Logic Masters India’s (LMI) seven-month spanning Sudoku tournament the Sudoku Mahabharat has reached the end of its online competition, and Kishore Kumar has taken the top spot as Indian division players ready for the final phase of the competition.

Kumar solved each of Sudoku Mahabharat: Converse’s 18 puzzles cleanly in a time of 76:05, earning him 113.9 points. Right behind by a mere .6 points was Amit Sowani, who suffered a .1 point penalty from an error he submitted in a 6×6 traditional Sudoku. Sowani quickly fixed the stumble, but the combination of the time used for correction and penalty ultimately proved too great and pushed him behind Kumar.

Rakesh Rai came in third for the Indian division, solving all of the Sudoku puzzles flawlessly in a time of 77:21, which earned him 112.7 points.

Prasanna Seshadri was once again the top performing contestant in the Indian division, bringing in 142.6 points in 47:27, solving all of the puzzles without error. Due to eligibility guidelines of the tournament, Seshadri didn’t officially place in the Indian division, but did place ninth in overall among international solvers.

Czech Republic competitor Jakub Ondroušek once again took the International division, taking first place by the thinnest .7 point margin, ahead Seungjae Kwak of South Korean. Ondroušek had a clean solve, submitting all 18 puzzles, in a time of 33:32 that earned him 156.5 points.

Swaroop Guggilam designed the round’s 18 puzzles that consisted of several traditional Sudoku and variants that included Average Sudoku, Consecutive Sudoku, Kropki Sudoku, No Knight Step Sudoku, and Sudoku XV.

As predicted, Kumar easily took first place in the Indian division’s cummilative standings, with a final point total of 704.5, putting him in a massive 72.1 point lead ahead of Rai. Ameta came in third, 110.8 points behind Kumar.

The next stage of Sudoku Mahabharat moves to an in person, offline competition, gathering the top 50 solvers from the Indian division in Bangalore, India. Emails have been sent out to all of those that qualify with details concerning the final portion of the tournament.

The final will be a multi-round competition that are to be made of “multiple little rounds through the day instead of one 90 minute block” to test solvers’ endurance. The Instruction booklet will be released two weeks prior to the final, giving details about the tournament structure and puzzles.

Registration in Bangalore, India begins at 9 a.m. IT, with competition kicking off officially at 10 a.m.

Sudoku Mahabaharat Schedule

• Standard: Sept. 20 – 22
• Irregular: Oct. 18 – 20
• Odd-Even: Nov. 15 – 17
• Outside: Dec. 20 – 22
• Math: Jan. 17 – 19
• Neighbors: Feb. 21 – 23
• Converse: March 21 – 23
• Finals: May 10

* All dates are for local Indian time. For those in ET, the legs tournament will begin the day before, e.g. Standard begins on Sept. 19.

Source: LMI, Ranks