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All questions related to the 2021 WS+PC Social Events can be posted here. Feel free to ask anything you like to know about the ceremonies, interview panels, trivia quiz, and all the fun stuff.

Zoom meetings

The Zoom links can be found on the landing page. For specific Meeting IDs, the list is below. The password for all is WS+PC2021.

Opening Ceremony - 819 4419 1133
Q&A - 819 4419 1133
Top Sudoku Solvers - 811 8588 9852
Japanese Solvers - 895 3847 1547
Top Puzzle Solvers - 874 2043 1736
Authors Panel - 891 0722 5409
Experienced Solvers - 829 4493 6070
WSPC Trivia Quiz - 836 4088 2717
Closing - 884 0157 8886
Chatroom - 863 3033 6540

Thank you for recording these, I look forward to watching the replays at a convenient time.

Hi, as there is a bigger turnout than we expected, we have posted a live stream on our WPF Facebook account. Check here - https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=417174156...
Feel free to ask any question in the Forum or in the comments section in real-time.

The livestream of the Opening Ceremony can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/209267589150230/videos/417174156642990/

Panel Details - Top Sudoku Solvers

Host: Tom Collyer (UK)
Panelists:

Tantan Dai (China) - Winner of the WPF Sudoku Grand Prix 2021
Bastien Vial-Jaime (France) - Multiple-time podium finisher at WPF International Sudoku events, and owner of the Youtube Channel 81 Cells
Tiit Vunk (Estonia) - 2016 World Sudoku Champion and 3-time winner of the WPF Sudoku Grand Prix

Panel Details - Japanese Solvers

This is a panel built of some amazing Japanese solvers who have contributed to Japan's continued excellence at Puzzle events.
Host: Byron Calver (Canada)
Panelists:

Ryotaro Chiba - A talented young solver that continues Japan's tradition of bringing in newcomers into their top team, Ryotaro finished 12th in his first World Puzzle Championship
Ken Endo - Former multi-time World Puzzle Champion and current World Sudoku Champion
Hideaki Jo - A veteran solver who has placed on the podium multiple times at World Sudoku as well as Puzzle Championships
Kota Morinishi - Former multi-time World Sudoku Champion

Panel Details - Top Puzzle Solvers

Host: Wei-Hwa Huang (USA)
Panelists:

Walker Anderson (USA) - This young solver from the USA is a potential future World Champion, finishing at 3rd place at the 2019 World Puzzle Championship
Palmer Mebane (USA) - 2011 World Puzzle Champion
Yanzhe Qiu (China) - While China is known for its dominance in the Sudoku scene, this young solver stands out as one of the world's elite in other puzzles too, finishing 7th at the 2019 World Puzzle Championship and constantly improving
Philipp Weiss (Germany) - The current World Puzzle Champion
Freddie Hand (UK) - Freddie finished 3rd in the WPF Puzzle Grand Prix 2021, and is an amazingly talented young solver, and a potential future World Champion like Walker.

Panel Details - Authors Panel

The hosts of popular Youtube Channel Cracking the Cryptic get to pick the brains of some of the world's top puzzlemakers.

Host: Mark Goodliffe (UK) & Simon Anthony (UK)
Panelists:

Gareth Moore (UK) - Popular author with books of Sudokus and other puzzles published worldwide
Prasanna Seshadri (India) - Contributing Puzzlemaster at Grandmaster Puzzles, Lead puzzle author of World Puzzle Championship 2017
Thomas Snyder (USA) - Founder and owner of Grandmaster Puzzles

Panel Details - Experienced Solvers

The World Puzzle Championship and World Sudoku Championship take place annually in regular years. In addition to the top title contenders, there are many brilliant and wonderful people who participate in these events, perform admirably, and have a good time socially. This panel features a light and casual chat about that community and spirit of a regular WSC/WPC participant.
Host: Tantan Dai (China)
Panelists:

Agnieszka Buczma (Poland)
Byron Calver (Canada)
Tom Collyer (UK)
Ulla Elsila (Finland)
David Jones (Canada)
Vasso Kalaitzidou (Greece)

Please note, there is a change in the schedule, the Top Puzzle Solvers panel is now shifted to 5:30 instead of 4:30. The landing page reflects this, and a new schedule PDF has been added in the Schedule Overview section as well. The new schedule can quickly be accessed here - https://www.worldpuzzle.org/files/106/updated%20schedule.pdf

Also, a new panelist has been added to this panel - Freddie Hand of the UK! More in the post above.

The Top Sudoku Solvers panel starts in about 10 minutes! Join in on the zoom link provided in the Social Table of the landing page! The password, if needed, is also provided at the top in the header.

Watch on Youtube - Top Sudoku Solvers Panel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57ceMzRRBOY
Many thanks to Tantan, TiiT and Bastien for providing an insightful look into the preparation and mindset of a top Sudoku solver, and to Tom Collyer for being an amazing host.
The above link is an edit of the previously shared livestream one, it can be viewed now as a normal video. It is well worth the watch.

The link for this as well as the Opening Ceremony + Q&A video from earlier are now linked to on the landing page.

The Japanese Solvers panel starts in 10 minutes! Join in on the zoom link provided in the Social Table of the landing page! The password, if needed, is also provided at the top in the header.

The panel is being livestreamed on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB9oXZ6NzEQ
The link is on the landing page as well!

Watch on Youtube - Japanese Solvers Panel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB9oXZ6NzEQ&list=PL_awKdiInNyhjIPflG...
A fascinating look into the minds of Japanese solvers, how they view puzzles vs Sudoku, logic vs intuition, and even fun tidbits like their favourite anime and music - This was an excellent interview conducted by Byron Calver, and we thank Ken Endo, Kota Morinishi, Ryotaro Chiba and Hideaki Jo for being a part of it.

This link has been updated on the landing page too.

The Top Puzzle Solvers panel starts in 10 minutes! Join in on the zoom link provided in the Social Table of the landing page! The password, if needed, is also provided at the top in the header of the table.

Livestreaming at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifgwDxxXFzc (there was a slight delay getting all the panelists in)

May we have more information about the Trivia Quiz please?

Edited by onigame 2021-11-17 12:47 PM

Hi Wei-Hwa,

The Trivia Quiz is still under construction (apologies). Two things I can say now are that:

1. It will be on Kahoot.
2. It will mostly (or only) contain questions related to WSPC, including past WSPC facts, this year's event, Sudokus, Puzzles, and people who have participated in WSPC.

Let me know if you have more questions I can answer. And I will continue to work on the Trivia Quiz!

Watch on Youtube - Top Puzzle Solvers Panel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifgwDxxXFzc
Palmer Mebane, Walker Anderson, Freddie Hand, Yanzhe Qiu, Philipp Weiss and Wei-Hwa Huang talk about a wide variety of topics related to puzzle solving. Hear from the best what its like to speed-solve at the highest level, and much more.
Thank you to all the panelists for giving their time.

This link has been updated on the landing page too.

Authors panel live now! Livestreaming at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrtFw3vvHKc

Watch on Youtube - Authors Panel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrtFw3vvHKc
Gareth Moore, Thomas Snyder, and Prasanna Seshadri offered 3 varying and enlightening perspectives on puzzle construction. A peek into their process, quality and difficulty control, the role of luck in puzzle construction, and so much more, along with valued input from the Cracking the Cryptic duo Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe!

Thank you to all the panelists for giving their time.

This link has been updated on the landing page too.

Experienced solvers panel livestreaming now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6hy2S2aMUc

Join in as regulars at the WSPC discuss the community around it!

The Trivia Quiz is about to start in 3 minutes! Link and password in the landing page. We are using Kahoot which will limit it to 50 official participants but others can join in on the fun through chat!

Watch on Youtube - Experienced Solvers Panel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6hy2S2aMUc
Regular participants at the World Sudoku and Puzzle Championships discuss what its like to go to the event, their initial experiences vs current ones, advise for newcomers, and much more! Featuring Agnieszka Buczma (Poland), Byron Calver (Canada), Tom Collyer (UK), Ulla Elsila (Finland), David Jones (Canada) and Vasso Kalaitzidou (Greece). As a bonus, Byron does a special rendition of his smash hit song "Sudoku"!
All hosted by one of the organizers of this whole event, Tantan Dai (China)

Thank you to all the panelists for giving their time.

This link has been updated on the landing page too.

Trivia Quiz Results

The Trivia Quiz complete results can be seen on the landing page.

Quick link for convenience - https://logicmastersindia.com/lmitests/WSPC_2021_Trivia_Game_Results...

We will release other content of the quiz in due time.

WS+PC Lottery Winners

As a part of the Closing Ceremony, there was a lottery draw to determine 10 lucky winners to get goodies. That draw's results are shown in the image below. The results are also available in the landing page in the Social table, "Closing Ceremony" row.

Closing Ceremony can be viewed on Youtube here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8voqiqKPYo

The puzzles and solutions (with explanations where applicable) of the Trivia game are now posted in the landing page. They can be found in the Social table.

Are you going to publish complete results of all 8 rounds? I mean filled-in grids. Just as you did in Grand Prix. Thanks

Nariman1961 - 2021-11-26 4:54 PM

Are you going to publish complete results of all 8 rounds? I mean filled-in grids. Just as you did in Grand Prix. Thanks

This is available on the Progress page.