Sudoku winner may have cheated in match

The Philadelphia Inquirer is investigating a possibility that the third-place winner at their Sudoku tournament over the weekend cheated. A man who won a $3,000 dollar cash prize may have been secretly worn a telephone headset to communicate with somebody using a computer.

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A contestant named Eugene Varshavsky wore a sweatshirt hood concealing his face during the qualifying rounds. Other competitors say something was obviously wrong when he advanced to the final round and was unable to finish the puzzle.

A spokesman for the tournament said the rules of the competition may be changed to make cheating more difficult. The second-place winner, Thomas Snyder, says the reputation of the contest is a stake.

Snyder: If they decide nothing happened here and didn't change anything, I would never return to this tournament. We're going to say we're the Philly Inquirer, we can run a Sudoku contest. Great for you, but you're not catering to the Sudoku solvers and you're not finding a true champion.

The man under suspicion, who doesn't have his prize money yet, had registered under the same name as a man who is suspected of cheating at a Philadelphia chess tournament 2 years ago.