Tiit Vunk became the Estonian Sudoku champion for the fourth time

Hello, The ninth Estonian Sudoku Championship took place in Paide on Saturday. Tiit Vunk from Suure-Jaani, who won the world bronze medal a few years ago, was crowned the Estonian champion for the fourth time. Tiit Vunk was the only competitor who solved all the tasks flawlessly, was the first to reach the final and completed the final tasks in nine minutes. Villem Mesila, who started in fifth place in the final, came in second, and Raido Uibos, who started the final series in fourth, came in third. Ragnar Kruberg, who finished second in the preliminary rounds, and Margit Ool, who finished third, did not reach the podium. A separate competition was held for seniors, i.e. competitors aged 50 . Alar Heinaste took first place, Eve Jaanson was second, and Jaan Sepp was third. Tuuli Haljaste finished the competition as the best lake hen. Source: Kuma.fm

My congratulations to TiiDu on his victory! Also to other Vind members who did well in the competition and whom I haven't congratulated yet ;) I would also like to mention that this time a record was set for participants in the history of the Estonian Sudoku Championship: 47 Sudoku players competed! According to my information, the previous records (44) came from 2008 and 2010. And most of the solvers mentioned in Meikop's post above are Vind users. I can't say anything about Eve Jaanson and Tuuli Haljaste... I myself finished in 26th place this time and collected 234 points, or the same number of points as last time. The general improvement in the level of Estonian Sudoku players is shown by the fact that last time I was in 18th place! So much for my own performance, that my strategy was somewhat better this time, but my form was slightly worse than in 2013. I have also been practicing relatively little lately, before the previous Estonian Championships I still practiced a lot more.

A call to everyone who has participated in the Estonian Championships: Suggest ideas and thoughts on what could be done differently at the Estonian Championships or what could make the competition more attractive and interesting, so that maybe more people would be interested, etc. Or is everything very good in its current form? Since next year will be 10 years, there will definitely be an extraordinary competition and who knows, maybe something could be updated. Maybe they will be listened to. But that doesn't mean that there is anything bad today. I believe that the current format is actually quite good, considering that there are still plenty of interested people.

Korra Krub and I discussed that there could be a virtual European Championship at the same time, where the same sudokus would be solved online at the same time. There could be virtual prizes for those who solve them, bitcoins or something like that. Congratulations to the winners, especially the veterans :)

Young people need to be involved to popularize the field. Maybe create age groups for preschool, elementary school, basic school, high school, etc.? My 4-year-old son just solved 6x6 easy for the first time on his own a moment ago - time 8:44. I guess I need to make him a Vint account :) If I do the calculations for the preschoolers, then maybe I (as a coach) will see the competition with my own eyes...

don't forget the old people who still don't fight the young old people....or the penskari in their own right

So for people who come to try and don't have that much experience, maybe it would be wise to add 6x6 Sudoku puzzles to the first round.

Results table: http://www.kuma.ee/sudoku-emv-2014-tulumesed/

In order to popularize solving sudoku among young people (beginners), it would be necessary to create an opportunity for them to solve many simple tasks. To do this, I recommend making 4X4 sudokus with 3-4 levels of difficulty, for example, 1- very easy 2-easy 3-medium 4-difficult. I would also add 2 levels of difficulty to 6x6 sudokus. In my opinion, there is no way out of age groups, because in my opinion, this does not give any results.

It is necessary to check the calendars of other areas as well. Currently, many people in the same NV have some other competition. Otherwise, I would have gladly participated...