This weekend, the programming competition VK Cup 2017, co-hosted by the platform Codeforces, took place. 20 teams comprised of 39 participants from seven countries came to the VK headquarters in St. Petersburg to take part in the competition's final.
This is already the fourth time VK has organized the VK Cup, and for the third consecutive year, participants competed in teams of two, a format widely used throughout the world. The VK Cup was originally conceived of as a tournament for young professionals, and today the age restrictions are strictly limited to ages 14-23.
The first qualifying round was held in March, after which followed a series of Internet stages. Ultimately, the best of the best, the most talented programmers and algorithm-lovers reached the finale. Overall, the competition prize fund was 2,490,368 rubles.
CodeGame Challenge
Early in the morning on July 8th at "Singer" company headquarters, the sense of excitement, anticipation and joy permeated the air. First a practice run happened so that competitors could check computers and set up operating systems, ensuring everything would function perfectly at the main competition.
All finalists were between the ages of 17 to 23. For several of them, it was not their first competition. In fact, three world programming champions of 2016 and 2017 were on site at VK Cup.
That same day after lunch was the first competition – an informal contest called CodeGame Challenge. Participants had to work on artificial intelligences for race cars that could drive around the track and collect flags. The cars were able to ram others, regain life and shoot piles tires in such a way that tires would fly into opponents.
Three teams took the top spots with Sergey Fedorov winning first-place. A solemn awards ceremony followed in the evening after all the day's exciting races were finished.
Main Stage
Sunday morning, the main stage of the competition commenced, during which the winning team of VK Cup 2017 was determined. Competitors were required to perform seven difficult tasks, and for each solution, a team would receive a balloon, thereby making it possible to understand which team was in the lead. However, victory wasn't guaranteed as a task could be completely incorrect. This system provided finalists with a healthy dose of excitement. Organizers began evaluating results after all tasks had been submitted, during which participants were able to discuss the problems and their solutions.
After lunch was TechTalk, hosted by VK developers. Our specialists unveiled the secrets of working with the smart feed as well as neural networks, a concentration in the field of artificial intelligence, which seeks to reproduce the human nervous system.
As VK's managing director Andrey Rogozov and the director of Codeforces Mikhail Mirzayanov emphasized in their speeches to the finalists, the VK Cup's most important contribution is to the development of competitive programming in Russia.
Additionally, two active VK employees, Niaz Nigmatullin and Boris Minaev, previously won the VK Cup. VK is always open to accept new specialists, which is why this competition not only determines who is the best, but also to find new team members.
Winners
And finally, the champions of VK Cup 2017, of which there are eight teams.
- Stanislav Ershov, Aydar Sayranov (St. Petersburg)
- Vladislav Makeev, Mikhail Ipatov (Moscow)
- Vladimir Smykalov (St. Petersburg), Bohdan Pryshchenko (Lviv)
- Konstantin Semenov, Maksim Akhmedov (Moscow)
- Nikita Gaevoy (St. Petersburg), Ivan Bochkov (Izhevsk)
- Roman Bily, Vitaliy Gerasimiv (Lviv)
- Taras Savitsky, Volodimir Radyuk (Lviv)
- Roman Rubanenko (Kremenchuk), Evgeny Zadorozhny (Zaporozhye)
The prize fund of 2,490,368 rubles were split amongst the winners. The precise number was not chosen by chance, but in binary, this number is beautifully written as 1001100000000000000000.
Anyone can try to solve the tasks presented at the VK Cup Final. The Internet competition will begin very soon at 7:35 p.m. on July 11. Participants will have exactly as much time as needed to prove themselves. We will award ten gifts with VK Cup symbols to participants. Can you score more points than our winners?
Search for the task by following the link.