I think last year's ads were more interesting, visually :-)

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Edited by debmohanty 2013-07-14 9:19 PM

it says 14 mins to solve the puzzle. does it mean only 1sudoku per round?

Hi. I see the following rules in TOI website.

1. Participants can participate in only one of the four regional rounds.

How will this be checked. Even last year there were many who participated in Bangalore and Chennai. This year it will be the same in reverse.

2. Any participant who has participated earlier in the World Sudoku Championship and has got a rank above 25 will not be eligible to participate.

This should not be implemented as our best participants from previous years have broken into Top-25. By implementing this we are not sending the best team.

A general feedback. I have always felt the Qualification method used in 2011 is very good which covered more cities (around 10) and also an online round thereby it had a wider reach. Even last year there were around 4000+ participants.

Edited by rvarun 2013-07-14 9:27 PM

I think you are probably misinterpreting this rule. It means if one has finished 26th or worse, he/she is not eligible. If someone has broken into Top 25, that person is eligible to participate.

Hi Rakesh

I guess we can clarify this with the Organizers. Example, if a person X qualified for WSC last year and finished 26th, that person is also too good in solving Sudoku and there is no reason we should stop them by implementing this rule.

Please correct me if I misunderstood your reply.

Yes, I also feel that the rule of disqualifying based upon last year's performance at WSC is not good for the following reasons.
1. Suppose one person participates at WSC in year 2012 and does not comes in top 25. After this he/she determines to do better for next year puts hard work for full year to improve his/her Sudoku solving skills. But at the very end he/she get to know that he/she is not eligible to participate which is not good for selecting strong team as well as for that player.
2. Rules has to be made clear from the beginning i.e. players needs to be told during or before the participation at WSC about such rules. Otherwise changing the rules at the end is not good. For example this year cut off is top 25. Next year it could be top 10. This can be used to disqualify any player at will.
3. ISC is Indian National Championship and disqualifying anyone from participating in this based on last year performance does not looks good. Who knows that any person who is not in top 25 last year could be this year's National Champion.

When will it take place in Bangalore? I mean, any dates announced or yet to be announced?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sudoku.cms check this link :)

Thanks :)
Are you coming?

I had a look at the terms and conditions and i noticed that Participants can participate in only one of the four regional rounds---->This rule is perfectly and completely fine.It is fair and sqaure and gives everone a good chance though i m not sure how its going to be done i.e preventing a contestant from playing in more than 1 regional round.
I also noticed this rule which states that a participant who has participated earlier in the World Sudoku Championship and has got a rank above 25 will not be eligible to participate.I dont agree with this at all.By virtue of this rule, Sumit who had put in a sterling performance last year at the Regionals and subsequently in the nationals goes out and so does Gaurav and Rakesh .Now they are without doubt world class solvers and on their day can
put up a remarkable performance at the World championships.Thankfully PS did not make the sudoku team last year ,else going by his unoff. rank last year
he too would have been out.One of the fastest improving players i feel in LMI is PS.His performances in the past 6 or so months speak for that.It would have been a disappointment if he too had been out because of this rule.Coming to the issue in hand i stepped back and tried to put myself in the shoes of the organizers to see what could be the motive behind such a decision and i cant think of any solid reason other than this:

*They probably feel that a person who is good enough to finish at the top 4 in the nationals but "lets India down"with a lacklustre show at the world level does not deserve another chance?!This kind of thinking could not be more wrong.This is not a game of cricket where going by the performances in the last few series you contemplate whether or not to include a person in the team.By having that rule in the terms and conditions the entire interest that the person has in sudoku solving is being jeopardized.After all knowing that you wont be given a chance to play in the regionals is bound to put anyone and definitely me off track.I am not sure if this rule is only implemented this year or it would be carried on in the successive years.If it is indeed going to be carried on it is equivalent to banning a person who has finished at >25 at the world level for life.
So my sincere request to dear organizers or whoever is the brain behind this idea is to have a deeper thought on this issue and remove this rule from the list of terms and conditions from next year or even this year if possible.My point is that regardless of whether he/she is placed >25 at the world level but is still good enough to be in the top 4 from India then so be it and let him/her to play at the world level.I state this keeping the best interests of the Indian team in mind and not in favour of any individual.

----Kishore-----


Edited by kishy72 2013-07-15 7:17 AM

guys as much as we may have problem with that rule let us understand that no one at LMI would think of putting in such a stipulation. Organising is a thankless job where ppl will always have a problem. think of this as a cost of getting a sponsor for the team. its Unfortunately either this or no sponsor. I am not saying I agree with this as this does not ensure the strongest team. I am sure Deb and Amit fought this stipulation as much as they couldand accepted it only when it was inevitable.

can anyone tell me the type of sudokus and time alloted to solve them in each round?

As Rishi said, I'm sure Deb and Amit fought this. That much should be obvious simply because there has never been such a stipulation in the many other events LMI has organized. So, at least within this forum, the only thing we can do is suggest better ideas within the bracket of what ToI is wanting to do. The reasons for this stipulation could be one of or both of two things -

1) ToI wants some fresh solvers in the team each time to go experience the WSC/WPC. I for one have no problem with this goal. My desire to improve and become a regular in the Indian team definitely escalated after the experience of Hungary 2011. So, in the long term, getting new people in is really a good idea.

2) ToI wants to "punish" those who have "let them down" with their performance. As a company investing in the players, putting aside all other logic, I can see why they think that way. Obviously they aren't as experienced in the competition scenario as we are and care more about their investment, and there's nothing essentially wrong with that.

If its just 1), there should be no problem in future years in just allowing everyone to participate in the TSC but being selective about which 4 to sponsor. I think that's a much more acceptable solution. But if its 2) as well, or its just that they want to convey 2) to the general public, then Rajesh's point stands that they should've notified the participants of the WSC last year itself about this, just to be in good practice more than anything else.

Also, I'll wait for confirmation but I suppose this restriction is only for each year's WSC participants, and Sumit, Gaurav and Rakesh can participate next year?

From my understanding the restriction is not on participation but on sponsorship. this msg has not been properly conveyed.

>>Any participant who has participated earlier in the World Sudoku Championship and has got a rank above 25 will not be eligible to participate.
A hare-brained rule, IMHO. It ensures that we are not sending the best 4. Hopefully, the rule gets tossed out next year.

>>Participants can participate in only one of the four regional rounds.
>>Participants are not allowed to take the test more than once.
These are changes for the better, if implemented properly.

>>Every participant will have 15 mins to solve the puzzle.
I am guessing this is for the qualification round?

Edited by lenson 2013-07-15 10:37 AM

Hey Guys. We will wait for Deb and Amit clarify on this and other rules of Times Sudoku Championship 2013 because I guess the word earlier refers not only WSC 2012 but also earlier.

yes :)

hey m totally new in this...
its my first time..in times sudoku...
m from delhi...
i'll have my delhi round on 21st.....
may i know the procedure...
time limit and stuff... :)

Hi. Please check the following link.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sudoku.cms

If you are from Delhi, sms TOISUDD [Name] [Age] to 58888

thnx a tonne...by the way its mentioned...that we require to complete the puzzle within 15 minutes...are there any pre-requisites...or any condition that if someone completes before....he/she gets some bonus points....
or anything you'd like to brief me up with... :)
thanks alot

From last year's experience, it just means that the participants completing the round qualify for the next round. There's no reason to consider bonuses as everyone who completes this round goes through to the next one (again, according to last year). Either way, don't worry about format and bonus and all too much (I did last year and got knocked out because of that ). There'll be detailed explanations about the format and all at the event anyway, so just practice a little, enjoy the experience, and maybe follow up here to participate in future online contests and build on your solving level and interest.

dont mind if i ask you...how're the finalists selected then...

and the difficulty level...is it as easy as delhi times...or regional times newsppr...or somewhat difficult...........more that is like the one displayed on http://prasannaseshadri.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/frame.png?

Edited by ashu 2013-07-15 11:18 PM

Well, that's the second round (its why there's an instruction to stay around in case you're called back). The second round, last year, was actually the format that LMI Beginners' Sudoku Contests is based on. The first one back in July (see links on the right) had the exact same variants too.

Obviously this is all just unofficial information based on my experience last year. Its all a bit unclear for now this year, but the 15 minute round makes me think it'll be pretty similar. Either way, like I said, the format will mostly be announced in detail at the event.

I don't think the preliminaries will have something like that at least. As I said, the Beginners' Contests are a more accurate description of round 2.