We'll wait to see those new strategies from PS :-)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/others/World-...

Interesting, they put top 5 this year, last year they had put top 10.

Congratulations to the Indian Top - 4.Without doubt ,this time i see India bettering their previous best of 7 in the points Table . I knew it was always going to be the case where the top 3 slots were already taken and it was only going to be a rat race for the fourth spot among the rest 13 .So Jaipal's performance on this account beating the others by a good margin is equally good and very commendable if not better than the top 3. I had a bad start in the sprint round due to some unknown reasons failing to enter even direct numbers and thereby completing only 11 of the 16 6X6 grids.
Then in the 2nd classics round too i had a false start getting the first 2 sudokus wrong and then had to correct them which cost me by Bonus as i could not get the requisite time to complete the last.In the 3rd round which was variants ,i have to thank Rakesh for his helpful suggestions on tackling the higher valued sudokus at the start.My approach has always been to start from the lower pointers and then proceed in order to the bigger valued ones.This time i changed my strategy a bit and i started with the big pointer ones after completing the first 2 lower pointers as i knew i had to beat Jaipal by at least 100 points to be in the race for the 4th slot and this paid off and i was content at the end of the 3rd round.Then in the final surprise round the `aftermath' of lunch had its effect on me.I scored Zero in that round.

The surprise round was a Sqaured outline sudoku with an absolutely empty Grid.For the advantage of the many who are unkwown to thistype it was a Diagonal sudoku + a Rhombus with its vertices touching R1C5 , R5C9 + R9C5 + R5C1.Digits dont repeat in the 2 principal diagonalsand along the sides of the Rhombus.Then each competetitor was given an envelope which had 9 3 x 3 sub boxes with numbers printed on each of them.Of course there were 3 x 3 sub-boxes which could be rotated 180 degrees and still be valid numbers.All the 3 X 3 sub boxes had to be translated to the 9 x 9 Grid and the sudoku was to be solved.Totally 250 points+Bonus and 50 minutes for completing the grid without help.-100 points for opting for help the first time ,wherein you can give a single 3 X 3 tile and ask where it should be placed.-50 points the second time you do that and again -50 points the third time.The bad thing from my perspective is that i opted for help twice
and and on both the occasions i opted for the 2 3 X 3 Boxes which i had already placed correctly! but was not sure whether it was correct.
To this moment even i am unsure why i did that .With the first help asked for with 32 minutes!! left on the clock and then the second time with 15 minutes on the clock .
Then after the 2 helps and with 70% of the grid over i was on track to complete the grid and salvage atleast 100 points when disaster struck again
as i forgot to rotate one of the tiles(I got to know this later from Gaurav)and therefore could not a place for it and ultimately I had to erase the entire
grid.Now i know how difficult it is to finish at the 5th and miss the top 4.I empathize with Swaroop on this account who missed the team not once but twice finishing 5th.
The moment the rules of the surprise round were explained before the start of the round i was reminded of the snap-shot sudoku in Turkey GP round in which i had broken the sudoku thrice and failed to complete.So i was feeling nervous and kind of unsure at the start.Obviously i have understood that wherever there is a puzzling touch to a sudoku it freaks me out and totally blanks my mind.

But i certainly enjoyed playing with the top 15 from India .I never realized the passing of time.It was as though i had caught a flight early morning and the next 7-8 hours had been sandwiched into a power-packed 1 hour slot.The sudokus were artistically and excellently constructed by Deb with whom i had the pleasure of sharing thoughts with and chatting(and Deb pls keep aside your thoughs of taking a break from LMI:)) for a long time .Thanks to Amit for the surprise round sudoku and the Frame sudoku.
Overall it was a good experience and I look forward to meeting Deb and the others sometime in the future soon.
All the Best once again to the Terrific Trio - Rishi , Rohan and PS and to Mr.consistent Jaipal!!Do well in china!

Why is there a hyperlink on "P Seshadri" in the TOI link above.

Congrats to the top 5.

For the benefit of people like me who have joined this forum recently, can you indicate who is who in the photo (Only Rishi puri is mentioned in the caption).

TIA

--TNV

who is who indicated.





Attachments
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tsc.jpg (37KB - 2 downloads)

From left to right - me, Rishi, Rohan, Jaipal.

Ah, I see I'm late with that I've been busy thinking up new strategies since ToI's put that task on me

Link to Complete Bangalore Results

complete result of Delhi?


Edited by nikunj.agarwal007 2013-08-03 5:08 PM

Link to Complete Delhi Results

Hi,

My name is Jaykumar Patel and i participated in mumbai round of Times Sudoku Championship. I got through the 1st round and and was among the 88 selected for the final round. My name isn't included in the Mumbai Result list and there are 83 names listed in the list. Can someone please clarify??? I was unable to complete 6 pointer and 9 pointer classic sudoku.

I remember there were 88 finalists in the Mumbai round, but it looks like 5 of the papers were missing in the final set of papers that I received.
I do not have your paper, hence your name is missing from the list.

You can gauge your standing by comparing with other participants who got 45 points.
Also let me assure that the missing papers will have no impact on the top 4 from Mumbai.

Congratulations to the top four... and all the very best for the WSC :)
Thanks Kishore for sharing your experience in detail for the final round.. I almost felt the nerves that you had while attempting to complete the Rhombusquarediaganol Sudoku in the last round... :)
Hope to compete with the best in the near future... :)

Btw, i was one of the participant of the delhi round.

And missed out the top 4 position, for second year in a row. :-(
Good to see you here Arjun.

Never mind. I was just excited about my name being displayed somewhere. better luck next time.

i was 13th last yr and 6th this yr... so hopefully i ll make it to the top 4 next yr and get a chance to meet the top guns of Sudoku in mumbai...

Uff I missed this years......

my mistake of not reading newspapers

Is it possible for the organizers to upload last year's or this year's Times Sudoku Championship Papers?..........it will be a useful practice to many!!

There is no plan to upload them. If it is ever uploaded online, it will be uploaded at ToI site, and not here.

As repeated several times earlier in this thread, you should check the Beginners Sudoku Contests which are a close replica of the city rounds. They are good practice materials as well.

By any chance, does anyone have the pdf of this page? In case someone downloaded it last year?
Now they do not allow downloads of this page.