Dempo Biz Quest

Date: 6th January 2010
Time: Registrations open at 9.30 am. Prelims will begin at 10 am.
QM: Harshvardhan Bhatkuly
Flavour: Business
Venue: SS Dempo College of Commerce, Altinho, Panaji
Participation: College students, both post-graduate and under-graduate, in teams of two. No pre-registration required.
Prizes: 1st - Rs. 10,000/-, 2nd - Rs. 8,000/-, 3rd - Rs. 6,000/-

A Brand New Year

'Tis the season, after all. The hordes of It's Better In Goa T-shirt wearers, the party-hopping wolf-packs, bumper-to-bumper traffic, clogged phone networks, and a season in which it is easier to get laid than find a parking spot for your car in Panjim. Lucky for us, while people around us run about like headless chickens, SEQC continues normal programming, with Navin Pai putting on his blue suede QMing shoes this weekend.

SEQC January '10 Quiz

Date: 3rd January 2010
Time: 5 pm
QM: Navin "Sweety" Pai
Flavour: General
Venue: 2nd Floor, CCP Hall, Opposite Cafe Central, off 18th June Road, Panjim
Participation: Open to all. Even the It's Better In Goa hordes.

SEQC Mastermind Semi-finals: A quiz with a view

It might seem unfair to praise the venue of a quiz over its content, but in this case one would have to reserve the first words for the location. The Divli Lawn at the International Centre Goa (ICG) was the excellent setting for the semi-finals of the SEQC Mastermind event, conducted in partnership with ICG. Our quiz standards are quite high, so good content is no longer a surprise. But the venue, and the arrangements -- including the high-backed black hot seat and the spotlight on the contestant -- added that touch of class that tipped the event into something special.

In that respect, it was a worthy setting for the level of quizzing -- nine of SEQC's best fighting tooth and nail for the three spots in the finals. It was evident that the semi-finalists had come well-prepared. Tough subjects were tackled with elan, and obscure questions shot out of the sky with ease. The specialised subjects chosen by the contestants were quite revelatory, in some cases drawing oohs and aahs of surprise and delight from the audience. Which, by the way, was substantial and for the most part exemplary in its behaviour (the parts that were not will remain unnamed).

Only one of the three semis eventually was a close one, with Harsh Bhatkuly losing out by two points to Abhishek Jha. In the other contests, Amit Shet and Vidyadhar Gadgil got through without too much of a challenge.

The finals will now see these three go up against each other, in the same sublime setting, some time in February. Watch out for that announcement.

The results

SEMI-FINAL 1
Winner: Vidyadhar Gadgil (specialised subject: The Films of Satyajit Ray) -- 16 correct answers in the specialised subject (SS) round + 9 in the general knowledge (GK) round = 25 total
2nd: Adish Talwadker (History of the United Nations) -- 8 (SS) + 7 (GK) = 15 total
3rd: Navin Pai (Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron) -- 6 (SS) + 6 (GK) = 12 total

SEMI-FINAL 2
Winner: Abhishek Jha (The Param Vir Chakra and its Recipients) -- 13 (SS) + 7 (GK) = 20 total
2nd: Harshvardhan Bhatkuly (Fundamental Rights under the Constitution of India) -- 11 (SS) + 7 (GK) = 18 total
3rd: Leroy Veloso (Life and Achievements of Eminent Goans) -- 5 (SS) + 6 (GK) = 11 total

SEMI-FINAL 3
Winner: Amit Shet (The Films of Aamir Khan) -- 13 (SS) + 6 (GK) = 19 total
2nd: Chirag Mutgi (History of the State of Israel) -- 4 (SS) + 10 (GK) = 14 total
3rd: Anjali Sen Gupta (The Life of Che Guevara) -- 6 (SS) + 5 (GK) = 11 total

The three finalists: Abhishek Jha, Amit Shet and Vidyadhar Gadgil

Wait until dark -- and then there was light...

Annie, as expected, provided a rare quizzing treat on the evening of 18 December 2009 at the Goa Open Quiz. Meant for teams of two members, it was truly an ‘open’ quiz – age, sex, caste, creed, religion no bar.
The quiz itself was a cracker (see for yourself), and the lawns of the International Centre in Dona Paula provided a pleasant setting. There was a glitch about the schedule – due to being held in the open air, the quiz could not start till the sun went down, due to projection problems. So we actually began only at 6pm. But after that it was two hours of pure fun, with Annie shedding light on some interesting nuggets of information, presented in an innovative manner.
Sixteen teams took part, a rather small number, but these teams really battled it out in the prelims, leaving six teams to go through to the finals.
The finals had five rounds – straight questions, buzzer rounds (which would pass if no buzz or wrong answer), a theme round, etc. All very exciting fare. One problem though was that since the quiz was done by the ‘infinite bounds’ system, the buzzer rounds passed a little chaotically. But then Annie always experiments, and sometimes the experiments don’t go perfectly, but there’s always something new...
The winners were, inevitably, Rajiv D’Silva & Harshavardhan Bhatkuly – by the inevitable wide margin. Drastic measures will have to be taken if this team is ever to be defeated. I have procured some voodoo dolls and am busy sticking pins in them – everybody is invited to contribute their mite.
In second and third place were two young teams – Joshua Fernandes & Nathan Fernandez in second and Amit Shet & Suraj Kamat in third. Let’s hope this trend continues and middle-aged fogies are knocked into the dustbin of history, where they rightfully belong.
Nandini Sahai, Director of ICG, was a gracious host, and kindly offered ICG as a venue for other SEQC quizzing events in future, an offer that will certainly be taken up, with the Mastermind semi-finals slated to be held there. Broadway Bookstore generously provided the prizes.

SEQC Mastermind: On to the semis

About two months have passed since the original 27 contestants battled it out in the opening matches of the SEQC Mastermind competition. Now, it's time for the nine winners of those matches to fight it out for the three places in the finals.

There is much excitement in store for the semis. The biggest revelation is that the semi-final matches will be held in the exquisite setting of the Divli lawns at the International Centre Goa (ICG). The ICG has kindly offered the venue for us to use, at no expense to the club. And it's a beautiful location -- the Goa Open Quiz was held there, and was quite a hit, not least because of the setting.

To recapitulate, the nine contestants who won their first-round matches are Abhishek Jha, Adish Talwadker, Amit Shet, Anjali Sen Gupta, Chirag Mutgi, Leroy Veloso, Navin Pai, Vidyadhar Gadgil and Vivek Krishnan. In case any of these nine are unable to attend, their place(s) will be filled by the non-qualifying contestant(s) who had the highest total scores in the opening-round matches.

There will be three semi-finals, all to be held on Sunday December 27, the first one starting at 6pm. All three contests should be done by about 8pm at the latest.

The first-round matches were exciting enough. The semis should take things up quite a notch. This is not an evening you should miss. Be there!

Goa Open Quiz questions and answers

The Prelims




The Finals

Goa Open Results

QM: Aniruddha Sen Gupta

1st: Harshvardhan Bhatkuly & Rajiv D'Silva - 115
2nd: Joshua Fernandes & Nathan Fernandez - 50
3rd: Amit Shet & Suraj Kamat - 30
4th: Balakrishnan S. & Kamal Rathi - 25
5th: Adish Talwadker & Vidyadhar Gadgil - 15
6th: Paola Mambro & Paul Gatward - 10

Mega-Whats 2009 - Goa Results

Organized by: Karnataka Quiz Association
Conducted by: Siby Kuriakose

Complete scores (School category in blue):

1. Feni, Vidi, Vici, VG (Aniruddha Sen Gupta, G. Sundar, Rajiv D'Silva, Vidyadhar Gadgil) - 37
2. Desi Dhamaka (Anjali Sen Gupta, Tallulah D'Silva, Venita Coelho, Vivek Krishnan) - 35
3. Numero Uno (Anil Rodrigues, Luis Dias, Sachin Chatte, Srikant Subramaniam) - 20
4. The Magnificent Four (Mahesh Prabhu, Paul Gatward, Sacheen Pai Raikar) - 17
5. Pandora's Boxers (Aditya, Ajachi, Joshan, Shridhar) - 14
6. 4 Aces (Adish Talwadker, Ameya Mardolkar, Amit Shet, Anant) - 14
7. Meteora (Joel, Paola Mambro, Srijit, Vernon Fernandes) - 13
8. Fantastic Four (Anisha, Kanchan Gatward, Lucy, Viola Rodrigues) - 11
9. JANK (Armann, Joshua, Krish, Nathan) - 10
10. CIRT (Conrad Fernandes, Ira D'Costa, Rajiv Singbal, Terrence D'Costa) - 10
11. Rapid Fire (Gauri Kenkre, Raj Kunkolienkar, Shantanu Kulkarni, Shaswat Salgaonkar) - 10
12. Four Square (Ashray Adappa, Jayant Karn, Vibhas Prabhdesai, Prathamesh Naik) - 9
    
13. Team Spirit (Shelton, Siddhesh, Suraj, Yogesh) - 8
14. Kendriya Vidyalaya (Atharv, Mangesh, Samyak, Varun) - 7
    
15. Dhempe & Dragons (Jyoti, Malcolm, Siddhesh, Tulsidas) - 7
16. New Goa (Aisha, Nidhi, Pranav, Shriyash) -7
17. VOLKS (Akash, Nihar, Saideep, Shubham) - 6
18. Phantoms (Bryan, Malcolm, Nikhil Arolkar, Reuben Rodrigues) - 5
19. Young Quizzers (Ari Pereira, Chantal D'Costa, Julian D'Costa) - 5
20. Trippers (Atmaram, Jatan Rodrigues, Pankaj, Rahul) - 5
21. Blue Bubbles (Joel, Nitish, Reshaan, Shubhankar) - 4
    
22. Red Devils (Rohit Pagi, Rovan Vaz) - 2

The questions (and answers) of the quiz can be found here. The nationwide results will be posted on the KQA website in a few days' time.

Times of India Big Quiz - Results

QM: Rajiv D'Silva

1st: Raj Kunkolienkar & Shaswat Salgaonkar (Mushtifund High School, Panaji) - 180
2nd: Daniel Ferreira & Julian D'Costa (Vidya Vikas Academy, Margao) - 90
3rd: Adrian Fernandes & Shardul Kulkarni (Regina Mundi High School, Vasco) - 65
4th: Saideep Bhosle & Shubham Tiwari (People's High School, Panaji) - 40

Indo-German Cultural Week Quiz

Date: December 13, 2009
Time: 7pm
QM: Sachin Chatte
Flavour: General
Venue: Aguada Anchorage, Sinquerim
Participation: Open to all

Results of SEQC December Quiz

QM: Amit Shet

1st: [Monica Chaturvedi, Rajiv D'Silva, Rajiv Singbal, Sunil Sardessai, Vernon Fernandes] & [Brendan Peroz, Christine Peroz, G. S. Banerjee, Reuben Rodrigues, Srikant Subramaniam, Vidyadhar Gadgil] - 120
3rd: Ajay Parasuraman, Anand Shankar, C. G. Niyati, Kanchan Desai, Salil Chaturvedi, Vivek Krishnan - 110
4th: [Adish Talwadker, Conrad Fernandes, Jayant Karn, Mahesh Prabhu, Sachin Chatte] & [Abhishek Jha, Aditya Kelekar, Ameya Mardolkar, Leroy Veloso, Raj Kunkolienkar, Tallulah D'Silva] - 80
6th: Aniruddha Sen Gupta, Anjali Sen Gupta, Doris Rao, Mariette Correa, Nikhil Arolkar - 70

The next monthly quiz will be held on the 3rd of January 2010, to be hosted by Navin Pai.

Goa Open : The quiz for everyone

Date: December 18, 2009
Time: 4.30pm
QM: Annie Sen Gupta
Flavour: General
Venue: International Centre Goa, Dona Paula
Participation: Open to all, in teams of two.

To register, e-mail team details -- team name and names of team members -- to seqcgoa (at) gmail (dot) com.

Times of India Big Quiz

Event schedule:
South Goa Preliminaries - 4th December, 1.30 pm, Chowgule College, Margao
North Goa Preliminaries - 5th December, 1.30 pm, Don Bosco School, Panaji
South Goa Semi-finals - 7th December, 10.00 am & 2.30 pm, Ravindra Bhavan, Margao
North Goa Semi-finals - 9th & 10th December, 10.00 am, Hotel Fidalgo, Panaji
Grand Finale - 14th December, 1.30 pm, National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula
QM: Rajiv D'Silva
Content: QuizCo
Flavour: General
Prizes: Laptops for the winners, Handycams for the runners-up. Loads of other prizes as well.
Participation: Students of Std. X and under, in teams of two.

SEQC December Quiz

Vivek and Srikant began it, and this week the young brigade of QM's continue their reign at SEQC, with Amit Shet all set to question the hell out of everybody. With Navin Pai booking January in advance, looks like it will be a while before anybody with greying hair or a pot belly gets a question in edgeways. Ah well, who's complaining? Let there be reign...

Date: 6th December 2009
Time: 5.00 pm
QM: Amit Shet
Flavour: General, with good deal of sports.
Venue: CCP Hall, 2nd Floor, CCP Building, Opp. Cafe Central, Panaji
Participation: Open