MahaQuizzer is an annual solo quiz contest held simultaneously across several Indian cities. It was instituted in 2005 by the Karnataka Quiz Association

Karnataka Quiz Association

The Karnataka Quiz Association was founded in 1983 by the late Wing Commander G.R.Mulky, Deepak Murdeshwar, Rajeev Gowda, Thomas Uthup, K.N.Mahabala, Thribhuvan Kumar, P.Raju and Jagadish Raja is a non-profit association devoted to popularizing the mindsport among students and the general public...

. The event is now held in Bangalore

Bangalore

Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...

, Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...

, Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

, Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

, Thrissur

Thrissur

This article is about the city in India. For the district, see Thrissur district. For the urban agglomeration area of Thrissur see Thrissur Metropolitan Area...

, Guwahati

Guwahati

Guwahati, Pragjyotishpura in ancient Assam formerly known as Gauhati is a metropolis,the largest city of Assam in India and ancient urban area in North East India, with a population of 963,429. It is also the largest metropolitan area in north-eastern India...

, Panjim, Bhubaneshwar, Mysore and Coimbatore

Coimbatore

Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....

. It is now a collaborative effort between KQA (which provides content and administrators) and other quizzing organisations such as Quiz Foundation of India

Quiz Foundation of India

The Quiz Foundation of India, Chennai is a non-profit organization aiming to popularize quizzing in the city and also provide a forum for quizzers to meet and interact regularly.-History:...

, Chennai, K-Circle,Hyderabad, The Hyderabad Quiz Club, Bombay Quiz Club, The Boat Club Quiz Club, Pune, Grey Cells Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, Bhubaneshwar Quiz Club, Kutub Quizzers, New Delhi, Trivia Bytes Creations, Guwahati, Sunday Evening Quiz Club, Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

, and Coimbatore Quiz Circle, Coimbatore

Coimbatore

Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....

 and has thus evolved into being the national quizzing championships.

The Contest

MahaQuizzer was envisaged as a quiz that would test the contestant's ability to make informed guesses rather than his/her memory. It typically features 150 text-questions, which must be answered in 90 minutes.The questions normally run into several sentences and may contain clues as well as misdirections. Participants fill in their answers, and no negative marking is applied. The quiz is normally set by a team of four senior quiz-masters.

Prizes are awarded to the best contestant in the School, College, Ladies and Open categories in each venue. The overall winner takes the title of Mahaquizzer and is awarded the Wing Commander G.R. Mulky Memorial Trophy for Quizzing Excellence. A list of the top 100 contestants is also published.

2005

The inaugural edition was held on June 12, 2005 at Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai. 335 contestants attempted the quiz. Anustup Datta, a quizzer from Bangalore, took the title in a closely fought contest.

1. Anustup Datta (Bangalore) 60

2. Rajiv Rai (Chennai) 59

3. Gopal Kidao (Chennai) 59

4. Vikram Joshi (Mumbai) 58

5. Debashree Mitra (Bangalore) 58

2006

Three new venues (Pune, New Delhi and Kolkata) were added during this edition). 350 contestants attempted the quiz. The overall winner, across the eight venues, was the Chennai-based quizzer Swaminathan G., who appeared for the quiz from Kolkata.

1. Swaminathan G (Kolkata) 75

2. Saranya Jaikumar (Chennai) 70

3. Jayashree Jayakar Mohanka (Kolkata) 69

4. Samanth Subramanian (Chennai) 69

5. Shouvik Guha (Kolkata) 68

6. Anustup Datta (Bangalore) 68

7. Rajiv Rai (Chennai) 67

8. Aadisht Khanna (New Delhi) 66

9. Debashree Mitra (Bangalore) 59

10. Suresh Ramasubramaniam (Chennai) 54

2007

Bhubaneshwar was added to the list of venues in the third edition of MahaQuizzer. 426 contestants attempted the quiz. Samanth Subramanian from Chennai won the title.

1. Samanth Subramanian (Chennai) 71

2. Saranya Jayakumar (Chennai) 68

3. Swaminathan G (Chennai) 68

4. Jayashree Jayakar Mohanka (Kolkata) 67

5. Anustup Datta (Bangalore) 67

6. Shouvik Guha (Kolkata) 66

7. Debashree Mitra (Bangalore) 65

8. Rajiv Rai (Mumbai) 64

9. Gopal Kidao (Chennai) 64

10. Vinoo Sanjay (Chennai) 61

2008

A new team of question-setters was nominated after the prior team announced its decision to retire. The contest was held in 9 cities on 18 May 2008. 366 contestants attempted this quiz, which was won by Arul Mani from Bangalore.

1. Arul Mani (Bangalore) 99

2. Shouvik Guha (Kolkata) 88

3. Anustup Datta (Bangalore) 85

4. Rajiv Rai (Mumbai) 81

5. Jayashree J Mohanka (Kolkata) 81

6. Dr. S. Bhattacharya (Delhi) 74

7. Adittya Nath Mubayi (Delhi) 73

8. G Swaminathan (Chennai) 73

9. Kiran Vijayakumar (Trivandrum) 72

10. Mukund Sridhar (Mumbai) 72

2009

The fifth edition of MahaQuizzer was held on 24 May 2009. The contest was extended to four new venues in India—Guwahati, Mysore, Thrissur and Panaji—and to Singapore. 715 contestants attempted the quiz. Anustup Datta, the 2005 champion, was adjudged the winner.

1. Anustup Datta 90

2. Shouvik Guha 89

3. Adittya Mubayi 88

4. Mukund Sridhar 84

5. Samanth Subramanian 84

6. Swaminathan G 83

7. Rajiv Rai 83

8. Navin Jayakumar 78

9. Aniruddha Sen Gupta 78

10. Vinoo Sanjay 77

2010

The sixth edition of MahaQuizzer was held on 30 May 2010. Coimbatore was added as a venue, bringing the number of host-cities to 14. 700 contestants attempted the quiz. Shouvik Guha of Kolkata won the 2010 title.

1. Shouvik Guha 88

2. Mukund Sridhar 84

3. Rajiv Rai 83

4.Jayashree Jayakar Mohanka 83

5. Samanth Subramanian 76

6. Anustup Datta 76

7. Swaminathan G 76

8. Dr. S.Bhattacharya 75

9. Sreeram B 75

10. Ravi Mundoli 73

2011

The seventh edition of MahaQuizzer --put together by a new team of setters--was held on 29 May 2011. 750 contestants attempted the quiz from 14 cities across India. Arul Mani of Bangalore won the 2011 title.

1. Arul Mani 86

2. Anustup Datta 84

3. Swaminathan G. 81

4. Shouvik Guha 78

5. Srikant Parameswaran 78

6. Samanth Subramanian 78

7. Jayashree Jayakar Mohanka 76

8. Rajiv Rai 75

9. Harikrishnan Menon 73

10. Lathish V. 72