4/12/2007 12:21:00 AM
Sudoku champion of the world!
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| Thomas Snyder (right) signals he is finished with a puzzle at the 2007 World Sudoku Championship held in Prague, Czech Republic. |
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By JILL DEWERT
Times Bulletin Multimedia Editor
jdewert@timesbulletin.com
An American with ties to Van Wert recently earned the title of World Sudoku Champion for 2007.
Thomas Snyder, current Harvard University student, competed in the 2nd World Sudoku Championship and took first place. The competition was held in Prague, Czech Republic from March 28 to April 1.
While Snyder wasn't born in Van Wert, he is a descendant of former and current town residents. Parents Marcia (Fogt) and Grayson Snyder were born and raised in Van Wert and maternal grandparents Carl and Fae Fogt currently reside in Van Wert. Snyder's paternal grandparents also used to live in Van Wert. Paternal grandmother Audrey Snyder now lives in College Station, Texas. Snyder's late paternal grandfather Henry W. Snyder was a former pastor of St. Marks Lutheran Church.
Sudoku is a logic-based puzzle made up of nine three-by-three square grids. Some of the squares in the grids contain numbers and others are blank. The objective is to fill in the blank boxes with the digits one through nine so that every horizontal line, vertical line and each of the nine three-by-three grids contains only one instance of each number.
"Thomas has always loved doing puzzles and mazes," said Snyder's mother Marcia. "We encouraged his 'hobby,' as both Grayson and myself also enjoy puzzles of all types - Sudoku, Kakuro, Search-a-Words, Cryptograms, Crosswords, etcetera - by purchasing numerous puzzle books."
Snyder said he's been solving puzzles for fun since he was a child, but began solving them in a competition-based format about three years ago. The first competition Snyder participated in was the 2005 World Puzzle Championships. Last year, Snyder participated in the first World Sudoku Championship and walked away with a second place victory.
"The experience in Lucca helped me avoid getting nervous this time around and ultimately I found this championship, against a much more competitive field, to be more satisfying," said Snyder. "I cruised through the playoffs, finishing all six of the puzzles cleanly, and won the championship."
Snyder had a total of 162 points with a solve time of 13 minutes and 52 seconds in the finals, knocking Japanese competitor Yuhei Kusui to second place. Kusui had a total of 135 points with a solve time of 14 minutes and 6 seconds.
To prepare for the competitions, Snyder says he completes a wide range of qualifying tests. To get to the World Sudoku Championship, competitors must pass a U.S. qualification test by completing a set of puzzles online. Those with highest and fastest scores qualify for the U.S. team. The team then goes to the world competition and competes as a team and as individuals. Sponsors pay for the cost of travel.
"Half the fun of competing is certainly getting to travel to distant parts of the globe to meet up with other puzzlers who share your interests," said Snyder.
Snyder has plans to compete in next year's World Sudoku Championship. In the mean time, he is working on a book of puzzles called "Battleship Sudoku" that will be published later this year. Also, he is finishing his Ph.D. in chemistry at Harvard University and is expecting to receive his doctorate this summer.
"I hope to become a professor of chemistry and develop new technologies for studying biological systems and impacting the detection and treatment of human disease," said Snyder. "One day, I hope to be remembered more for the impact I've had as a scientist and teacher than for winning a sudoku championship."
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