Round 4

Jan retakes the lead (777). Kota also returns to 2nd with (775).
Sinchai is third (721).
Farhan slips to fourth (706).
Yuhei snatches the last spot in the finals (Grr!) at 614.

6th is Wu Tung Yi with 565
A pile up on 7th with me and Sumet and 540

Well there goes my chance of playing the finals. I think the top 5 will
be the same after round 5, unless something expected happens.
I'll be enjoying the finals this evening now that the pressure's off.

The top 5, it turns out, featured Wu Ting instead of Yuhei (who had a terrible round 5).
The play off results: Kota won (the only person to finish).
Far behind were Jan (2nd) and Wu (3rd).
Farhan and Sinchai came 4th and 5th.

I'm glad to win this tournament! I want to appreciate the tournament staffs and the viewers of this thread.
I'm looking forward to seeing other players I met in Thailand in this October, at Beijing!

Congrats Kota! Well deserved win.

Many congratulations Kota...Pleasure to meet you and see u win on centre stage in Bgkk

It was my first international experience at any puzzle event and except my ranking everything else was awesome.

This year I was the only Indian (surprisingly) at Thai Intl sudoku competition 2013....For me, it was a very good experience, met some great players etc.

The event was managed very well with total No. of whooping 7000 participants including all games and levels.

I honestly think the best part of any event is meeting people with the same interests as you.
However, bunching 6 people per table, in the middle of a shopping mall, is definitely not the best condition to work in.
[*In only the first round, we were competing in a quiet room, wide tables, clear view of the clock ie. perfect conditions - I have no idea why
we had to move in a noisy cramped place throughout rounds 2-5*]
The majority of the puzzles were computer-generated and the point-distribution (arranged by non-sudoku people) is also inaccurate in some points.

I'm very glad to see that we are capable of attracting world-class players, but at the same time, also feel ashamed that we couldn't provide
the best in return. Being charged a lot to enter and having to pay the travel costs is already bad enough - but what's worse is being presented
with computer-generated puzzles and poor playing conditions.

Some of the puzzles (maybe 40%?) were definitely handmade. I suspect European.
Those were the my highlights of the event. They were fun, elegant and the right level for competitions.
I have one open question on behalf of the Thai sudoku players:
Who wrote them and are they appropriately reimbursed?

I don't see why the author of the puzzles should be made so secretive.

With actual sponsors, prizes, access to handmade puzzles, appropriate competition room (that was unused for some unclear reason) and top solvers
participating - any organizer could easily produce a top-notch competition. Yet - I still find the event far from perfect.

Edited by tamz29 2013-07-15 9:20 PM