Chilli's blog

What will happen to ICPC World Finals due to Coronavirus?
By Chilli, history, 5 years ago, In English

As coronavirus concerns ramp up, I'm starting to become worried about what ICPC's plans for World Finals are. Many schools (Cornell, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, etc.) are all forcing students to leave campus soon.

Giving these conditions, I'm curious what plans for World Finals are going to be. Has anybody heard about any contingency plans — for example, multiple sites?

Alternatively, does anybody know if there's any precedent for what happens in this kind of event?

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5 years ago, # |
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Auto comment: topic has been updated by Chilli (previous revision, new revision, compare).

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5 years ago, # |
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Hope it's canceled or at least postponed.

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5 years ago, # |
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My coach forwarded to my team an E-mail from the ICPC manager around 5 hours ago.

Content of the E-mail
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5 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +69 Vote: I do not like it

It's certainly possible that it will be cancelled if the restrictions get serious or the infection keeps spreading too much. I hope it's not, cancellations suck.

With a huge event like ICPC, organising it on multiple sites or at a later date can be extremely difficult, especially when you know only a few months in advance, and you can't easily shift it to e.g. autumn because there's the next season to think of.

UPD: 69 upvotes, nice.

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    5 years ago, # ^ |
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    I hope it's not, cancellations suck.

    I hope we can have another IPSC before the end of the world.

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    5 years ago, # ^ |
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    Do you think there's any chance that they postpone this year's World Finals to next year, and double host both World Finals?

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      5 years ago, # ^ |
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      10 hours for a 20-problem problemset, maybe we can actually try that.

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      5 years ago, # ^ |
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      Nope. Still logistically killer.

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      5 years ago, # ^ |
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      Sounds as a bad outcome to me. Most people's situation can change drastically during a year.

      Some students might even not be students any more.

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5 years ago, # |
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While all of the participants have now been sent a mail about Coronavirus, I think it's possible to host it locally as well — similar to what the IMO 2020 committee is planning for a contingency. This of course takes away from the whole experience of the world finals, but I feel it's better than having it cancelled completely.

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5 years ago, # |
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I will not participate anymore, so I hope that nothing will be canceled.

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5 years ago, # |
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At this point, it looks like our university won't let us travel internationally during the summer whether World Finals is cancelled or not. This is probably similar for other teams. It's beginning to feel more and more likely that they are going to have to cancel the event especially if many teams cannot attend.

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5 years ago, # |
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Another update:

We strongly recommend that you do not purchase air tickets to Moscow at this time.

It is our intention to deliver the ICPC 2020 World Championship to the World Finalists. Our preference is to do so in Moscow as planned when safe, permissible travel resumes. We continue to explore other options including delivering some activities digitally and alternative scheduling. We are committed to “put people first, with students first among people”.

Preparations continue for the World Finals in Moscow. The Russian Federation Ministry of Digital Development has joined MIPT and ICPC volunteers to assure success. The Russian Federation Foreign Ministry has offered 5-day visa processing for all invited guests.

We will post an update no later than March 31. In the meantime, let’s do all we can to contain the risk of COVID-19 within our communities. Please stay safe.

Best,

Dr. William B. Poucher, Ph.D.

ICPC Executive Director

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5 years ago, # |
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It seems like world finals isn’t happening this year, given the current signs. I wonder what will happen to people like me, who wouldn’t be eligible for WF 2021. Oh, well.

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    5 years ago, # ^ |
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    I don't think this is a problem. A lot of teams that had visa problems for South Dakota/2017 were invited to Beijing/2018 even if they weren't eligible.

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      5 years ago, # ^ |
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      Did it happen to have 2 teams from the same university in WF in this occasion in 2018?

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        5 years ago, # ^ |
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        I don't recall this happening, but definitely it is the type of rule that can be bypassed in such extraordinary situation.

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        5 years ago, # ^ |
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        Yes, Sharif University of Technology were represented by two teams on WF 2018.

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      5 years ago, # ^ |
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      Are they going to double the number of team participating in WF in 2020 then?

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        5 years ago, # ^ |
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        Well, actually they want to half number of teams, so I don't believe they'll host a WF with twice as many participants. The structure of the WF is changing a lot, toward having super regional and smaller WF, maybe they ideate a plan taking leverage of this. Hopefully it won't affect current classified teams.

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    5 years ago, # ^ |
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    Well, there is still a lot of time to go. The China has already managed to cope with this situation. Let's hope other countries can do as well.

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      5 years ago, # ^ |
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      Well. Based on historical data for pandemics of this scale, they usually last from 1 year to 2 years. I have no reason to believe that this time would be an exception. Also, I wouldn't quote figures from China if I were you. Everything is just so political in China. Especially when it comes to this kind of stuff.

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        5 years ago, # ^ |
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        Your sample size is what, 2? There are only a few "pandemics of this scale" in the era of modern medicine. Things like Spanish flu for example are already too ancient to compare with.

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          5 years ago, # ^ |
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          There are only a few "pandemics of this scale" in the era of modern medicine.

          The world doesn't seem to be any more prepared than before though. That is not going to help anyone no matter which era it is.

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            5 years ago, # ^ |
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            That's not really what I was saying. I just think that conditions in the 19th century or even earlier (not only medicine, but also society in general: how much people travel etc) to allow for meaningful comparisons.

            And I mean, it might seem that the world was unprepared for this and it's probably correct as well. But there's still a lot that you simply take for granted. Even the existence of viruses was discovered only like 120 years ago. For example, I can't imagine how many medical workers became sick while treating patients compared to now.

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5 years ago, # |
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Asian Pacific Physicz Olympiad has been canceled, so cancelation is quite possible. I got an email from the committee saying that the final decision will be made by April 20.

Anyway, let's think positively. There are still 3 months left before the scheduled date, and we are happy if it's juat get delayed a little bit. The world still has a lot of time to kill the virus!

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5 years ago, # |
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Important Announcements:

The ICPC is rescheduling the ICPC 2020 World Finals Championship. We are targeting future dates that should not require rescheduling, well after international travel is restored. Coming this June, the ICPC plans to kick off “ICPC 2020 World Finals Week” with some online activities and events. Details will follow shortly.

An update will be published on or before April 15, 2020.

Students have worked for years for the opportunity to compete together. Year after year, the ICPC sets the mark and these students raise the bar of excellence well above the mark. The mark set for the ICPC this year is for academia, industry, and community to deliver a great personal experience for these World Finalists who have been selected from 59,000 students from over 3,855 universities that span the globe.

We are committed to “put people first, with students first among people.” With the goodwill and the good graces of academia, industry, and global community leadership, we will get it done. We look forward to visiting with you online and person-to-person, even if the ICPC 2020 World Finals competition is ultimately scheduled in 2021. We look forward to meeting you in the near future.

Best,

Bill

I'm happy with this outcome (https://mirror.codeforces.com/blog/entry/74648?#comment-587873), and far prefer this to the alternatives (cancellation, online WF).

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5 years ago, # |
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Another update by ICPC:

RE: Status of upcoming ICPC Regional Contests and the ICPC 2020 World Finals

Planning is underway for a great year of activities. ICPCers are working worldwide to schedule regional contests for 4th quarter 2020 and 1st quarter 2021. We are working to extend the Regional Contest season so that regionals can reschedule if need be.

We will extend eligibility for students whose eligibility is impacted by COVID-19. Eligibility requirements provide a process for extending eligibility. Make sure you inform your coach.

Coming this June, the ICPC will kick off “ICPC 2020 World Finals Day Zero: The ICPC Welcome!” for the ICPC 2020 World Finals participants. There will be challenges, training activities, networking opportunities, cultural activities, gaming events, and webinars where you can meet some interesting folks who are interested in you. Stay tuned!

We will roll out a calendar of activities such as “The ICPC Welcome” that can help you prepare and engage with the global ICPC Community. Look for the ICPC Foundation logo for officially sanctioned activities. Stay tuned!

The ICPC is continuing efforts to reschedule the ICPC 2020 World Finals Championship. We are targeting future dates that should not require rescheduling, well after international travel is restored.

An update will be published on or before April 30, 2020.

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5 years ago, # |
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And people told me it wasn't possible:^)

https://mirror.codeforces.com/blog/entry/74648?#comment-587873

Host MIPT and ICPC are rescheduling the ICPC 2020 World Finals for May or June of 2021 in Moscow. We are committed to give the ICPC 2020 World Finalist teams the opportunities we planned for them this year. Thank you Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology for your commitment. Make sure you all mark it on your calendar!

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    5 years ago, # ^ |
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    Back to back world finals hype! Now I just have to make it next year.

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    5 years ago, # ^ |
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    I don't know what to say now.

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    5 years ago, # ^ |
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    What the shit? When is the 2021 World Finals going to be, June 2022?

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      5 years ago, # ^ |
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      Who knows if there is the 2020-2021 season? (；′⌒`)

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4 years ago, # |
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ICPC have sent another update with the following content:

Contents of mail

It seems that the important points are — World Finals 2020 will be held in May or June 2021, World Finals 2021 will be held in third or fourth quarter of 2021, and we have a small amount of extra info on the activities that will happen starting 27th June, 2020.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
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    The most I'm happy about is they didn't scrap the ICPC even during these tough times!!

    Really appreciate it and kudos to all the organisers!!

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
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    Can someone participate in both world finals?

    2021 regionals are before 2020 world final

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
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      I think so yes, see if you already qualified for World Finals 2020 and you again happen to qualify for World Final 2021, then obviously you get to take part in both in my opinion

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
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        My teammates are participating in WF for second time but it's my first time and it means i should have different team for WF 2021

        so i'm in two different teams in same time :D

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          4 years ago, # ^ |
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          It's a very interesting situation. I mean, maybe you will have training in two teams in the same time, which is a double workload for you.

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4 years ago, # |
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Since nobody already posted: It seems we will be having a "ICPC Graph Mining Challenge" by Huawei on 27th June to kick off the World Finals 2020. Should be interesting! Here is the excerpt:

"For Graph Mining Challenge, we will offer you a computationally complex NP-hard graph algorithm problem. To solve this problem successfully, you will have to find a proper balance between computation time and algorithm precision, probably utilizing heuristic approaches."

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
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    Is the challenge only for the WF participants? I couldn't infer anything from the mail, nor could I find any link referring to the contest. Thanks for the update!

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
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      Actually, looking at http://worldfinals.icpc.global/, it says that "Anyone can take part in day zero". But I'm unsure about the exact rules (will non-WF participants be virtual? will they be eligible for prizes?).

      The mail did not clarify this point.

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
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        Oh okay thanks. Let's wait for further updates then :)

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