MANILA, Philippines – Math enthusiasts reunited on Jan. 30 at the SM City North EDSA Skydome as the Mathematics Trainers’ Guild (MTG) Philippines assembled top Sudoku players from different regions in the country to showcase their skills at the 10th Philippine Sudoku Super Challenge.
MTG Philippines president Simon Chua, coordinators and special guests including SM City North EDSA mall manager Cheche Samson were on hand to support the event.
The logic-based, combinational, number-placement puzzle Sudoku aims to promote analytical skills and inspire inter-personal, intellectual and behavioral development among students.
Chua told The STAR the Philippines ranks high in Sudoku competitiveness during international meets.
“We were able to bag the championship last year at the World Junior Sudoku Championship in China, and we are proud of it,” Chua said.
He said MTG Philippines is beefing up its training programs to produce even more competitive participants, especially in the grandmaster category.
Adjusting to recent years of Sudoku competitions, he said they are introducing new sets of puzzles to train new participants.
“We are introducing new and more challenging puzzles to them so they can get used to the level of difficulty. We maintain very high standards.”
At the conclusion of the event, MTG named Candice Renee Beatrice Solidarios of the University of the Philippines-Rural High School (grandmaster category), Christian Bayas of Akle Elementary School (whizkid category) and Errol John Suarez of Aquinas University (wizard category) as winners for this year’s event.
The winners will represent the country in Sudoku puzzle competitions in Thailand and China this year.
Chua said MTG Philippines encourages Sudoku aficionados to train and exercise their brains through the puzzles and spread the word about the game.
“We want the country to know about this logic game, because it’s one of the avenues to introduce our country to the global community.”
Sudoku puzzles by MTG Philippines are published every day in the World section of The STAR.