http://logicmastersindia.com/TVC/2013.asp

TVC 2013

The TVC 2013 is officially over. The last one was a little bit different than usual TVC puzzles distribution. One of the solvers who had chance to become the Tapa Master 2013 survived, so we had a new Tapa Master. Before this, I want to thank some people who make great effort for the TVC. Rohan Rao, Salih Alan, Wei-Hwa Huang and William Blatt tested TVC puzzles, and their effort made sure that I handled so many things right and fair. Especially TVC XV and TVC XVI were tough work for us, because I couldn’t make whole set of puzzles in a reasonable time before the contest date, and this caused lack of time for testers and Deb. However they helped perfectly even if I didn’t make my work on time.

I didn’t calculate, but I assume 4 solvers had a chance to be the Tapa Master. So former Master Palmer M. broke a puzzle on Sunday, and he put the title in danger but he was still the closest one to it. Yuta Nagata (nyuta) couldn’t solve all puzzles (there was one missing puzzle) and lost the chance. Neither Thomas competed nor Bram in Sunday and Monday. In the last day Bram took the test. I didn’t know what was going on, and Deb pinged me, “Bram did all puzzles correctly.” So it means that Bram was the Tapa Master 2013 in that time, but he still had an opponent who is Thomas S. If Thomas solved all puzzles, he would beat Bram and he would be the TM 2013. Probably Thomas took the test in last hours of TVC, so I saw the latest results in my morning and Thomas had a broken puzzle, that was a tiny mistake. The correct solution was 26, Thomas’s was 25. Frankly I would not want be in their shoes, because they were really close to get the title, and it must’ve been sad to lose the title with simple mistakes.
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TVC XVI, top three

1. Hideaki Jo (Japan) [25/25 - 69.23 minutes]
2. Bram de Laat (Netherlands) [25/25 - 69.45 minutes]
3. Endo Ken (Japan) [24/25 - 54.49 minutes]

Hideaki has participated in all TVC’s, he got several top three results, but TVC XVI is first victory of him, also second Japanese solver to win a TVC round. As you remember first one was Endo Ken in TVC XIV.
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Best puzzles of TVC 2013

1. Pata (TVC XIII) - 9.8
2. Outside Tapa (TVC XV) - 9.7
3. Alternative Tapa (TVC XVI) - 9.2
4. Pentapa (TVC XIV) - 9.1

Worst puzzles of TVC 2013

1. Tapa Tapa (TVC XVI) - 6.75
2. Total False Tapa (TVC XV) - 7.33
3. Tapa Borderline (TVC XIII) - 7.5
4. Tapa Clones (TVC XIV) - 7.5
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And Deb.
If you have prepared an online competition for the LMI and also you have a Gmail account, probably you know about chatting with Deb in a small window:) We are doing this activity since 2010. Last 40 days we talked so many things about TVC, CTC and nonpuzzle issues… My point is, Deb did a great work again.

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You know we were organizing TVC’s in Feb - March. We scheduled 2013 TVC in August - Sept because of WPF Sudoku Grand Prix. But we talked about getting back to the original schedule of TVC, so 2014 TVC will be organized in Feb-March.

I think the poll system worked. I’m not sure if this was useful for you, but I know it is a good thing that solvers has a chance to decide some of puzzle types in the competition.

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Here is the TVC XVI results: http://logicmastersindia.com/TVC/XVI/score.asp

Cumulative results of TVC 2013: http://www.logicmastersindia.com/TVC/2013.asp

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Thanks to all participants, see you in next year.

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Finally, the new TAPA MASTER is BRAM DE LAAT!

More tapas coming in 3-4 months!
I'm a fan of that!

Congratulations Bram, what a fight-back after your TVC XIII result!
Your comment at the time still makes me giggle, "ps. Palmer, dial it back a little." After that big victory, I admit it did look like TVC 2013 was a foregone conclusion...
And I'm quite happy to be (as Prasanna would put it) "2nd-best-of-the-rest". :)

newsbreak: http://puzzlepile.com/2013/10/03/tvc-xvi-series-results/

Thanks Bran for the nice write ups!