From the diary of the prize-winner of the first All-Russian Programming Olympiad for schoolchildren in 1989

(from Daniel Alievsky's personal archive: “The second from the left is Ilya Zhiltsov, the memory of him is bright. I stand behind him, my head is the third from the left”)

(about the Olympiad itself. First All-Russian Olympiad of Schoolchildren on Programming (Computer Science), 1989 )

At my request, Daniel ( http://algart.net ) shared his memories:
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"We, i.e. Sverdlovsk "team" of 2 people - the first two places from the regional Olympiad, Maxim Statsyuk and I - flew to Krasnoyarsk at night from March 18 to March 19, 1989. Early in the morning we finally got to the hotel. I have never been to hotels until then, I just read about them in books, and the impression of the Soviet hotel was rather heavy. But it was possible to live. There was even a toilet and shower in the room, but in general the room was designed for two. Not so bad for Soviet times! (Later, at the All-Union, I realized that it could be worse.)

The first day was spent on sleep (4 hours) and, of course, on the cards in which we used to walk with Statsyuk and the guys from other cities until half past two at night. 3.40 - all the same hang up.

Sleep, however, did not work, because from 9 am, after breakfast, it was necessary to take up business again, namely cards. Well, after 3 days we all went shopping. Krasnoyarsk is a big city, interesting for beginners. From seven in the evening to 0.30 - again cards, until we were dispersed by our leader, who brought us with Maxim from Sverdlovsk. By the way, a very nice girl, called, if I am not mistaken, Victoria Viktorovna.


The next day, March 21 (Tuesday), I still slept. Getting up at 12.30 in the morning and having lunch, went with everyone to the opening of the Olympiad, which was held at 16.00. The diary claims that there was a stupid show at the opening; well, after 25 years, I absolutely do not remember him.

But the next day, on Wednesday, there was great joy. Early in the morning my friend came, Ilya Zhiltsov. (Light to his memory; he drowned in the Black Sea about 15 years ago.) He arrived with our teacher, the head of the School of Young Mathematicians at the Ural State University, Alexander Hein.

Actually, “according to the rules,” Ilya did not go to the All-Russian Tour, as he took only 4th place at the regional Olympiad. However, he was the winner of the previous regional Olympiad and, if I am not mistaken, the winner of the previous All-Union Olympiad in Informatics, which took place in Sverdlovsk; it gave him privileges. In fact, perhaps among us he was the strongest participant; he subsequently became a very serious mathematician. At this, the All-Russian Olympiad, he also took a modest 4th place, behind me; however, after that, at the All-Union, he overtook me, again taking 4th place and receiving the first diploma, while I took only the 7th (second diploma). As a result, he still came to the First International Olympiad in Bulgaria. He then often said that the 4th was his “favorite” place. But I am running ahead.

And he arrived early in the morning, strictly speaking, because it was the day of the first round. Theoretical. So they didn’t get enough sleep again, already at 8.30 I had to go to Krasnoyarsk University, and from 9.55 to 13.55 I had to solve problems. I solved three problems out of four, and it was difficult for me. Ilya decided everything. A theoretical tour for a programming contest is still a very strange invention. There was, in particular, the task: to implement a model of colliding disks. Well, how can you do such things on paper? This is some kind of perversion. (By that time, I had the experience of solving a more complicated computer modeling problem, of course, with graphics.) Well, after lunch, we were able to give credit to the cards, this time with Ilya.

The next day, on Thursday, March 23, we were taken on a tour to demonstrate the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric station. Such is the Soviet "miracle of nature". At the same time, the nature there is really amazing. And after lunch, we were introduced to another miracle of Soviet engineering, namely, the computers of the BC 0010, which we were to deal with on a practical tour. If someone doesn’t know what it is, then thank God - I’ve never seen a more terrible monster among the staff. And to look at its screen was harmful not only for many hours, but even for one minute.

I ignored the subsequent performance in the Youth Theater, with which we wanted to be entertained, instead walked with my new friend Kolya Kozlov from Ufa towards this Youth Theater. It is always better to walk on your own, rather than build.

Friday March 24th is a hands-on tour. On these very monsters. (But they promised normal computers at that time, Yamaha.) The tasks turned out to be practically school, ordinary long integer arithmetic and analysis of primes. Even boring. Well, but after dinner, you could finally get down to business. Ilya and the guys from Chelyabinsk-70 - two boys and their leader - changed the rules of the famous game “a thousand” somewhat, so winning became extremely difficult - from time to time we went back a few hundred points (and to win, you need to score 1000 points). It was probably the longest card game in my life. Starting at 15.00, we played until 6.40 in the morning, after which I turned sour and went to sleep - but after an hour and a half I woke up and returned to the game. We finished only at nine in the morning. We had a meeting with local schoolchildren (that is, schoolchildren were showing us wonder), and then a very important thing in the life of the student is an appeal. However, she gave me, as far as I remember, nothing.

On the same day there was a ceremonial closure, where the education minister seemed to come and spoke some speeches. After that, we were able to return to the interrupted game, which we did until one in the morning.

The winner of the Olympiad was a stranger to me then a man, Belevtsev from Obninsk, who scored 120 points out of a possible 175. I scored 114 and got second place, sharing it with Maxim Plaksin from Kirov (112 points). With them and with Illya, we subsequently went to the All-Union (in total, about 20 people from the All-Russian took, as far as I remember). Maxim Statsyuk, it seems, took 17th place or something like that and also went to the All-Union; there, unfortunately, both he and Belevtsev have received almost nothing (8 points out of 50, in Plaksin 15).

I was awarded a very peculiar prize - the so-called "monocular". In fact, such a healthy half of binoculars. Apparently, the organizers did not have enough money for a whole pair of binoculars. After the Sverdlovsk Oblast, it was somehow even uncomfortable - they gave me a great radio and some good art books. However, at the All-Union gifts were even worse.

On this, our adventures could have ended, but our leader, Viktoria Viktorovna, managed to make the trip for a couple of days longer for our group of Urals people so that we could see the famous Pillars reserve. It was Sunday morning, before lunch. We rode the cable car to one of the peaks of the “Pillars” near the Yenisei. The views are truly amazing. And one of our boys, who came from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, even went without a cable car and walked the same way through the mountains himself. I could not understand how he did it - my friends and I returned to force, descending a steep slope no more than 100 meters. Alas, then I did not have the experience of walking in the mountains, acquired now and here, in Israel. After that, Ilya, Chelyabinsk, and I paid tribute to the cards, spending the next night on it until 7 am.

The next day, on Monday, we were kicked out of the hotel (our term was over), and we had to settle in a boarding school for the last night. Then I realized that the hotel - it was very good. The boarding school was provided with one giant room in which there were bunks - probably 30 pieces. Well, the cards were brightened up by the horrors of the boarding school. The next and last day of travel, Tuesday, March 28, we dedicated to shopping and maps. It is possible that it was on this day that I bought books, going to another area of ​​the city on the other side of the Yenisei - on programming and mathematical logic. I brought some of them to Israel and I still keep them. And late at night - the airport and the night plane to Sverdlovsk. "
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Daniel (@DanielAlievsky)

P.S. Daniel is ready to answer questions, if someone is generous to invite and karma