Our regional round was held at IIT, Kharagpur. The first round was on the 29th of Jan at 11.30 am. So had to wake up at 4.30 a.m. I reached Kharagpur at around 9 a.m There were around 400 participants , which i never expected. The problem with the seating arrangement was that we had to solve the sudokus on our lap as there was no desks . The first round was of 1 hour . I think i finished all sudokus in around 42 min. Also , I was the first and the only participant who finished all the sudokus. After the sudoku round , i took the puzzle test ,which was just about okay. I was anyways selected for the second round of both the events.
At 2.30 pm , the next day, the 2nd round of Sudoku started. Got stuck in only Trio which i felt was the most difficult of the lot. After spending nearly 10 min in that puzzle, had to use T&E. This time also , i finished around 12 minutes before the scheduled time. (later i was told that i had made a silly mistake in Trio and as a result I couldnt get full marks). After the sudoku test , the Puzzle round started . I solved 60 points in that.
Then the results were announced . I topped the Sudoku event and was 3rd in the puzzle event. We were told that there would be playoffs for both sudoku as well as puzzle.There were 4 big boards on stage and we had to solve on flex with marker pens.Also with music playing around all of us were tensed as to what would happen. First was the playoffs for Sudoku. we were divided into two groups of 4 each. The first was a classic sudoku. I started quite confidently but i was having problem moving back as there was another board behind me. So it was difficult to see the last 3 rows properly. After around 4 minutes of solving , I realised I had made a mistake somewhere. I went fully blank . I didnt know where the mistake was.The rest of the time went in changing numbers from certain cells, but still I was not able to correct my mistake. Luckily, I could correct the sudoku with 10 seconds left.
Then was the final round . We had an extra region sudoku. Although it was quite easy , none of us could solve it. But I was the one who had solved the maximum correct cells and I was announced the winner. Shilo Stefens from Bangalore was 2nd followed by Srijan Kumar from IIT, Kharagpur.
In the puzzle playoffs I could not reach the final 4. Overall , the experience was really good. The only thing I dislike was solving on flex with marker pens. It gives disadvantage to people who are quite tall as well as those who are quite short. Moreover with music playing , it was quite difficult to concentrate. Also , it becomes quite diffiult to erase because of marker pens.
There were cash prizes also. 1st person got Rs 3000 , 2nd got Rs 2000 and 3rd got Rs 1000.

Hey Akash,

Thanks for sharing you experience, and congratulations on winning the regional Round.
Some (most?) of these colleges are doing Sudokus events for the first time, and I'm sure with experience (next year?) the arrangements will be better. I'm glad that your overall experience was nice.

I hope your writing will help participants from other regions.

See you in the finals.
Deb

Congrats Akash! Nice to see that the events are attracting more participants...

I also participated at the regional round at IIT-K. Stood 3rd at the puzzle event, thereby qualifying for the Finals of IPC 2011, however, couldn't make it to the Top 3 in the Sudoku Event.

Frankly, I went there without any practice and didn't expect to qualify for either of the events. But to my surprise, I was 2nd in both of them before the play-offs.

But, when I am conscious of someone watching me solve, I can't solve them. So, the play-off's was quite an interesting experience for me. Just have to practice hard and get rid of this bad habit.

In the Sudoku Play-offs, the Top 8 were divided in 2 groups of 4 each. The Kharagpur Organizing Team decided to take best 2 from both the groups for the Final Play-off. But they did the mistake of putting the Top3 from Round2 in the same group. Thus, one of the Top3 from Round2 didn't had the chance to make the Final Play-off. However, they rectified this mistake in the Puzzle Play-offs and made GroupA of Rank 1,3,5,7 and GroupB of Rank 2,4,6,8.

Thus, I would request the Organizers to make sure that this doesn't repeat in the coming Regional Rounds.

Overall, it's Thumbs Up from me for the Kharagpur Team.




Aditya

Edited by adityasaraf007 2011-02-04 11:00 PM

Congrats Aditya!
It is natural to feel odd when someone watches you solve. I face it too :-)

Hope to meet you at the finals...

thanx akash and aditya for sharing your experiences...............
It will help the organisers at other places. Its really nice to see the number of participants increasing. Congrats to Akash aand Aditya for getting selected. Aditya online round is still there.... so dont loose hope..........

Thanks Rohan and Neeraj. I have not yet lost hope to qualify for Sudoku Finals.

One question to the Organizers:

I don't plan to go for any other regional rounds. But still if I do, is there any problem if I take part in the Puzzles Event too, since I have already qualified for the Finals from IIT-K?


Aditya

Edited by adityasaraf007 2011-02-05 9:37 AM

Short answer - Don't do it.
Long answer - We are finding it extremely difficult to co-ordinate among colleges. Since your place is booked for Puzzles National final, don't complicate by appearing in puzzle events somewhere else.

Most importantly Aditya, if you qualify again, you are taking away a place for someone who could have qualified in the second event :)

That is unlikely to happen.
We are receiving results from all regional centers.
We'll give chance to the next person in the line from the 2nd event.

I think I gave a bit of tension to all of you.

Okay, won't appear for the Puzzles if I plan to go somewhere else for Sudoku.

Thanks
Aditya

Im glad atleast that bit is covered.

Rishi

Congrats Akash and Aditya and thanks for sharing your experience.

What will be the kind of puzzles asked in Puzzles competition

Puzzle types booklet available at http://logicmastersindia.com/IPC2011/pp.asp