20th International Solving Contest (ISC) 21th January 2024
We had 41 tournaments in 26 countries and 669 solvers from 46 countries (24 unofficial solvers in cat-3) – 171 solvers in cat-1, 236 solvers in cat-2 and 262 solvers in cat-3. Thanks to all local controllers for their excellent work and good cooperation and congratulations to the winners.
Special thanks to Borislav Gadjanski for his daily updates of the results on the MatPlus-website, to Luc Palmans who checked Cat1, to Andy Ooms who checked Cat2, Bohumil Moravčik who helped a lot with the selection of the problems.
Arvydas Mockus, Central Controller of ISC 2024.
Problems CAT1 – CAT2 – CAT3 | Solutions CAT1 – CAT2 – CAT3 | Results CAT1 – CAT2 – CAT3
The 20 years of ISC (2005-2024)
The idea to organize the International Solving Contest, simultaneously in many countries, came from Uri Avner in the year 2003. After a period of preparation the 1st ISC was held in January 2005. The winner was Roland Baier (SUI) and Ward Stoffelen was the Central controller. With 27 tournaments in 23 countries and 262 solvers it was already the greatest solving tournament in history.
After the success of the first edition, it was decided that the next tournament in 2006 should be rated, and that a second category for less experienced solvers should be included. In the following years ISC became a standard in the second half of January and the number of participants grew until more than 400.
In 2015 a third category for kids under the age of 13 was established. The record number of participants was reached in 2020, with 885 solvers in 31 countries. Later on, the regularity of ISC wasn’t interrupted even during the Covid crisis. The ISC became an opportunity for many solvers around the world to compete and get initial ratings. Also, nearly all top solvers have been using this tournament to test their skills. The record holder is Piotr Murdzia (POL) with six wins in the 1st Category competition.
Axel Steinbrink,
Central controller of 14 ISC tournaments