The world's best sudoku solvers gather in India this week. The World Sudoku & Puzzle Championship 2026 (WSPC 2026), which combines the 19th World Sudoku Championship (WSC) and the 33rd World Puzzle Championship (WPC), runs from 11 to 18 October 2026 at The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat in Kolkata. The host is Logic Masters India (LMI), the national member of the World Puzzle Federation (WPF), the body that has run the WPC since 1992 and the WSC since 2006.
How the week is organised
According to the organisers' FAQ, the week has two competition days for the WSC, then a break or excursion day, followed by three days for the WPC. Published event listings give this outline:
- 11 October: opening ceremony;
- 12–13 October: World Sudoku Championship, with the sudoku award ceremony on 13 October;
- 14 October: excursion and leisure day, the public Puzzle Palooza, and the WPC opening;
- 15–17 October: World Puzzle Championship, with its award ceremony on 17 October;
- 18 October: departures.
Beebom reports that solvers from around 35 countries are taking part. Competitors do not simply sign up: each country's WPF member selects its team, usually through open national qualifying tournaments. The main competition is closed to spectators.
Puzzle Palooza: open to the public
On 14 October, from 2 pm to 7 pm, the same venue hosts Puzzle Palooza, a one-day event open to all ages. Its headliner is Will Shortz, the longtime crossword editor of The New York Times, who hosts a general quiz for teams of one to three people. Three-time world sudoku champion Thomas Snyder leads a mini games contest, and the programme also includes an experts' panel on puzzle design and careers in brain games, plus a masterclass by LMI on building puzzles from scratch. Tickets cost INR 199 via the Unstop platform.
Who to watch
At the 2025 championship in Eger, Hungary, Dai Tantan (China) won the individual sudoku title for the second time, ahead of Kota Morinishi (Japan) and Hu Yuxuan (China), and China A won the team event. China has won the last two team titles, while Japan's Morinishi holds the record of four individual titles. In the puzzle championship, Britain's Freddie Hand and the USA A team are the defending champions. Past results are no guarantee, however: a WSC is decided over many timed rounds, and one slow round or a single error can change the podium.
Why India matters for the puzzle world
This is India's third World Sudoku Championship, after Goa in 2008 and Bengaluru in 2017. LMI has also been active online for years, running regular sudoku and puzzle contests that help players around the world prepare for championships. A home event, combined with a public festival day, is a chance to grow the solving community in South Asia.
We will report the final results once they are officially published. Until then, why not test your own speed? Try a puzzle from our daily sudoku, move up through the difficulty levels in our sudoku section, and check our SE rating guide to see how puzzle difficulty is measured.