06 July 2012

High Achievers at the PL/SQL Challenge

As Chicago endures another 100 degree day, I thought it would be a good time to honor some of our high achievers: players who were 100% correct for an entire month and those who played every quiz for an entire year or quarter. Even if your temperatures were not very high as you took all these quizzes, it certainly required a lot of effort!

Correct Through Entire Month

Alain Boulianne (7962)
Christopher Beck (7070)
Dan R (3865)
Dennis Klemme (10505)
Eugene Balabanov (3622)
Frank Schrader (17905)
kowido (10735)
Pavel Zeman (12461)

Played Every Quiz for Entire Year

Cliff Nadler (14431)
DaveStadt-wbt (17310)
Erik Jan Bodewitz (11323)
Lukasz Kubicki (11659)
Martin Mierke (15229)

Martin_Scholz_Berlin_Berlin (17473)
mentzel.iudith (26140)
Niels Jespersen (12436)
Siim Kask (11900)
Stelios Vlasopoulos (16335)
Viacheslav Stepanov (38695)

Played Every Quiz in a Quarter

AZOR (5132)
Alain Boulianne (7962)
Alexander Albrant (11276)
Alexander Andris (9033)
Alexander Koblov (18245)
Alexandre Santos de Pinho (12157)
Alexey Ponomarenko (12153)
Alf Jørgen Bråtane (8821)
An Verherstraeten (5934)
Anatoliy Kanivets (12433)
Andrew Fenton (13177)
Anna Onishchuk (14227)
Anton Scheffer (10404)
Anton Sibiryakov (8419)
Antonio Ipili (14926)
Bradd Piontek (8246)
CLW-wbt (14770)
Chad Lee (20540)
Chase Mei (14365)
Chirayu Poundarik (5651)
Chris Saxon (16956)
Christian Rokitta (10487)
Christian Wenzel (3529)
Cliff Nadler (14431)
Cor van Berkel (12505)
Cruz3490 (5407)
Dalibor Kovač (11746)
Dan (10194)
Dan Voiculet (7046)
Daniel Butun (2113)
Daniel Kennedy (13474)
DaveStadt-wbt (17310)
David Alexander (10428)
David Codl (13336)
Davide Gislon (13499)
Denis Ivin (14328)
Dennis Klemme (10505)
Dick Dral (7351)
Dieter Kowalski (16407)
DikkieDick (11544)
Dipendra Thapa (17696)
Dmitry Pushkashu (6301)
Doef (10019)
EdgarsP (19994)
Eigminas Dagys (8349)
Elic (15958)
Eric Levin (11188)
Erik Jan Bodewitz (11323)
Ernst Leber (5347)
Faig Garayev (13354)
Filipe Silva (10718)
Flaviano Brandi (5422)
Frank Schrader (17905)
Fred van Nimwegen (9415)
Gary Myers (10414)
Geert Guldentops (13220)
Gerry171 (7472)
Gideon Bruggink (15093)
Goce Krzovski (10727)
Graham Wallace (11768)
Hamid Talebian (16441)
Hans Van Der Wildt (6199)
Harvey (14899)
Hellmaster (14908)
Henry Abeska (27847)
Hrvoje Torbašinović (12115)
Hudai Polat (17007)
Ian Roberts (6900)
Ingimundur Gudmundsson (19841)
Ivan Blanarik (14792)
Jan Soubusta (9064)
Jan van Overveld (19042)
Janez Košir (9699)
Janis Baiza (13283)
Javier Rapoport (9777)
Jeff Kemp (16976)
Jeroen Rutte (11652)
Jerry Bull (14371)
Jim Schmitz (12419)
John Hall (16547)
Joni Vandenberghe (4780)
João Barreto (13350)
JuanFer (12290)
Justin Cave (17727)
Kai Michels (9899)
Keith Milner (16408)
Kevin Bentley (12424)
Kim Berg Hansen (11984)
Klaas Visser (7094)
Krzysztof Helbin (7951)
Lars Ekner (12077)
Lars Jensen (8138)
Litz (5524)
LuckyStarr (11349)
Ludovic Szewczyk (8956)
Lukasz Kubicki (11659)
Marc Thompson (11228)
Marcus Matzberger (12019)
Marga (16601)
Marius NITU (14350)
Mark Mankins (6691)
Markus Langlotz (8625)
Markus Schuster (5065)
Markus Zuser (12062)
Marlies Q (11957)
Marsel Fattakhov (6668)
Martin Mierke (15229)
Martin_Scholz_Berlin_Berlin (17473)
Matthias Rogel (12890)
Mauricio Fernández (10262)
Michael Elzer (12394)
Michael Meyers (10851)
Michal Cvan (15478)
Miguel Fornari (3815)
MikaelZ (13079)
Mike Pargeter (14847)
Mikhail Martsynyuk (6651)
Milan Vontorcik (14606)
Mischa Rihm (10422)
Morten H (3500)
Naresh Kumar (15851)
Natarajan-wbt (14389)
Nathalie Ver Eecke (2772)
Nguyen Hoang Sang (2851)
Nick Strange (6093)
NickL (12145)
Niels Hecker (23079)
Niels Jespersen (12436)
Nosenko Ivan (10688)
Olav Kjemhus (12102)
Oleg Gorskin (10587)
Oliver Dimalanta (14382)
Otto Palenicek (13081)
Patrick Barel (15503)
Patrick Zurflueh (6747)
Paul Kuijk (10543)
Pavel Noga (15401)
Pavel Vorontsov (13555)
Pavel Zeman (12461)
Peter Chenery (14818)
Pieter-Jan Albers (11343)
Raghavendra Subbanna (10432)
RajenB (10877)
Ralf Koelling (15828)
Ravshan Abbasov (7049)
Rich Dellheim (16702)
Rimantas Adomauskas (14429)
Rob van den Berg (11465)
Roel Hartman (11349)
Rohan Gray (13209)
Rytis Budreika (14083)
Sayan Malakshinov (4509)
Scott Wesley (18216)
Sean Molloy (16624)
Sean Stuber (15674)
Sebastian Kolski (16333)
Serge Shmygelskyy (6560)
Sergey Porokh (13973)
Siim Kask (11900)
Sjoerd-Auke Fokkens (3457)
Spoon (8418)
Stelios Vlasopoulos (16335)
Sterol Andro (13222)
Steven Zwart (6440)
Sue Wilson (13267)
Theodore Christofis (11682)
Thierry Poels (17643)
Tobias Stark (18113)
Toine (6501)
Toine van Beckhoven (7226)
Troshky (7540)
Urmo Kaber (14083)
Urs Metzger (14846)
Viacheslav Banket (8201)
Viacheslav Stepanov (38695)
VictorD (16181)
Vijay Mahawar (15163)
Vladimir Drozdov (9919)
WCB (3586)
Ward Verachtert (5500)
William (Yi) Zhu (16841)
Wim de Lange (12720)
Wolfgang Habermann (15245)
Xavier Descamps (12827)
Yuriy Pedan (10487)
Zoltan Fulop (5315)
Zoltán Pásztor (15772)
_tiki_4_ (12783)
al0 (8295)
alfa33 (10388)
anil_jha (12083)
attagianno (6113)
cuno.gisep (10802)
dannyg64 (15071)
emha (15944)
f1987 (14611)
glenm (9942)
gold_hamster (11783)
james su (16788)
karel roos (5187)
katuinbouter (8687)
koko (15034)
kowido (10735)
ksokol (5683)
louisywema (7355)
mark kavalaris (9177)
masum (13945)
mentzel.iudith (26140)
micklesh (10490)
nhawe (2496)
nicos (2549)
owbeg (13871)
poelger (18661)
puchtec (10213)
rahim ahmedov (4091)
sonksen (14071)
st_guitar (12661)
swart260 (2656)
tamino (6296)
umir (7129)
vijayaragavan r (16635)
voltrik (7707)
yonderboi (11603)

05 July 2012

Site Still Down 4:45 UTC 5 July

Unfortunately, the PL/SQL Challenge website is still down, and will likely not be up for several hours more.

So it looks like we will be not doing a quiz today (5 July) either.

We are as disappointed with this state of affairs as the many players who have contacted me directly, wondering when they will be able to play their quiz.

Such dedication! I hate to disappoint you, but, well, look at it this way: we are giving you a little vacation from the quiz. It's July, so for most of you the sun is shining, the air is warm. In other words, it's time to go outside and play.

Don't worry, we'll be back up soon and then you can come back inside and take the quiz.

Thanks for your patience,
Steven Feuerstein

04 July 2012

Quiz for 4 July Will Not Be Ranked

The PL/SQL Challenge website has been down for most of the day, as we recover the database from 02:00 UTC 4 July. Our apologies for the inconvenience and lost opportunity to compete.

The results for 4 July will not be used in rankings and determining qualification in the Q3 championship playoff.

So if you are an American, it's just our way of saying: "Don't work (or 'play' with your technology)! Get away from your computer and celebrate the founding of your nation!"

Sigh.....

02 July 2012

Time for the Q2 2012 Championship Playoff!

The second quarter of 2012 ended last week...and that means it's time for the next championship playoff.

As you may recall, last quarter we initiated a new qualifier process in which selected players are asked to verify their performance during the quarter before being able to participate in the playoff.

I am very pleased to announce that none of the players this quarter will be required to take qualifier quizzes. What this means, in essence, is that none of the players submitted answers in astonishing and perhaps bewildering shorts amounts of time.

There is one other unusual aspect to the player group for this playoff: no players were able to qualify under the Wildcard category (see the FAQ for more information on how players are chosen).

In the table below, the number in parentheses after their names are the number of playoffs in which they have already participated. Congratulations to all listed on their accomplishment and best of luck in the upcoming competition!

We currently plan to hold the playoff on 26 July; that date may change if enough players are unable to play on that day.

Name Rank Qualification Country
Frank Schrader (7)1Top 25Germany
Stelios Vlasopoulos (3)2Top 25Belgium
mentzel.iudith (6)3Top 25Israel
Viacheslav Stepanov (5)4Top 25Russia
Justin Cave (5)5Top 25United States
Rakesh Dadhich (0)6Top 25India
Jerry Bull (4)7Top 25United States
kowido (5)8Top 25No Country Set
Siim Kask (6)9Top 25Estonia
Vincent Malgrat (2)10Top 25French Republic
Sebastian Kolski (1)11Top 25Poland
Anna Onishchuk (5)12Top 25Ireland
_tiki_4_ (2)13Top 25Germany
Ivan Blanarik (1)14Top 25Slovakia
Niels Hecker (7)15Top 25Germany
Chad Lee (4)16Top 25United States
james su (4)17Top 25Canada
Dieter Kowalski (1)18Top 25Germany
swart260 (0)19Top 25Netherlands
Scott Wesley (1)20Top 25Australia
Sean Stuber (4)21Top 25United States
Randy Gettman (6)22Top 25United States
Giedrius Deveikis (0)23Top 25Lithuania
Zoltan Fulop (1)24Top 25Hungary
Mike Pargeter (6)25Top 25United Kingdom
Kevan Gelling (5)26CorrectnessIsle of Man
Thierry Poels (3)63CorrectnessBelgium
Syed Ariful Bari (3)84CorrectnessBangladesh
Yuan Tschang (3)86CorrectnessUnited States
Vinu (0)90CorrectnessIndia
Goran Stefanović (1)100CorrectnessSerbia
anil_jha (0)105CorrectnessUnited States
Frank Schmitt (1)114CorrectnessGermany
John Rowbottom (1)200CorrectnessUnited Kingdom
Kuzmin Konstanin (0)224CorrectnessNo Country Set