Antalya hosts world puzzle championship

The world’s most successful puzzle enthusiasts have converged to the Mediterranean city of Antalya to participate in the 18th World Puzzle Championship that kicked off Wednesday.

Nearly 150 people from 27 countries are attending the event, organized at Delphin Diva Premiere Hotel located in Belek. Around 100 of the participants will combat over logic puzzles.

Ulrich Voight of Germany, who won the championship for six times in the last nine years, told the Anatolia news agency that he was in Belek to reclaim the title.

He said he was refraining from all kinds of alcoholic beverages and illicit drugs, and enjoying the life and puzzles.

Will Shortz, who has been the crossword puzzle editor for the New York Times since 1993, is one of the guests of the championship. Shortz, who founded the World Puzzle Championship in 1992, told the Anatolia news agency that Antalya was the best venue in the history of the event.

“Since every country prepares crossword puzzles in their own languages, we have been using games based on mathematics, logic and observation,” said Shortz. “The purpose is to create an environment in which every participant can compete at equal circumstances.”

Shortz said puzzle supplements have positive affect on the circulation number of newspapers. “The ideal thing to do is to solve puzzles on paper rather than the digital medium,” he said. “There are many people who buy papers only for the puzzles and crosswords.”

He said some Turkish newspapers were publishing four-page supplements of puzzles. "This is amazing. We can publish only two puzzles in each day; one crossword and one Sudoku" he said.

Mehmet Murat Sevim of Turkey, who came on the second place in last year's championship in Belarus, said he would try to win the championship this year. “I constantly solve puzzles to keep my mind working,” said Sevim, who is an undergraduate student at Boðaziçi University’s computer engineering department. “I finished second last year and this year I want to be better.”

Kamer Alyanakyan, the event’s general coordinator, said the championship is hosted in Turkey for the second time, the first one being the 1998 championship held in Istanbul. “Bright minds and free souls from around the globe have gathered here to compete for a high placement in the world puzzle rankings,” he said.

“The puzzles do not need knowledge or language but can be solved with logic and observation skills. The Turkish team has prepared well, but it is more important that friendship is triumphant here.”

The event is supported by the Antalya municipality and several local companies and will end on Sunday.