Yandex.Algorithm 2013: new Yandex.Contest platform and TCM / Time rules

This summer, Yandex will hold a world-class competition event - Yandex. Algorithm. Thousands of talented guys from all over the world will visit our new Yandex.Contest platform, where we will offer them algorithmic tasks of very different complexity. They will be trained by professionals from Japan, Poland and Belarus.

Registration for the championship opened on May 30. And we asked one of the organizers of our championship, Alex_KPR, to tell us how Yandex.Algorithm differs from other competitions. He first wanted to talk about the rules of TCM / Time, a flexible selection system for the GP30, the House of Scientists on the banks of the Neva. And then I wondered what was so special about programming contests? And what a story he had turned out.

“Probably the earliest, brightest and indelible mark left by Google Code Jam damn it knows how old. Then I studied in the first year of university, but already many and often solved olympiad problems. It so happened that I wrote the qualifying semi-final in the summer in the village of Sedovo, on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov. Especially for this, I pulled an old laptop from my mother from work, which did not work without a battery, put a lot of money on a SIM card in order to at least sit in a terribly unstable Internet. So wrote a round. 500 participants passed, and after the announcement of the final results, I was 537th. This is the end.
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Yes, I was very upset, worried. In general, before each new contest forced the blood to boil much more than now - now, apparently, used. Everything was already forgotten, I returned to training and after about a month I accidentally opened the mail and saw a letter with the following text: “ Congratulations! The results of Google Code Jam 2008 Round 3 are now official. Out of the 11.039 global code of participants. This is a huge accomplishment! " What how? Why? Opened the results of the competition - I'm 497th!

It turned out that they banned the evil cheaters. Hooray! I'm waiting for the GCJ semi-final in Zurich! Oh, that was just the beginning of luck. I never received a visa, at that time I was practically no friend with English, and I was just about 18, so I didn’t understand the details of filling out the questionnaire at all. I was just lucky as an idiot, when I met the guys from Saratov at the embassy and found out all the details from them, having rolled up the addresses of the hotel, the contact person and other similar information. It took a long time before it came to an understanding of the importance of this meeting.

Then the plane was waiting for me. Admittedly, it was my first flight, so, despite the strict control of the crew, I quietly took out a camera and took pictures from the window. And as I tried to swap places with the Swiss before, that was screaming! The word "swap", which I knew thanks to C ++, did not help at all to resolve the situation; communication in the deaf-mute style worked much better. Rousseau tourist, face morality! Oh, how I got in the wrong place with passports, as I explained to the receptionist in Ruglish, that Google had booked a room. But all this stuff. I was waiting for an amazingly beautiful Zurich, a chic hotel and such favorite evening walks.

The atmosphere of some absolutely fantastic holiday did not leave me for a moment. It's like in the movie “Home Alone 2”, when Macaulay Culkin walked around New York, repeating “wahhhhhhh” on average three times a minute and taking pictures of the beauty of the city. Here I was just like that.



The competition went wrong, but I still felt at the height and sincerely rejoiced at the success of the partners who managed to break through to the final. In the office of Google at dinner I tried the first mango. The evening was spent in a team of Ukrainian colleagues for a mug of local beer in a post-apocalyptic pub, where a huge skeleton is chained to the ceiling.

So what's so special about programming contests? This is a fairytale. Beautiful warm fairy tale, which will forever remain with you. About which you will tell children and grandchildren, and they will listen to you carefully, smile and blink in surprise.

And just now such a fairy tale is being prepared. You understand this when you read dramatic letters from colleagues, when you hear their nervous anxious voices on the phone, when someone rushes out with a cry of “Rolled out!” -museum, you will sit at the computer next to the paintings of Serov and Aivazovsky, and during the break you will go out onto the balcony overlooking the Peter and Paul Monastery. ”

Championship Rules

Yandex.Algorithm 2013 is held according to the TCM / Time rules and consists of six rounds: test, qualification, three qualifying and final. What is TCM / Time? This is the round refereeing system, which allows you to receive a bonus for risky attempts at putting tasks "blindly." Unlike the delivery to the open, the result of which will immediately appear in the table, upon delivery "blindly" even the participant himself will not know the verdict until the very end of the competition.

To participate in Yandex.Algorithm you need to be over 18 years old, do not work in Yandex, register , and then wait for the qualification convenient for you. Registration will be open until the end of the qualifying round. The nearest test round will begin on June 27 at 21:00 Moscow time and will last 100 minutes. The next one is the qualifying round - 24 hours from 19:00 on July 8 to 19:00 on July 9 . The round is virtual, which means you can start it at any time - you will have 100 minutes to solve simple tasks. The scheme for reaching the final is quite difficult. Participants in the qualifying stage earn points according to the “Grand Prix 30” scheme. It is good because in the final there are not only the strongest contenders who are able to get into the top 4 from the first time, but also persistent participants with consistently high results.



The final competition will be held in St. Petersburg on August 21-23 at the palace of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, built in 1870 and retaining its historical originality. Now known as the House of Scientists, the palace is located in the heart of the city on the banks of the Neva River next to the Hermitage.



It houses a large collection of paintings by Russian artists and the library of Emperor Alexander II. We hope that such an incredible contrast between the venue and the theme of the competition will appeal to participants.

During the finals, the strongest algorithms of the world will be left to themselves: no Internet, no prewritten code - only clean machines with streamlined software. We will organize a bright and lively broadcast and will be with you with enthusiasm to follow the exciting struggle. Championship winners will receive cash prizes of 300, 150 and 90 thousand rubles, respectively. More details, rules, schedule and competition regulations can be found at algorithm.contest.yandex.ru .

These are the programming contests. Participate, and it will be your fairy tale.