Go Figure: George takes Suduko competion top spot

12:02pm Tuesday 24th October 2006

A Hampton schoolboy has proved he is king of the number puzzle by winning a junior version of a national Sudoku Championship.

George Danker, of Rumsey Close, took first place in the 13 to 16 age group in the competition run by The Times newspaper, which took place at the University of Gloucestershire as part of the paper's Cheltenham Literature Festival last weekend.

And as well as being the best in his age group, 15-year-old George also took part in the adult competition, finishing seventh in his preliminary round group.

In the junior competition he finished three puzzles, of a similar standard to the ones seen in the newspaper, in 24 minutes and nine seconds - a full eight minutes ahead of the second-placed competitor.

George won £100 in book tokens for himself and his school, Hampton School, were given £300 in tokens because of his success.

He told the Richmond and Twickenham Times his love of numbers and logic puzzles were the perfect combination to do well at Sudoku.

"A few months after they started, my mum showed me the puzzles," said George. "I started to get interested in them and I thought I was getting quite good so I decided to enter the competition.

"You send a puzzle to The Times and you have to put your time on it. They pick the quickest to go into the competition.

"The fact that there is only one possible answer and it can be solved by logic or deduction is what I like. I play chess as well and that sort of thing excites me. I think it's something that can easily be done and can be done quickly and be fun when you finish.

"The adult puzzles and junior puzzles are both about the same standard - they are the very hard puzzles you see in the paper, none harder than that.

"When we were all down there everybody said they knew they could do it really quickly, it was just who could do it the quickest."

And it was George who could do them faster than anyone else his age and although he could find the solution he found it challenging.

"I found them a little tougher than the ones I do at home, the sheet of paper was so large that it kind of put me off," he said.

"Normally at home I do a fiendish puzzle in five to six minutes. Under pressure it slows you down and others said the puzzle size was annoying."

"I will try and get even further in the adult competition next year," he added.

"I don't see there is a career in it unless it becomes as popular as chess but I will carry on with it. It will always be a great hobby."