FelixArg's blog

By FelixArg, 6 weeks ago, translation, In English

Neapolis University Pafos

Hello Codeforces!

The series of Educational Rounds continues thanks to the support of the Neapolis University Pafos.

On Apr/21/2026 17:35 (Moscow time) Educational Codeforces Round 189 (Rated for Div. 2) will start.

This round will be rated for the participants with rating lower than 2100. It will be held on extended ICPC rules. The penalty for each incorrect submission until the submission with a full solution is 10 minutes. After the end of the contest, you will have 12 hours to hack any solution you want. You will have access to copy any solution and test it locally.

You will be given 6 or 7 problems and 2 hours to solve them.

This round is based on problems from the 2026 Tula Open Programming Championship.

The problems were invented and prepared by basalov_yurij, BledDest and me.

I would also like to thank the other problem authors of the championship: ashmelev, Galina_Basalova, Rudom71 and my-maxi-box. Thank you, it is a pleasure working with you!

Many thanks to the round coordinator, Ivan BledDest Androsov, for improving the quality of the problems and helping with their preparation.

Big thanks to our testers: 300iq, awoo, l-_-l, FairyWinx, Kirilliym, soup, Minder, KIRIJIJI, pusheen_1024, annasa, Sayleyd, dan00ile, egor4444ik, slash0t, tic_genie, alexanderanchishkin, vkotov, adedalic, Neon for their valuable advice and suggestions!

And of course, huge thanks to Mike MikeMirzayanov Mirzayanov for great systems Polygon and Codeforces.

Our friends at Neapolis University Pafos also have a message for you:

CSAI: First admission deadline approaches — April 28, 2026.

Apply for the BSc in Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence at the Neapolis University Pafos. Up to 40 full scholarships, provided by the JetBrains Foundation, are available this year.

Key Dates
  • Application Deadline: April 28, 2026, 11:59 pm UTC
  • Mandatory Entrance Test: May 3, 2026
A great opportunity: ACTS 2026.2 Camp

To improve skills and prepare for intense programs like CSAI, we encourage applying for the ACTS 2026.2 Camp in Germany (July 10-20, 2026).

  • Tracks: Competitive Programming and Software Engineering.
  • Registration Deadline: April 25th.

Ready to advance your coding journey? Join a leading computer science community today! Apply now and visit our dedicated pages for more details on how you can get involved.

Good luck to all the participants!

upd: The editorial can be found here.

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By FelixArg, 3 months ago, translation, In English

Thank you for participating! We hope you enjoyed the problems.

2197A - Friendly Numbers

Tutorial
Solution

2197B - Array and Permutation

Tutorial
Solution

2196A - Game with a Fraction

Tutorial
Solution

2196B - Another Problem about Beautiful Pairs

Tutorial
Solution

2196C1 - Interactive Graph (Simple Version)

Tutorial
Solution

2196C2 - Interactive Graph (Hard Version)

Tutorial
Solution

2196D - Double Bracket Sequence

Tutorial
Solution

2196E1 - Fuzzy Concatenation (Easy Version)

Tutorial

2196E2 - Fuzzy Concatenation (Hard version)

Tutorial
Solution

2196F - Indivisible

Tutorial
Solution

For those who come after.

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By FelixArg, 3 months ago, translation, In English

Hello, Codeforces!

sevlll777 and I are glad to invite you to participate in Codeforces Round 1079 (Div. 1) and Codeforces Round 1079 (Div. 2). Both rounds will take place at Feb/11/2026 17:35 (Moscow time). There will be 6 problems in each round, some of them can be divided into several subtasks. You will have 3 hours to solve all the problems. The round will be held according to the Codeforces rules and will be rated for both divisions.

At least one problem will be interactive, so we highly recommend to read guide for interactive problems before the contest.

We would like to thank:

UPD 1: The score distribution is as follows:

  • Div. 1: $$$500 - 750 - (750 + 750) - 2250 - (2000 + 1000) - 3500$$$
  • Div. 2: $$$500 - 1000 - 1250 - 1500 - (1500 + 1500) - 4000$$$

UPD 2: Editorial

Wishing everyone good luck and high ratings!

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By FelixArg, history, 12 months ago, translation, In English

Thank you for participating! I hope you enjoyed the problems.

2111A - Energy Crystals

Idea: FelixArg

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

2111B - Fibonacci Cubes

Idea: FelixArg

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

2111C - Equal Values

Idea: BledDest

Tutorial
Solution (awoo)

2111D - Creating a Schedule

Idea: FelixArg

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

2111E - Changing the String

Idea: FelixArg

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

2111F - Puzzle

Idea: FelixArg

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

2111G - Divisible Subarrays

Idea: FelixArg

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)
Solution (awoo)

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By FelixArg, history, 12 months ago, translation, In English

Neapolis University Pafos

Hello Codeforces!

The series of Educational Rounds continues thanks to the support of the Neapolis University Pafos.

On Jun/03/2025 17:35 (Moscow time) Educational Codeforces Round 179 (Rated for Div. 2) will start.

This round will be rated for the participants with rating lower than 2100. It will be held on extended ICPC rules. The penalty for each incorrect submission until the submission with a full solution is 10 minutes. After the end of the contest, you will have 12 hours to hack any solution you want. You will have access to copy any solution and test it locally.

You will be given 6 or 7 problems and 2 hours to solve them.

Almost all of the problems in the round were invented and prepared by me. I would like to thank Ivan BledDest Androsov for the problem that made the round more balanced.

And once again, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the round coordinators: Ivan BledDest Androsov and Mikhail awoo Piklyaev for improving the quality of the problems and helping with their preparation.

And of course, huge thanks to Mike MikeMirzayanov Mirzayanov for great systems Polygon and Codeforces.

Good luck to all the participants!

Our friends at Neapolis University Pafos also have a message for you:

Admission to the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Bachelor’s program at Neapolis University Pafos is ongoing!

The JetBrains Foundation is offering 20 fully funded scholarships for talented first-year students.

Each scholarship covers the entire duration of the program, including tuition, accommodation, medical insurance, visa fees, and €300 per month for personal expenses.

Find out more about the CSAI program →

Good news! If you missed the first round, there’s still time to apply for the second round! Submit your documents, pass the entrance test and interview, and receive a full scholarship.

  • Application deadline – June 11, 2025
  • Entrance test – June 15, 2025 (this is the last entrance test for 2025!)

Additionally, there are 2 fully funded scholarships available for students wishing to transfer into the second year of the program (for those already studying Computer Science).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the Telegram chat or email us at nup@jetbrains.com !

UPD: Editorial is out

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By FelixArg, history, 14 months ago, translation, In English

Thank you for participating! I hope you enjoyed the problems.

2086A - Cloudberry Jam

Idea: Galina_Basalova

Tutorial
Solution (Galina_Basalova)

2086B - Large Array and Segments

Idea: FelixArg

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

2086C - Disappearing Permutation

Idea: FelixArg

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

2086D - Even String

Idea: FelixArg

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

2086E - Zebra-like Numbers

Idea: FelixArg

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)
Solution (BledDest)

2086F - Online Palindrome

Idea: Valentin_E

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)
Solution (awoo)

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By FelixArg, history, 14 months ago, translation, In English

Neapolis University Pafos

Hello Codeforces!

The series of Educational Rounds continues thanks to the support of the Neapolis University Pafos.

On Apr/03/2025 17:35 (Moscow time) Educational Codeforces Round 177 (Rated for Div. 2) will start.

This round will be rated for the participants with rating lower than 2100. It will be held on extended ICPC rules. The penalty for each incorrect submission until the submission with a full solution is 10 minutes. After the end of the contest, you will have 12 hours to hack any solution you want. You will have access to copy any solution and test it locally.

You will be given 6 problems and 2 hours to solve them.

The round is based on the problems from the Open Championship of Karelia in competitive programming.

The problems were invented and prepared by Galina Galina_Basalova Basalova, Valentin Valentin_E Ermishin, Lev robotolev Provotorin and me.

I would like to thank the authors of the championship problems whose tasks were not included in the final set for the round: Ruslan r314 Alkin, Yuriy basalov_yurij Basalov, Alexey ashmelev Shmelev, and Nikolay Nicola95 Ermolin.

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the round coordinators: Ivan BledDest Androsov and Mikhail awoo Piklyaev for improving the quality of the problems and helping with their preparation.

Big thanks to our testers: Brovko, deni1000, KIRIJIJI, shnirelman, Alenochka, slash0t, LightSky, infinite_meltdown, Knh_era, M1chail, Antithesis, Kolychestiy, neohacker for their valuable advice and suggestions!

And of course, huge thanks to Mike MikeMirzayanov Mirzayanov for great systems Polygon and Codeforces.

Good luck to all the participants!

Our friends at Neapolis University Pafos also have a message for you:

Admission to the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence bachelor's program at Neapolis University Pafos is open!

The JetBrains Foundation supports this bachelor's program and offers 20 fully funded scholarships for talented first-year students. They initially announced 15 scholarships but have now increased the number to 20 to give more students the opportunity to join the program.

Each scholarship covers entire duration of the program, including tuition, accomodation, medical insurance, visa fees, and €300/month pocket money.

They are also offering now 2 fully funded scholarships for students transferring into the second year of the program.

Learn more here →

First admission round:

  • Application deadline – April 23, 2025
  • Entrance test – April 27, 2025

UPD: Editorial is out

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By FelixArg, history, 23 months ago, translation, In English

Thank you for participating! I hope you enjoyed the tasks.

One of the testers (redpanda) did a wonderful video analysis tasks A-C, I highly recommend watching it.

1982A - Soccer

Tutorial
Solution (74TrAkToR)

1982B - Collatz Conjecture

Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

1982C - Boring Day

Hint 1
Hint 2
Tutorial
Solution 1 (FelixArg)
Solution 2 (74TrAkToR)

1982D - Beauty of the mountains

Hint 1
Hint 2
Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

1982E - Number of k-good subarrays

Hint
Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

1982F - Sorting Problem Again

Hint
Tutorial
Solution (FelixArg)

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By FelixArg, history, 23 months ago, translation, In English

Hello, Codeforces!

It's been a long journey, and I'm finally pleased to invite you to participate in our Codeforces Round 955 (Div. 2, with prizes from NEAR!), which will take place on Jun/25/2024 17:35 (Moscow time).

This round will be rated for all participants with a rating is below 2100. Participants with higher ratings can participate out of competition.

During the round, you will need to solve 6 problems. You will have 2 hours to solve them.

The problems for the round were prepared by nik1998, egor4444ik, iamdimonis and me.

We sincerely thank everyone who provided invaluable assistance in preparing this round:

We are pleased to announce that NEAR has supported the round!

NEAR was founded in 2017 by Illia Polosukhin, one of the creators of Transformers, and Alex Skidanov as an attempt to build an artificial system capable of solving competitive programming problems. You can read more about that attempt here.

Ultimately, NEAR pivoted into building a blockchain protocol, which it launched in 2020.

This year, NEAR started NEAR.AI, a new lab with a mission to build AI systems that are open and available to everyone, instead of being controlled by a few mega-corporations.

One of the areas of focus is making models capable of reasoning reliably, and for that, competitive programming problems provide a great environment. To help us build it, we invite all the Russian-speaking members of the Codeforces community with a rating of Specialist or higher (1400+) to help us annotate step-by-step explanations of solutions to competitive programming problems. We want to annotate a very large set of problems of all difficulty levels, and pay relatively high rewards in NEAR per annotation. Don't speak Russian but speak English? Stay tuned here, we will be launching the same project for English-speaking people very soon, and will likely sponsor another round when it happens.

The round also features prizes in NEAR. Participants who rank in the top 16 will receive Ⓝ 16 each. The next 32 participants in the overall ranking (including unofficial participants) will receive Ⓝ 8 each. The following 64 participants will receive Ⓝ 4 each; the subsequent 128 participants will receive Ⓝ 2 each, and finally, the next 256 participants will receive Ⓝ 1 each.

Additionally, 64 random participants from the top 4096 in the overall ranking will each receive Ⓝ 4.

Score distribution: $$$500\,—\,1000\,—\,1000\,—\,1750\,—\,2500\,—\,3000$$$

Wishing everyone good luck and high ratings!

UPD: Let's continue the series of announcements with a photo of the authors :)

UPD 2: Editorial!

UPD 3: Congratulations to the winners!

Div 1:

  1. tourist

  2. jiangly

  3. SSerxhs

  4. kizen

  5. potato167

Div 2:

  1. lunchbox

  2. _JiaY19_

  3. gxy001

  4. _DongY19_

  5. Muelsyse_sep005

UPD 4: Wonderful video analysis of A-E tasks. Thank you, Shayan!

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