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By TRACIE WHITE

STANFORD, Calif. — Thomas Snyder is once again the world champ of sudoku, the popular puzzle game.

The 28-year-old bioengineering postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University retained his title of individual champion at the World Sudoku Championship in Goa, India, held April 14-17. Snyder also won a special title as the best solver of “classic” sudokus.

This was the second year running that Snyder won the championship, this time beating a Japanese player and two Czechs in the playoffs. He also won the competition to find the best solver of classic sudoku puzzles, beating David McNeill of Britain, who placed second.
Snyder won a free ticket to this year’s world championship when he won the first national championship last October in Philadelphia.

The Holiday Inn Resort Goa was the venue for the competition, where the greatest puzzlers from 31 countries gathered to compete over two days. Next year’s competition will be in Slovakia.

After a string of impressive wins, Snyder has made a name for himself as a sudoku superstar. But now Snyder is back to life as usual, doing research in the lab of Stephen Quake, PhD, professor of bioengineering.

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Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions - Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. For more information, please visit the Office of Communication & Public Affairs site at http://mednews.stanford.edu/.