Ming Letian, a junior high school student from Dalian, gives a demonstration after winning at a national junior Sudoku contest held on Friday in Hebei province. [PHOTO BY XING WEN/CHINA DAILY]

Arguably, one such role model is 18-year-old Chen Shiyu, considering that she ranked fourth at the WSC in 2016 and received an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology earlier this year.

Chen grew stronger with the puzzle's burgeoning popularity in China, regularly attended Sudoku events held by the Beijing Sudoku Association since 2013 and, as a result, fought her way onto the national junior Sudoku team.

She says what appeals to her is the logic behind the digits and the variation of the question types in Sudoku.

As a soon-to-be applied math major at MIT, the Beijing native says the game helps her stay focused on study, because solving the puzzle requires 100 percent concentration and allows no room for error.

Ming Letian, who failed to get full marks in mathematics by just 0.5 point in his senior high school entrance examinations this summer, agrees that Sudoku is conducive to lifting academic ability.

As the winner of this year's junior event, he says that Sudoku contests offer him an opportunity to position himself among his peers and communicate with Sudoku masters.

"I'm obsessed with the sense of achievement after I have worked out a solution," says the rising star who also competed in Saturday's China Sudoku Championship.

He has never concealed his ambition to be a Sudoku star, concluding: "I want to represent China on the international stage as a national team member."