Berocca Focus 50+ Champion 2011

I was privileged to participate in the 2011 Berocca Focus 50+ Australian Sudoku Championship and managed to take out that title, which also won myself a place on the Australian Team for World Sudoku Championships in Hungary later that year.

There was an article on channel Ten Sports Tonight Tuesday 27th Sept, and posted online but the articles get removed after 24-48 hours.

Hills News (Eastern States Hills) Hills News article

 

Many thanks to Chris Gleisner for photos on the day.

 

World Sudoku Championships 2011

Held in Eger, Hungary, competition was tough, much tougher than expected and I wasn’t prepared for the puzzles we had to solve. I’m a “Classic Sudoku” fan and that’s all I normally do, but at World Competition level its 95% Sudoku “variants” which are the variations to normal Sudoku, and extremely tough when under tight time limits. Even our most experienced team member (20 years Sudoku and previously competed at World Comps) found this years comp very difficult compared to previous years. I didn’t have much hope but was a great experience and very glad I was given the opportunity. I think I came 3rd last (World ranked 134 yay! ) for individual events. We didn’t know that we were supposed to have 4 team members, 3 was an acceptable team but all other teams had 4 members. Teams score was an aggregate of the teams players so Australia came 2nd last in Teams – previously Australia has only managed a very proud last :). If we had 4 team members we would have brought that up considerably. We were “allowed” to have our guest Terri stand in and help on Team competitions but she wasn’t allowed to contribute to the teams aggregate on individual events. Was great fun though, and I’ll hope to make sure Australia is better prepared next time, but I wont compete again, I just don’t have the time (or inclination) to get “that” into Sudoku. I remain a Classic Sudoku fan.

Pic above: Team Sudoku Australia 2011 – Myself, Terri, Bill Swan and Sarah Ratcliffe
This was our moment of triumph, Australia FINISHED a Team event WITHIN the alloted time (3 seconds to spare) and it was completed and correct ( a first for an Australian Sudoku Team ever!), 1200 points in the bag and a great Team effort. We let the whole room know of the triumph, it was a jubilant moment for sure.

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Thanks again go to Berocca Focus 50+ for giving me the opportunity to go to the World Sudoku Championships, and especially for paying for all of my flights, accommodation and meals. While my stopover flight took me to Frankfurt, Germany, I took the opportunity to extend my time in Europe on the way home, and hired a car rental (left hand drive) to detour to the famous Nurburgring racing circuit for 6 days. A bucket list item to any motorsport fan, I hired a track car and had an afternoon cutting laps on Nurburgring. A fantastic experience. Thanks to the guys at Rent 4 Ring for the great car, a right hand drive (at request) Suzuki Swift Stage 2, upgraded brakes, suspension, roll cage, race seats and sticky tyres :) A very zippy grippy Suzuki, and was a real surprise performance and handling wise, was a great track car.

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Play Sudoku online

Get your daily fix https://sudoku.com/

Read the book

Mick Collis is the man behind lifting the profile of Sudoku in Australia. I’m not one for reading books, but Mick’s book is the most entertaining, enjoyable read I’ve ever taken the time to read. Pick up a copy for the Sudoku nut in your household for Christmas or a Birthday present. It’s excellent.
Full Contact Sudoku by Mick Collis – details and find bookstore

It’s also just been released as an e-book, and is available from iBook, Amazon etc.

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