World Sudoku Championship
The World Sudoku Championship is an annual international sudoku competition organised by a member of the World Puzzle Federation. The first one was held in Lucca in 2006. National teams are determined by local affiliates of the World Puzzle Federation. The competition typically consists of 50 or more puzzles solved by all competitors over multiple timed rounds, including classic sudoku and variations, followed by a playoff for the top qualifiers to determine a champion. Examples of rounds include the Relay round, where an answer from one puzzle contributes digits to the start of the next sudoku, and the "World Record" round, in which solvers competed to set a Guinness World Record for fastest sudoku solution.
Of the 10 championships held so far, Thomas Snyder of United States (2007, 2008 and 2011) and Jan Mrozowski of Poland (2009, 2010 and 2012) have been the most successful winners with three individual titles each, they succedeed to Jana Tylova of Czech Republic (2006) who won the first individual championship.More recently, Kota Morinishi of Japan is emerging as the strongest player of the latest years by winning 2 individual titles in 2014 and 2015.
From 2007 there has also been a team competition. Japan is the most successful team, having added the title won this year (2015) to those won in 2007,2012 and 2014; Germany (2010 and 2011) have won this title twice; Czech Republic (2008), Slovakia (2009) and China (2013) also won a title each.
Starting from 2011, the event has been held alongside the World Puzzle Championship. The 2016 Championship was held in Senec, Slovakia
Participants
Currently, 37 countries are official members of the World Puzzle Federation. Individuals may also take part if their country is not already represented by a national team.[1] In the latest WPC in 2016 Senec Slovak Republic the number of participants exceeded the magic limit (213 contestants from 33 countries).
Results summary
| Year | Host city | Host nation | Individual | Team | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
| 2017 | Bangalore |  India |
||||||
| 2016 | Senec |  Slovakia |
 Tiit Vunk |  Jakub Ondroušek |  Kota Morinishi | Czech Republic |  China | Japan |
| 2015 | Sofia |  Bulgaria |
Kota Morinishi | Tiit Vunk | Jakub Ondroušek | Japan | China | Czech Republic |
| 2014 | London |  United Kingdom |
Kota Morinishi | Tiit Vunk |  Bastien Vial-JaimeJakub Ondroušek(tied) | Japan |  Germany | China |
| 2013 | Beijing | China |
Jin Ce | Kota Morinishi | Jacob Ondrousek | China | Czech Republic | Japan |
| 2012 | Kraljevica |  Croatia |
 Jan Mrozowski | Kota Morinishi | Hideaki Jo | Japan | Czech Republic | China |
| 2011 | Eger |  Hungary |
 Thomas Snyder | Kota Morinishi | Tiit Vunk | Germany | Czech Republic | United States |
| 2010 | Philadelphia | United States |
Jan Mrozowski | Jakub Ondrousek | Hideaki Jo | Germany | Czech Republic | Japan |
| 2009 | Žilina | Slovakia |
Jan Mrozowski |  Branko Ceranic | Robert Babilon | Slovakia | Czech Republic | Serbia |
| 2008 | Goa | India |
Thomas Snyder | Yuhei Kusui | Jakub Ondrousek | Czech Republic | Japan | Germany |
| 2007 | Prague | Czech Republic |
Thomas Snyder | Yuhei Kusui | Peter Hudak | Japan | United States | Czech Republic |
| 2006 | Lucca |  Italy |
Jana Tylova | Thomas Snyder | Wei-Hwa Huang | - | - | - |
Starting from 2013, titles have been awarded also for the best players in two age groups, Under 18 and Over 50 years of age.
| Year | Host city | Host nation | Under 18 | Over 50 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
| 2016 | Senec | Slovakia |
Yanzhe Qiu | Shiyu Chen | Cheran Sun | Zoran Tanasic | Mark Goodliffe | Taro Arimatsu |
| 2015 | Sofia | Bulgaria |
Cheran Sun | Tantan Dai | Nuo Chen | David McNeill | Mark Goodliffe | Zoran Tanasic |
| 2014 | London | United Kingdom |
Dai Tantan | Jin Ce | Sun Cheran | David McNeill | Jiri Hrdina | Stefano Forcolin |
| 2013 | Beijing | China |
Jin Ce | Sun Cheran | Yanzhe Qiu |  Henning Karlsgaard Poulsen | Liang Yue | Stefano Forcolin |
References
- ↑ "WPF Members". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to World Sudoku Championship. |
- Official web site of the World Puzzle Federation
- 2015: Official web site of the 10th WSC and 24th WPC
- 2014: Official web site of the 9th WSC and 23rd WPC
- 2013: Official web site of the 8th WSC and 22nd WPC
- 2012: Official web site of the 7th WSC and 21st WPC
- 2011: Official web site of the 6th WSC and 20th WPC
- 2010: 5th WSC April 29-May 2, 2010 Philadelphia, United States
- 4th WSC April 24–27, 2009 Žilina, Slovakia
- 2008: 3rd WSC Goa, India
- 2007: 2nd WSC Prague, Czech Republic
- 2006: 1st WSC Lucca, Italy