Puzzle League

Short news about what I am working on right now; I have planned Heads-up Puzzle League, and the first one was held last weekend.

The idea came when I saw the new format of GP Final two months ago. My first question was validity of the results from almost all easy puzzles, which can be checked by many trials. Then I found good format without so much helpers, and importantly, I am in Tokyo, Japan, where many good players can easily gather. Here I felt great possibility.

I am also trying to add video record and commentary, as in playoffs. They will appear on my YouTube channel from - hopefully - #2 or #3.

WSPC 2019

Let's go to my usual playback of ... unusual week. Official website contains results in detail for WPC, so I mainly write about other things like my strategy.

WSC
Last year, I did quite well in day 1, positioned in 3rd place. I could not keep it with fatigue or something, but there I noticed that I have possibility to get better result. My original target this year was a podium position. My practice was on Sudoku Variants Series from Richard, and easy classics. Why EASY? Well, in puzzle competitions, I often use intuition/brute force, escaping from hard logic. If I use similar strategy in Sudoku contests, especially in hard classics, what I need is basic filling skill. Complicated theories are unnecessary in that case. Throughout the year, I felt my project is going well.

Round 1
Left: #2, 3, 5
Started from the end and go backward. All puzzles had similar points, so I wanted to see what is 35 points first. It went OK, but I made one trial and one error correction in 30s. Then I stuck on another 35, so gathered 25s. There are no hard logic in fact, I could have done better.

Round 2
Left: #1, 2
60, 65, 70, and then from higher ones. I have less trouble in heavy variants and my basic strategy is collecting them (which is same as previous years), but did not want to start from the highest; that has too much risk. And there are no types I fear so much. Not so bad round.

Round 3
Left: #2, 10
Here I did not want to tackle the tough 110. I felt uncomfortable to the Biggest Neighbours type when solving example. My strategy was starting from 75 and go forward, and if I had problem on the "cake " 65, just skip 110. One more reason for choosing this route was that total points of #1 to #5 is higher than 110. Actually I was not smooth on 65 and escaped from the cookie. I had no time to try one 30, which means that if I had solved 110 I had got 10 more points at least.... But this was a way to do with such a round.

Round 4
Left: #1
Gathered 50+ from the end of the booklet (not to be too complicated move), then from higher ones, finally control with the remaining time. Normal move with less trouble, and happy to pick up a cheap one in the very end.

Round 5
Left: #4
Error: #1
Again 50+ from the end. Later I made some trials in Diagonal, and in Alternation Stripes, which I solved in the end but was wrong. My only error in this WSC came because my first assumption (R6C9=6) was wrong in fact. A funny thing is that my solution contain only 6 incorrect cells! If I had noticed it maybe I had a chance to tweak, but the time was running out....

Round 6
Left: #1, 3, 8, 10
Clearly bad round. Here I solved 60s (Mathrax combinations first) and then 50s, but I was not fine in almost all puzzles, especially in #2. I even made risky guess on #9, but still could not get enough time for #10. I expected much better result in such complex rules, I should check the reason.

Round 7
Left: #4
From 55, 65, 80. This time I was OK on Biggest Neighbours, and Double Scattered was not so hard as feared. Somehow I made a trial on #1 Classic, but only there. And I skipped Disjoint Groups, which I am not so good at.

Round 8
I started in Negative Samurai alone. Simply difficult, and I had to erase two corner girds by mistake. Thankfully the connection of the other puzzles was resolved in good time, and Kota came for my help. Well, erasing much on team table is quite sad moment!

Sudoku GP Final
I could not join in due to many errors, here are just my impression from audience side. The format was slightly changed this year, and it got so long; maybe too much for a night event. This is partially because the Sudokus are on tough side. This can be resolved when using easy puzzles like in Puzzle Final (and conducting more games in one heat), but I am not sure which is better for players, when ignoring time duration. One more thing is that it was difficult to know what is happening. I felt we need more screen, for live camera, tournament table, time result, and maybe more.

In Tuesday morning, I saw that I was in 4th place, similar to last year. The significant difference was that I needed only 70 points to Tiit, who was in 1st. I even dreamed more, but first I had to check my day 2 condition, which was too bad in Prague.

Round 9
Less strategy, just a power game. We had to fix some troubles, but well submitted correctly.

Round 10
Feared round for sure. When playing in team, we want to solve multiple grids at the same time, so I constructed the parts every time we know which are adjacent, in order not to hide some grids. That led to inconvenience in writing, but I think it was better. One more, it was not good for solving one grid in multiple solvers. I think I have much better feeling if do it alone. About our performance, we took some time for correcting a grid, barely finished on time.

Round 11
Same strategy as yesterday, from 65, 70, 95. Smooth solving, and first individual finish this year! This time I was in better state, and I changed my target to the victory.

Round 12
I chose skewed order: 2A, 2B, and go to 1A-C, then return to 2C. This is because 2A and 2B have higher points, but 2C is cheaper than 1C. In small size, trial works can be more effective, and I used that way in some puzzles here. I made a major trouble in 1B, so not a clean round but enough. I finished last year's round with small grids, maybe this is my strength? I often see such size in other puzzles....

Round 13
80, 90, 70 and then 60. I felt some risk on 90, but I had good reason to try the chance. It went quite smooth again, and before to start the next playoffs, I learnt that all my submissions were correct and I beat Kota at least.

Team Playoff
Again I was alone in 6x6. My opening was not smooth but without big problem, it came in Nonconsective, where I wrongly recalled the pattern. I noticed my fault only after Kota joined in. I thought I made critical error again..., but somehow we secured the title. Happy thing anyway.

World Cup Playoff
I had never taken care about this, only thinking about overall result. So this is a bonus stage for me, and here I changed my style to brute force side. Classic is not for me, expecially when competing with three Chinese. I used assumptions here, and thankfully solved it without too much disadvantage. I continued that way in the following puzzles, the only puzzle I solved logically was Anti Diagonal. I tried a case even in the final Rossini but I overlooked an easy step beforehand, and could not hit the solution here. Good punishment, but well performed.

Then I received individual victory. When I set my podium target last year, I also dreamed this as a long term target, but it soon came true! I know this is because Kota was not in his best and lost many points with errors, but at least I was there. Same as winning WPC first, I do not think I am the best at this moment, especially in Classis kinds (yes I have much chance to improve here), but I can say, I am proud of not giving up my ability.

WPC
Of course I aimed at everything, but I could not recover well, even after a rest day?

Round 1
The start round was good, even beyond expectation. I had to solve heavy ones from my standing, but the round is on word-side, I must have some disadvantage. My planned order was #2, 4, 8, 9 (high pointers with a practice), 1, 3, 5 (gathering cheap ones, but from higher), 6, 7. And I competed #5 Coded Fillomino in the last minute, which was pleasant. And I could skip Masterword (double letter is quite confusing) and Word Search (no way efficient).

Round 2
Began from #23, on which my team gave good advice. It was still tough and I had to guess on right half, but I earned some time here. Then from #14 to #22, I wanted to complete these but I feared #21 and 22, thus from easier ones. In fact I made a lot of guesswork there. And finally from #13 to #1, in sprint mode with some guesses again. Good round, until then, and my erroneous time began suddenly.

Round 3
Go backward from the end, the only exception was Creek + Slant, which I felt confusing and set it after #3. The actual solving on it was rather smooth, my main trouble was in #7. In checking minute, I noticed that I forgot a cell in Aquarium, and thought I saved 100+ points, but I had one more; a segment of Slant was switched. I am not sure why, this is rare mistake. So I saved 50+14*6=134, lost 65+14*4=121. It costed so much.

World Cup Round 1
Solved: #2, 5, 6, 9-11, 15-17
The worst round. I wondered how to motivate in this round, and I think this mind badly affected me, even in the following rounds. My plan was from #15 to 18 and then go backward, which was my usual strategy, but I could not tweak Compass. I heard from my team that it actually has multiple solutions (R4C3 and R6C3 can be changed), but I do not think this caused my trouble. Then I wasted time on #14, and was forced to gather cheap ones in hurry (from team, Shikaku is not unique in left hand). Too bad.

Round 4
Only one puzzle, sometimes which causes significant trouble. My largest problem was that mistakenly copied the same number in no mark position, C4 between Sudoku and Coral. Anyway finished, endurance.

Round 5
Original plan was, going backward about types, only changing Skyscrapers and Particle Zoo, and in each type staring from easy ones. I was not smooth in Skyscrapers and had to hurry a bit in the latter types, and then stuck on Lookouts. Skipped some of them, more in hurry, but I did not have enough time to sprint on Transporter and Compass. And I made easy errors in addition; bottom right of Candles, which can be fixed soon, and filling trouble in the highest Skyscrapers, 4 cells in non-connected part.

Round 6
Continued bad mode. Starting positions were, Nurikabe: Yuki, Tapa: me, Cross the Streams: Hideaki, Hydra: Kota. We had to return many times, one major trouble among them was my ignorance of Patch hole, I though no way to connect Tapa. And we made mistake while final adjusting in Hydra, 8 minutes bonus disappeared.

Round 7
At first we solved one type 4 puzzles each. My part was Mathrax, and I made an error even here! It soon led to a contradiction in the main puzzles, so I was saved. After that I and Yuki mainly solved the main grid, Kota and Hideaki helped with hints. Bad move, but the result is good enough.

Round 8
Next day, but the same state. Planning was Twilights forward and then Classic backward. I was caught in the first BACA, had to restart Twilight Magnets, spent much on Twilight Cave. And in returning, erased Pentopia and Magnets (again!) and stopped while tweaking Slitherlink (this is not an error). And many errors again. Missed a cell in Tapa (yes I hurried), and both of Magnets was broken in the final steps.

Round 9
Not clean but small recovery. Just from the end, once skipped Crossword where I stuck on. And I had trouble in Magnets again!

Round 10
Original strategy was, #8, 7, 6, 4, and then try #5 or 9. Actually I had less progress on Square Dissection and tackled the thrilling Overlapping Squares. It is great construction and I love it in itself, but quite hard of course. I finished it in the very last seconds, no time for checking and waited for marking. It must be one of my best moves this year to submit correct solution, but on the other side I made  costly mistake again; wrong dissection of 10 cells in Pentominous.

World Cup Round 2
Change my mind after the first round. Same strategy from the end, just changing Masyu and Summon (Masyu is better to start), and this time successfully solved each puzzle. Caught on Underground a bit, but still reached finish.

Round 11
Began in Nanro for safety, but not smooth as a result. Then moved to 110s, bad work in all of three. Japanese Sums was hard to grasp, Fillomino too, and I made silly miscounting on easy Nurikabe. Final sprint was on better side, but I had to leave complex Sudoku.

Round 12
My order was, Fences, Equality, Diagonal Chains, Kirch + Heim, No Same Sums, Marbles and Pairing, from easy one in the same type. Basically I felt okay, especially in Diagonal Chains, some troubles are in Kirch + Heim 3 (overlooking), Marbles and Pairing (both are not so efficient for me, not for sprint). And again, very, very easy errors by misunderstanding of the grid. I could not stop it till the end. By the way, again from my team, Pairing 1 has another solution by simple connection.

Round 13
How crazy! The most important thing here is to avoid wrong deductions, but hard to keep it even taking care. This was our case too, but luckily escaped in small back steps.

Puzzle GP Final
I had to change my mind, concentrating on the tournament. As expected, it is enjoyable from player side. I had to choose two puzzles at once for saving time, but that was OK. Just did as I had planned, only for my sake (to be clear, I gave no information to Japanese team, to be fair, and never considered other games, just looked at my possible opponents). My choice was not so tricky, maybe easy to guess. Unknown Parade Sums is good to skip first, and my first game is good place to spend Skyscrapers; I feel good at this type thanks to Hausigel, but the possibility must decrease when competing with certain players. Next skip was no-reflection pentomino type. The next choice was important, if I won the game I could control almost all the selection. So I picked an ace, but still it was tight match. I was saved by lucky one second. Then kicked (relatively) risky Gaps, and chose (again relatively) risky Endpoints; even if I lost here, Tapa must be chosen next, and I have good chance to return the Championship match. There are no advantage to stay in winner's bracket, so I only needed to win two out of three types. I managed to correct a small trouble here, and successfully left Tapa for last. Well performed in the end of the disaster day.

Round 14
My lead was only 29 points, which means 2 minutes. Almost flat, and I simply had to do my best. But when I heard Philipp's finish, I was still in the Labyrinth of Jigsaw. Refreshed my brain and continued to get the right just in case of his error.

World Cup Round 3
Left: #3
To show my best. From the end, only changing the first puzzle to Kakuro. This time Magnets went well. Partiti was time-eater for me, but otherwise less trouble till the final sprint.

Team Playoff
I was in Knapp Daneben. Starting from Hashi, I reached same contradiction several times in the right half. And the next Lookouts was evil, I wonder how Matej did it. Kota helped me well and I managed to go to the team table. As planned, our order was Pentopia, Fillomino, Slitherlink and Pento Words, but we are not clean in all we tried. Sad lose again. Last Slitherlink was broken by my error, how many times I do that?

World Cup Playoff
Good lottery by Tantan. Regardless of the result, I basically like this format of separating playoffs. More people get chance to be there. My semifinal was in tough group. First Pyramid was not so hard by using parity, but I could not calculate it correctly and erased much. And finally made a silly error; bottom right triangle contained two 9s! Soon corrected it, and next Domino Castle was solved by case distinction. Yajilin was solved by tweaking, and I recovered my disadvantage here. Slant was just large, and I hit 50% on Coral. Good to follow Kota, and that resulted in Japanese final. In the final, I had significant loss in the first Japanese Sums, I have to check it well. Then Battleships was by intuition, Heyawake was by two-degree assumption, I recovered some time but the next Galaxies was the critical. I overlooked a pattern of 2-shape, only considered S-shape. I managed to overtake Kota by intuitive Lasers, but could not touch Hideaki.

So, what was my problem. I had less problem in playoffs this year, I was surprisingly calm. One thing is that I lost 500+ points by errors, as if returning to London or Sofia. I spent too much energy in WSC, or did not fit German style well, I think both are true. The situation is very similar to WSC, the only difference is my position. Anyway Philipp made amazing job, congratulations on it.

Now I should look at the next season. As a coincidence, my father is working in Shanghai since this summer, I think I have good chance to invite him. I would like to find my next way to go.

24HPC 2019

As in 3 years ago, we gathered to solve puzzles on April 29th - 30th. 15 people joined in, so we set 2 places - thanks to Hideaki and Taro.
The following includes my results, top Japanese score and short comments.

Round 1 1000 (-5 minutes)
Spy Battleships is funny as usual, and I am glad to see interesting  Figure Doppelblock. Pyramids were done by a lot of trial

Round 2 875
Left: Minesweeper
Error: Suguru (1 cell)
Nice theme again. Most of the time was spent on Minesweeper, but in vain.

Round 3 1000 (-15 minutes)
There were some strange types. Halloween caused some counting troubles but still have good logic, and Knights in Pentarmour was rational as a result.

Round 4 1000 (-34 minutes)
Comfortable round. The rule of Nagareru is different from the original version - the path had to go straight on arrows - but I cannot say which rule fit better.

Round 5 855 (Japanese best: 1000 by Kota)
Left: Sudoku, Magnets Kropki, Scrabble Kropki
I erased Skyscrapers Kropki 3 times or so, and simply lost time to see some puzzles. Magnets Kropki has quite skewed moves.

Round 6 650 (Japanese best: 1000 by Kota)
Left: Spiral Galaxies 1
Error: Double Kakuro 1 (1 cell brank), 2 (1 cell wrong)
I spent much time on two Spiral Galaxies. And only 2 cell costed me 220 points!

Round 7 920 (-26 minutes, but with an error. Japanese best: 940 by Tomoya, also with an error)
Error: Ham Sandwich (1 additional ham - gluttony!)
Many unknown types, but luckily they caused less trouble. I am happy to resolve Instructionless rule.

Round 8 970
Left: Ayda Diagonal
1 more minute needed to finish. Main cause was probably the last combination grid. Liar Shikaku has 2 solutions.

Round 9 885
Left: Surplus Doubleblock, Cascade Snake
Error: Virtual Skyscrapers (error on marking circles)
Hard round, as easily expected. I do not know exactly but I heard that there are many puzzles with multiple solutions. Most of the rules are difficult to grasp, but some of them have good aspects.

Round 10 1000 (-14 minutes)
Crazy round, and I ran crazily. So I could not see the nice theme well during the round. I heard that Pentacles 6 has multiple solutions.

Round 11 630
Left: Odd Yajisan-Kazusan, Even Yajisan-Kazusan, Equality Nurikabe, Intersections Scrabble, Liar Fillomino, Perspective Skyscrapers, Nurikabe Mashup Quadrants
Error: Alcove Tapa
Quite tough round, and thus sleeping round for some players. One of my bad moves was that wasting on Odd Yajisan-Kazusan in the beginning. Puzzles are so cool, with some dual grids. Intersections Scrabble was the only one puzzle no Japanese solved throughout the all 14 rounds.

Round 12 830
Left: Hidato 2, Irregular Starbattle 1, 2, Japanese Sums 1, 2, LITS+ 2
Funny theme. Simply I lacked the power, or stuck on high Oasis and Pentominoes.

Round 13 790
Left: Domino Skyscrapers, Number Tables 2, Arrows 1, Diagonal Irregular Sudoku, Second Letter Seen
The round we purely lost to Nikola. Poker did not work for a while, and I feel I am not accustomed to Champions League type yet.

Round 14 900 (-10 minutes, but with errors)
Error: Coralfinder (2 cells switch), Tapa (1 cell brank)
Collapse in the end again. I wonder how to change this tendency.... Puzzles were solved nicely, I especially like the last matchmaker.

I did not solve all rounds continuously last year, so I felt rather fresh. And I am seeking for a chance to go to Budapest again.

JZC 2019

JZC 2019 was held on March 9th, and its puzzles are shared here. I prepared Round 3 with Kota, and this is short English explanation of our round. The rules are from the book we published last year.

1, 8. Draw a line from 1, without crossing bold line.

2. Thermometers

3. Wordsearch

4. Minesweeper

5. Skyscrapers

7. Rekuto

9. Knight-step Wordsearch; a letter can be used by at most 1 word.

10. Cross Math