Hello Everyone!!

We, the Programming Club at IIT Madras, are excited to invite you to our upcoming event BitShift 2026, a competitive programming contest to be held on Codeforces! This event is proudly sponsored by Jane Street.

Format

The problemset will contain around 9-15 problems, each of varying difficulty. The format is similar to usual Codeforces Gym contests, ICPC style scoring with 20 minute penalty for each wrong submission. The problems will not be in any particular difficulty order, so you should attempt all the questions.

The problemset might contain interactive and communication problems, so you may need to read the guides for interactive problems and communication problems before the contest. The contest will be held on the rules of codeforces.

• Date: Saturday, 24th January, 2026
• Time: 17:00 to 19:30 IST (GMT+05:30)
• Mode: Online
• Platform: Codeforces
• Registration link: Google form
• Eligibility: Teams of 1-2 members

Please note the rule restricting AI use. If you are caught using AI, you will be disqualified from the contest.

Prizes

The total prize pool is 70,000 INR. Only teams that comprise of students enrolled in a university in India are eligible for prizes, but everyone is welcome to participate. It is mandatory to register to be eligible for prizes.

Organizing Team

The problems were authored and tested by the members of the Programming Club, IIT Madras.

Contest Coordinators: RighterTheOriginal, aryak05, Yukash

Problem Setters: RighterTheOriginal, aryak05, Yukash, ScepticallySam, Ovetsar_ilish, Madhav_AK, pvpwarrior, seeeeoh, Shubham5090

Problem Testers: RighterTheOriginal, aryak05, Yukash, ScepticallySam, Ovetsar_ilish, Madhav_AK, pvpwarrior, seeeeoh, Shubham5090, FifthYonko, Euler06, MemoryError, ArchitaB, BhaviG, P31P, Akshat_Chaplot, ElementSnow, Msptl_, V_Sathvik_Reddy, Thanatos7

Special thanks to Chahel, RedSnow389, Kolwdfurr_Rad, shreyas_bargale_1879, and reroot for testing the problems as well.

Good luck and Happy Coding!

Updates

Update 1: The Google form for registration has been added. Please note that you have to fill both registration forms to complete your registration.

Update 2: To be eligible for prizes, participants have to upload OBS recording after the contest. This is to ensure fairness and combat cheating. Please find the instructions here.

Update 3: The contest link is here. Registration on Codeforces will open 6 hours before the contest start time, and will stay open throughout the contest.

Update 4: The editorial is out.

Update 5: The results are out — congratulations to all the winners!

1. shorya1835 and AKSLEGION (team: Cult_Council_Lite)
2. SmolBrain
3. Arnav_Singhal1 and Soumil69 (team: TOURISTS)
4. sai-17 and aru123 (team: Indori poha)
5. BiggestOtaku and a.out (team: My Party Told Me I Was Useless Because I Only Know Brute Force, So I Learned Prefix Sums Overnight, Turned Every O(N²) Into O(N), and Became the Strongest Adventurer in the Kingdom)
6. Crick26 and sidat (team: idk)
7. JAY19 and Rudra_1232 (team: Fried)
8. Leelasai_2004 and RizzGod (team: reti(a)rds)
9. SaltyDonut and weirdflexbutok (team: blitzkrieg)
10. Jrke and Coding............ (team: chipkali)

Also, shoutout to these teams who participated unofficially:

1. Baraa-Ahmed and AbdelmagedNour (team: Ballot w 3alkm), who came 2nd in the overall standings
2. Kira_1234, who came 9th in the overall standings