The 2023 World Sudoku and Puzzle Championship starts next week!
I’ll be attending so come say hi. The instructions are out and it looks amazing. Thomas, Serkan and the authors have certainly done a great job. Unfortunately, several teams have VISA problems so the list of competitors might not truly reflect who is actually attending.
Like last year, I’ll be running the Crystal Ball Contest, where entrants will make predictions as to what will happen throughout next week. The best scorer (sorcerer?) will receive a Nikoli puzzle book.
Please use the Google form below to submit your answers. One entry per person please so use your real name and e-mail. The submission will close as soon as round 1 of WSC starts. If any question becomes invalid (ie. a competitor withdrew or the round in particular is cancelled) it will not count.
Part 1 will be 20 multiple choice questions worth 1 point each.
Part 2 will be Guess the Podium, worth up to 24 points.
Let’s go!
Part 1 – Multiple Choice (20 points)
WSC:
Q1. Will anyone be able to finish all the puzzles in Round 7 correctly (Classics Revisited)? Yes or No
Q2. What will be the winning score of Round 9 (Grid-Breaking)? Less than 475, 475-550 or 550+?
Q3. How many of the Holy Trinity of Sudoku (Tiit Vunk, Tantan Dai and Kota Morinishi) will advance to the finals? All 3 of them, 2, 1 or heaven forbid, none of them?
Q4. Who will finish higher, Rodolfo Kurchan or Alec Machacon?
Q5. Who will finish higher, Hwangrae Lee or Byron Calver?
Q6. Who will finish higher, Jan Vondruska or Timothy Doyle?
Q7. Will Seungjae Kwak top a round?
Q8. Will Jakub Ondrousek top a round?
Q9. Will Takuya Sugimoto top a round?
WPC:
Q10. Will there be a time extension for Round 17 (Canadian Summits)? Yes or No
Q11. In an alternate universe where the WPC only lasts one round, and that round is Round 10 (Words CAN Define US), where would I (Tawan) score? Top 5, 6th-15th or Outside top 15?
Q12. How many mini play-offs will Ken Endo qualify for? 0-1, 2-3, or 4-5?
Q13. Who will finish higher, lowest scorer of Hungary-A, or highest scorer of Hungary-B?
Q14. Who will finish higher, Przemyslaw Debiak or Michael Mosshammer?
Q15. Who will finish higher, Aubin Danzo or Wei-Hwa Huang?
Q16. Will Jeffrey Bardon top a round?
Q17. Will Christian Konig top a round?
Q18. Will Naoki Sekiya top a round?
Based on percentile, who will perform better between…
Q19. … Kevin Sun’s placing in WSC or David Jones’s placing in WPC?
Q20. … Walker Anderson’s placing in WSC or Tiit Vunk’s placing in WPC?
Part 2A – Guess the Podium (12 points)
Based on the results of all the individual rounds (ignoring play-offs), who will be in the top 3 for WSC and WPC?
Score: 2 points for every correct competitor named. You do not have to guess their positions.
You can only guess 3 names for each discipline.
(Example of a valid guess: WSC Tantan Dai, Tiit Vunk, Kota Morinishi, WPC Ken Endo, Kota Morinishi, Thomas Luo)
Part 2B – Best Team (12 points)
Which countries will be in the official top 3 for the WSC and the WPC?,
Score: 2 points for every correct country named. You do not have to guess the positions.
You can only guess 3 countries for each discipline.
(Example of a valid guess: WSC Japan, Czech Republic, China, WPC USA, Japan, Germany)
Tie-breaks:
Guess the final position of Chiel Beenhakker in WPC. (A number between 1-200).
Submit your answers here.
Only entries received before the start of WSC counts.
May the best sorcerer win. Good Luck!
Somewhere Over the Rainbow 