Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Focus On Puzzle Hotties: Ivana vs Zrinka

Sax made the mistake of bringing my attention to the 19th World Puzzle Championships.

And yes, there's been talk of Thomas Snyder, the top US guy, currently leading the competition (update 9:30am: he's dropped to #3!); Sax's boy Phillip Weiß; Mehmet Sevim, the pre-tournament favorite; and Peter Hudák, my dark-horse candidate.

But there's another, far much more compelling, individual matchup: Slovakia's Ivana Štiptová vs Croatia's Zrinka Kokot.

Ivana is the only full-time female on Slovakia's National Puzzle Team. But... Zrinka was the first ever female to make Croatia's National Puzzle Team. And so far, through five rounds*, they're pretty evenly matched. Zrinka currently stands at #57 out of 105 competitors with 343 points, and Ivana at #60 with 319 points:

Full results here

And...on the off-chance that you're wondering what these two Puzzlers look like, well here's Ivana, from her facebook page:

Ivana Štiptová
Slovakian National Team Member

And here's Zrinka, from the Croatian National Team Photo:

Croatian National Puzzle Team

Whoa. Ivana, you're a cute girl, and I love how you proudly wear your nation's colors. But Zrinka, whoa...ti si lijepa. Marry me Zrinka!

Who will finish on top?
Zrinka
Ivana
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

P.S. to Sax: Do you hear the footsteps? Hudák has closed to within 2 places of Weiß...

*strangely, the first five rounds are numbered 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. Part of a puzzle perhaps?

37 comments:

Steve Sax said...

Some SoSG readers have asked me if my real identity is actually Phillip.

To you, I say: "Ich Weiss? Nicht."

Eric Karros said...

Updated Results: Zrinka has moved up to #52 and Ivana has sunk to 73.

And strangely, not only does the round numbering skip, but they completed round 12 before round 10.

Steve Sax said...

@EK: You didn't see the coverage of the Round 10 controversy on ESPNNEWS this morning? Brutal.

If there has ever been a better argument for instant replay in the WPC, this is it.

MR.F said...

Please continue to post updates!

MR.F said...

AHH, please explain!

Steve Sax said...

By the way, how does Zoltan 1 (not the other Zoltan) score a -3 in the first round? Noonan!

Steve Sax said...

@Mr F 10:35a: Well, I was eating breakfast so I don't know if I caught it correctly, but I could have sworn that in round 10, Ulrich Voigt threw down a "9" in one of his mutant sudoku squares. Being one of those European-type "9s" with an elongated bottom hook to the digit, it looked dangerously close to an "8".

Voigt claimed that his pencil had lifted off the paper before the end of the hook touched the circle at the top of the digit, but it wasn't really clear to the referee. But since the WPC Commissioner had argued against the use of instant replay for the finals, they couldn't go back and challenge the ruling.

Hideaki Jo (in second) and Thomas Snyder (in third) were furious, however, and much shouting and screaming ensued, including some comments that bordered on ethnic slurs. Really, not a pretty sight at all in Paprotnia. This round has really cast a bad shadow over the 19th WPC.

rbnlaw said...

You said, "finish on top." Heh, heh.

MR.F said...

That. Is. Intense.

Eric Karros said...

FYI there are three Zoltán's in the tourney.

-Zoltán Horváth (Germany, 16th place)
-Zoltán Gyimesi (Hungary, 20th)
-Zoltán Németh (Hungary, 49th)

FYI Németh is also known as "Broadway Zoltán."

Shawn Green said...

This is such a joke. Everybody knows Zrinka uses PEDs. She should be disqualified immediately.

Josh S. said...

Awesome rack...





...of Scrabble tiles. Zrinka always manages to pull the best letters.

Steve Sax said...

@Mr LA SC: HGH is not against WPC bylaws, so it's a little murky.

They used to do random drug testing dueing competitions, but Wei-Hwa Huang said that it "disrupted his chi."

Steve Sax said...

@Josh S.: Totally hear you. I can think of two reasons why Zrinka is EK's belle du jour.

Steve Sax said...

On the other hand, I do find it odd that EK stiptova the other candidate without a second glance. Ivana second opinion.

Cliff Beefpile said...

After tearing your eyes away from Zrinka's ample bosom, you find it's an odd mix. I'm sure if you dig up the guy in yellow's backyard you'll find at least one or two dead bodies. Vlade over on the far left is doing his best Edge impression whilst playing pants puppet. But I love that picture of the baby in the upper right. Apparently he's the world's next up-and-coming dictator. He looks so heroic!

MR.F said...

"After tearing your eyes away from Zrinka's ample bosom..."

That's possible?

Eric Karros said...

Watch your hands, dude in the black T-shirt to Zrinka's immediate left.

Seriously. Step off buddy. Like, now.

Steve Sax said...

EK, you can take Zrinka. I'm going after her sister, Karmen.

Steve Sax said...

WIN

MR.F said...

Favorite movies: Eurotrip.

A European liking that movie has to be a ringing endorsement.

Eric Karros said...

FYI Karmen sucks at puzzles

Steve Sax said...

Round 13 results just posted! Thomas Snyder is taking a nosedive. I'm going to have to chart his hubris after day one and how the puzzle gods frowned on him. It's just like Yankees-Red Sox 2004...

karina said...

Game hasn't started and my heart is already broken:Eric Karros, FYI, I bet my life Zrinka doesn't dig your puzzles and graphs as much as I do.

(cries)

MR.F said...

Boo EK. You made Karina cry!

(cries)

Eric Karros said...

I loved Eurotrip too. Totally underrated. The robot fighting scene was hilarious.

And Michelle Trachenberg was radiant.

Eric Karros said...

Don't worry Karina, Zrinka and Ivana are playing for 2nd place.

Eric Karros said...

Don't look now, but Sevim has risen to #5

Steve Sax said...

EK: #5 in your heart, or #5 in the rankings?

(answer carefully--karina is fragile right now)

(cries)

karina said...

@Steve Sax you just grew the seed of doubt. I want to believe I'm number one.

(cries)

Steve Sax said...

Results for the contentious 10th round just posted. Look at that beta among the top players! See what I mean?

Steve Sax said...

no bullshit this time: one competitor is calling round 10 "the broken round".

details later

Eric Karros said...

Sax: did you happen to notice where the Hudák vs Weiß matchup currently stands?

Hudák say they gonna lose to Peter!

Weiß that!

Steve Sax said...

EK leads the Hudak nation. Nice.

Steve Sax said...

Zoltans are neck and neck at 19-20

Steve Sax said...

Zrinka 55th
Ivana 74th

Eric Karros said...

Don't forget "Broadway" Zoltan Németh who lags down at 45th place.

Snyder isn't even top 2 on the US Team anymore.