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 7 championships held so far, Thomas Snyder of USA (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.
From 2007 there has also been a team competition. Japan (2007 and 2012) and Germany (2010 and 2011) have both won this title twice; Czech Republic (2008) and Slovakia (2009) also won a title each.
The 2013 Championship will be held in China, alongside the World Puzzle Championship.
Past Locations:
| Year | Place | Country | Individual | Team | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
| 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 | Zilina | 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 | - | - | - |
Famous quotes containing the word world:
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest—whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories—comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)