World SUDOKU and PUZZLE Grand Prix 2016

It's time to start preparing for the 2016 Sudoku and Logic Grand Prix. This year's final will take place in Slovakia in mid-October. I'll try to cover both events under one theme this year. The first competition is Sudoku and it starts on January 8th. The competition instructions are available on the website: http://www.gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/instruction-booklet The first round will be hosted by the Netherlands.

Round 1 of the Sudoku GP has started. Happy solving!

SUDOKU Results of the 1st round: http://www.gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/official-results-wpf-gp-sudoku-1-1 15 Estonians participated, total number of participants 457. The results of the Estonians are as follows (place, name): 1. Tiit Vunk 75. Ragnar Kruberg 145. Howard Wilkinson 147. Jaan Laks 149. Külli Laks-Vahemäe 152. Margit Ool 189. Villem Mesila 212. Karin Luiv 229. Rauno Pärnits 233. Arko Olesk 244. Anna Poots 276. Elin Mandel 285. Allar Padari 291. Kaari Helstein 327. Erik Amor

The Logic GP Round 1 instruction is out: http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/instruction-booklet-2

Cool, I should participate! Last season I missed most of the stages, but I still did something.

I draw your attention to the Logic GP rules. This year, all rounds will contain two types of tasks: 1. Casual puzzles 2. Competitive puzzles Competitive tasks are the usual logic tasks that we are all used to. Casual tasks are so-called. softer tasks, where you have to look for similarities in some pictures, read some shapes or do whatever. In the case of Casual tasks, it is not guaranteed that an Estonian will understand it. This could be, for example, a task that is a great advantage for the Germans or the Chinese to solve. Each round lasts 90 minutes and everyone chooses which tasks to solve. The final is held based on the results of the Competitive tasks and there are also such tasks in the final. In addition, special prizes will be awarded to the best solver of Casual tasks and the best in the Overall. ------------------------------- I recommend choosing one of the two and focusing only on it for the whole year. It may happen that the world's top solvers, after solving the Competitive tasks, do not have time to solve all the other tasks and the winner may turn out to be someone who focuses on solving Casual tasks, for example. I also recommend choosing Casual tasks for those who feel that Competitive (regular logic tasks) are usually difficult and would like something new and more interesting. I go for Competitive tasks. So I am far from claiming any place in the Casual ranking. I am looking forward to seeing who is the best Casual task solver among Estonians.

I should also mention that the vast majority of the world's top solvers probably focus on Competitive tasks to aim for a place in the finals. So it's a great opportunity to show your name on a global scale :)

Preliminary results are available. http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/unofficial-results-wpf-gp-puzzle-1-competitive-section Overall, they are quite final. The Estonians did quite well. There were 10 Estonians in total, 2 of whom achieved results in both sections. Casual puzzles: 6. Hendrik Nigul 14. Mare Oja 40. Ragnar Kruberg 122. Allar Padari 129. Margit Ool Competitive puzzles: 19. Tiit Vunk 108. Margit Ool 124. Anna Poots 133. Allar Padari 151. Elin Mandel 177. Erik Amor 297. Howard Wilkinson If anything changes, I will update the same post. It is possible that the aggregate results will also be coming.

SUDOKU The instructions for round 2 are available: http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/instruction-booklet This time the organizer is Serbia.

Logika GP results were updated and for some reason Margit's result has disappeared from the list of results for Casual tasks. I can't say what's wrong. The remaining places were corrected. For example, Hendrik Nigul has risen to 6th place after the corrections (instead of the previous 7th). Apparently, the situation changed because a double solution was identified in one task (searching for words) and both solution options were considered correct.