland) - 610
10. Sinchai R (Thailand) - 605

Best Indians

8. Rohan Rao - 615
18. Rishi Puri - 476
26. Gaurav Korde - 404
37. Sumit Bothra - 351
39. Rakesh Rai - 348

Complete Results

Before
Here's my first test. I'm going to give my best shot at ISC and I hope to retain my title :-)

After
This is satisfying! I did not solve the test under best 'physical conditions', but an 8th place overall and Indian topper with a considerable margin is something that comforts me. Nice to see Gaurav, Sumit and others back in the ring.

Sudokus were excellent. A Trio sudoku with 6 givens caught my eye, something which I failed creating sometime back. It seemed many struggled with the Product Frame which I was lucky to get through but the only barrier I faced was Outside.

Congrats to all those who qualified and hope to have an interesting finals like last year.

Logic Masters India - April 2011 Puzzle Test

Logic Masters India announces the April 2011 Puzzle Test 'Twist'. It was held on 9th-10th April, 2011.
The author of the puzzles is Deb Mohanty.

Championship Page
Download Instruction Booklet
Download Puzzle Booklet
Password is M201104P_t3istED
Forum

The puzzles that appeared in the test are:

1. Odd Skyscrapers
2. Toroidal Rectangles
3. 2-Loop Masyu
4. Light Up
5. No 3 In Minesweeper
6. 3's Fence
7. Hitori Sum
8. L&M&I
9. Double Easy As ABCD
10. Missing Breakpoints
11. No-3-Consecutive Sudoku
12. 3 Cell Arrows

Results

1. Thomas Snyder (USA) - 736.0
2. Ulrich Voigt (Germany) - 641.8
3. Hideaki Jo (Japan) - 621.0
4. Palmer Mebane (USA) - 566.0
5. Florian Kirch (Germany) - 499.8
6. Shinichi Aoki (Japan) - 479.5
7. Nikola Zivanovic (Serbia) - 473.6
8. Rohan Rao (India) - 469.1
9. Michael Ley (Germany) - 455.4
10. Kota Morinishi (Japan) - 448.0

Best Indians

8. Rohan Rao - 469.1
47. Rakesh Rai - 266.6
61. Rajesh Kumar - 241.3
80. Harmeet Singh - 173.8
82. Prasanna Seshadri - 171.8

Complete Results

Before
Every puzzle has a twist! Very interesting puzzle instructions. I'm looking forward to this test after a below par performance in Hybrids and Zoo.

The new timing structure is a nice idea. It will motivate and give a chance for more players to solve all the puzzles and complete the set. Maybe this is a start to a new trend :-)

L&M&I and Toroidal Rectangles is my pick of the set. Rectangles look scary to me, but they have very few points compared to others, so I guess they would be easy. Well, I hope so.

Good luck to all participants!


After
What a test! Absolutely fantastic set of puzzles. One of the most beautiful puzzle sets I've ever solved. The test reminded me a lot of Evergreens1 and Evergreens2, yet it had its own essence, so beautifully stuffed into the puzzles.

Skyscrapers were excellents.
Toroidal Rectangles was my weak point and it just proved to be the case. I just couldn't get through the big one, though it was my blind eye that missed an easy opening.
2-Loop Masyu was beautiful. I especially liked the small one. I started solving these using the standard rules, and when I thought I was done, I realised my solution had just one loop! I had to search for a place where I could 'open' the loop and 'close' it the other way. This puzzle made my spirits go high.
Light Up was nice. The small one used the concept of 'put as many' while the big one was a 'fit these'.
Minesweeper was average. I made a silly mistake in the small one and the big one could have definitely been better, since 40% of the grid solves without using the 'twisted' rule.
Fence and Hitori were fun.
L&M&I was my favourite puzzle of the set. The concept was nice but the execution was perfect. Both the grids were of top quality.
Double Easy as ABCD and Arrows weren't my favourite. I scraped through the Double but couldn't crack either of the Arrows.
Missing Breakpoints was undoubtedly the toughest puzzle of the set. Just 6 players solved it correctly.
No 3 Consecutive Sudoku was easy according to me. Maybe cause I'm more sudoku-friendly :-)

Congrats to Deb Mohanty for such a great set of puzzles. Congrats to Thomas for an exceptional performance! And some applause for me. My first top-10 finish in an LMI Puzzle Test! It feels nice to be at the top, at least occassionally :-) I'm dreaming of a top 3 some day...