The 18th World Sudoku Championship (WSC) took place in Eger, Hungary, as part of a combined championship week that ran from 21 to 30 September 2025 together with the 32nd World Puzzle Championship (WPC) and a 24-Hour Puzzle Championship. The event was organised by the Hungarian Puzzlers' Association under the World Puzzle Federation (WPF), the body that has run the WSC since its first edition in 2006. It was Eger's second time as host: the town also staged the 2011 championship.
Individual results
According to the official final results published by the organisers:
- Gold: Dai Tantan (China)
- Silver: Kota Morinishi (Japan)
- Bronze: Hu Yuxuan (China)
It was Dai Tantan's second world title, following victory at the 2023 championship in Toronto. Kota Morinishi is the most successful player in the event's history, with four individual titles (2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018), and his return to the podium shows how consistent the top level has been over the past decade. The 2024 title, decided in Beijing, went to another Chinese solver, Ming Letian.
Team results
- Gold: China A – Dai Tantan, Hu Yuxuan, Ming Letian, Sun Cheran (captain Zhang Haijun)
- Silver: Japan A – Ken Endo, Kota Morinishi, Rintaro Matsumoto, Hideaki Jo
- Bronze: Czech Republic A – Jan Vondruška, Jan Zvěřina, Jakub Hrazdira, Jakub Ondroušek
China's team now holds back-to-back titles (2024 and 2025). Notably, three of the four Chinese team members have been individual world champions or medallists in recent years, which shows the depth of the country's sudoku programme.
The puzzle championship
In the World Puzzle Championship held the same week, which covers a broader range of logic puzzles, Freddie Hand of Great Britain won the individual title ahead of Ken Endo (Japan) and Walker Anderson (USA). The USA A team, which included three-time sudoku world champion Thomas Snyder, won the team event ahead of Japan A and Germany A.
What the results tell us
Competitive sudoku is a timed event made up of many rounds with classic puzzles and variants such as killer, arrow or thermo sudoku. Points depend on correct grids within strict time limits, so the winners combine speed with error-free logic. The 2025 podium repeats a pattern visible for more than a decade: East Asian solvers, especially from China and Japan, dominate, while Central European teams such as the Czech Republic remain strong challengers.
For everyday players, championship solvers are a reminder that speed comes from technique, not guessing. Top competitors spot singles, pairs and pointing candidates almost instantly because they have practised them thousands of times. You can build the same habits step by step on our sudoku puzzles, from beginner to master, and keep a routine with the daily sudoku.
The next championship, the 19th WSC, is scheduled for October 2026 in Kolkata, India, where Dai Tantan and China will defend their titles.