Hey all, TCO Semifinals is scheduled to start at 11:00 UTC-5 on November 17, 2022 (about 20 minutes from the time of this post). The list of finalists can be found here.

Check out the live broadcast on Youtube featuring tourist, ecnerwala, neal, and myself on commentary!

Hey all!

After seeing a few of these make the rounds, I've been inspired to do my own. I'll check in when I can over the next few days and answer any q's you might have. Ask me anything!

A little bit about me: I grew up in Louisiana and started competing in math and programming contests early on. I eventually competed on the US IOI team as well as the Harvard ICPC team and I'm now cofounder of a company called Lunchclub (we're hiring!)

Hey all,

I've posted my screencast and commentary of yesterday's Kickstart 2020 round B. Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP74zQ0ZmRM

BTW, stay tuned for the return of Lockout streams in the coming weeks! :)

Hey all!

We've created a new 1v1 programming contest format: Lockout. Like in most contests, each round has a set of problems and contestants work to solve them as quickly as they can. In Lockout, however, contestants compete head-to-head and only the first contestant to solve each problem gets the points. Contestants can work on problems in any order, so speed and strategy are crucial to avoid getting sniped! The head-to-head action also makes the contest much more exciting for viewers.

We ran the first edition of Lockout at TCO Finals last month as a double-elimination bracket tournament. All of the finalists who were available competed (and even some of the problem writers) and we got to see a lot of exciting back-and-forth matches! As you can see though, there's still one set left to play. So we'll be streaming Grand Finals of Lockout 0 featuring tourist vs. Um_nik at 9:30 AM PST, right after the end of Good Bye 2019 on Sunday. Tune in at twitch.tv/ttocs45 to see the finals with live commentary from myself and ecnerwala! We'll watch the screens and scoreboard live, talk to tourist and Um_nik to hear their strategies, and even have a special exhibition match afterwards. :)

The finals will feature five problems with the following scoring: 100 — 200 — 300 — 400 — 500. There are 1500 points total, so the first person to get 800 or more points will be the winner. What strategies would you try? Start with A and B, then jump to E if you get them both? Or start with E, and try to win outright with either C or D afterwards? Read all the problems first and then choose a strategy based on what your opponent solves first? Let us know your thoughts!

Hey all!

We'll be running ICPC Connections this year at World Finals! ICPC Connections is powered by Lunchclub and is a way for contestants, coaches, and alums at World Finals to get to meet one another. We first ran Lunchclub at ICPC last year (thanks M.Mahdi for the shoutout!) and are excited to be back.

If you're in Porto this week and would be interested to meet fellow attendees, sign up at lunchclub.ai/icpc! And if you're curious to learn more about what we're working on, check out our main product here :)

Hey all, coverage of the TCO18 Algorithm Finals begins tomorrow at 12:45 CST. Check out the live broadcast on Twitch, featuring me and Lewin. Good luck to all the finalists!

Hey all! TCO 2018 algorithm onsite kicks off tomorrow with two semifinal rounds. Round 1 begins at 12:45 CST and round 2 begins at 18:45 CST. See who's in each semi here. Which pool looks tougher?

Lewin and I will be commentating both rounds live at the official broadcast on Twitch. Swing by to watch the rounds with us! We'll be talking through the problems and watching the scoreboard and will finish each round with a post-match interview of some of the contestants. See you there -- let us know who you want to see advance to the finals!

We're back! ecnerwala and I will be streaming tomorrow right after CF Round #493 ends -- 9:10 UTC-7. We'll also be calling in 300iq to hear his thoughts on the contest.

Check out https://www.twitch.tv/ttocs45 to discuss the problems and watch system testing with us!

Hey all! ecnerwala and I will be streaming tomorrow right after the conclusion of CF round #492 -- 11:40 UTC-7. Come by https://www.twitch.tv/ttocs45 to discuss the problems and watch the system testing with us!

It's that time again! stevenkplus and I will be streaming on https://www.twitch.tv/ttocs45 at 21:00 UTC-7 (5 hours from the time of this post). Let us know here or in chat if you have any questions!

Hey all,

stevenkplus and I are doing another livestream on Twitch! We'll be on https://www.twitch.tv/stevenkplus at 11:00 UTC-7 (approximately 9 hours from this post) speed-solving problems and talking algos. See you there!

Hey all!

For the past few months, vnovakov and I have been working on a product called Lunch Club that connects people algorithmically in cities and events around the world. We'll be running Lunch Club at ICPC WF this week as a way for contestants and alums to get to meet one another. Lunch Club will be making matches for 1:1 lunches Monday and Tuesday at the hotel. If you're at ICPC and are interested in meeting cool people, sign up here!

Hello everyone!

The final round of the 8VC Venture Cup will be held on Feb/28/2016 18:10 (UTC). ecnerwala and I are the problem setters. We want to thank GlebsHP and vnovakovski for help in preparing the contest, stella_marine for fixing the statements, and MikeMirzayanov for creating the Codeforces platform.

The contest is by invitation only to the top 200 contestants and top local contestants from Round 1 and contains six problems. We will also hold rated, out-of-contest participation for both div1 and div2 contestants — all three groups will feature slightly different problemsets. Local contestants will compete onsite in Silicon Valley. OpenGov, one of the featured 8 | VC companies, has been generous to host this competition at their offices; see more details about this awesome company below:

OpenGov transforms the way the world analyzes and allocates public money. With more than 700 government customers across 45 states in a rapidly expanding network, OpenGov is the market leader in cloud-based financial intelligence, budgeting, and transparency for government. The OpenGov platform transforms government financial data into intuitive, interactive visualizations for both internal government users and citizens.

ABOUT 8 | PARTNERS

8 | Partners, which consists of Joe Lonsdale (co-founder of Palantir) and his core team from Formation | 8, is a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that invests in industry-transforming technology companies. The team's investment portfolio includes companies such as those featured below, and a host of other top technology platforms that leverage modern algorithms and data science to power their core business processes. If you are interested to connect, please take a look at http://www.codeforces.com/8vc/apply.

PRIZES

• Overall 1st place — $2500
• Overall 2nd place — $1000
• Overall 3rd-5th places — $500 each
• Overall 1-50th place — t-shirts with 8 | VC and company logos
• Local Winner — Dinner with Joe Lonsdale (founder of Palantir, Addepar, & 8 | Partners) and other Silicon Valley technologists
• Local top finishers — Opportunity to meet with leadership from 8 | VC portfolio companies

The scoring distribution will be standard for all three divisions: 500 — 1000 — 1500 — 2000 — 2500 — 3000

Good luck!

UPD: Due to onsite awards presentation, we will hold final system testing until around one hour after the end of the contest.

Congratulations to the top overall contestants:

1. tourist
2. Egor
3. ikatanic
4. enot110
5. DemiGuo

As well as the top onsite contestants:

1. winger
2. waterfalls
3. KADR

Editorial can be found here.

Thanks for participating!

Hello everyone! The first round of the 8VC Venture Cup will be held on Saturday, February 13th at 12:35PM EST. ecnerwala and I are the problem setters. We want to thank GlebsHP for his help in preparing the contest, Delinur for translating the problems, and MikeMirzayanov for creating the Codeforces platform

The contest is for competitors in both divisions and contains seven problems. The scoring distribution is as follows:

500 — 750 — 1000 — 1500 — 2000 — 2500 — 3000

The contest will be slightly longer than usual — two and a half hours. The top 200 contestants will advance to the final round, and the top 20 local finishers will be invited to Woodside, CA to compete onsite. Good luck!

UPD: System testing is now over. Congratulations to the top contestants:

1. Petr
2. jqdai0815
3. ilyakor
4. bmerry
5. Errichto

The top 200 contestants will advance to the final round in two weeks. Congratulations!

The editorial can be found here.

Hey Codeforces!

I’ve worked with Addepar and the broader 8 | family of companies in Silicon Valley throughout 2014 and 2015, and it’s been an excellent experience. I would encourage everyone in the community to learn more about the great work that these companies are doing and I’m happy to announce that 8 | Partners will be hosting the 8 | VC VentureCup on Codeforces! It’ll be a fun contest and I’ve worked on the problems along with a few competitive programmers in our network. The contest will begin on February 13 and consist of two rounds.

ABOUT 8 | PARTNERS

8 | Partners, which consists of Joe Lonsdale (co-founder of Palantir) and his core team from Formation | 8, is a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that invests in industry-transforming technology companies. The team's investment portfolio includes companies such as those featured below, and a host of other top technology platforms that leverage modern algorithms and data science to power their core business processes.

SELECT 8 | FEATURED COMPANIES

If you’re interested in job opportunities with these companies or others in the 8VC portfolio, contact us below!

THE CONTEST

The contest will occur in two rounds:

Round 1 is online and takes place on February 13. Round 1 follows regular Codeforces rules and consists of 7 problems. For this round, the complexity of the problems will be comparable to a regular Codeforces round. There are no eligibility restrictions to participate in the round.

Round 2 takes place on February 28, consists of 5 problems, and uses regular Codeforces rules. The complexity of the problems is higher than a regular Codeforces round. We will invite the top 20 local finishers in Round 1 to Woodside, CA to compete in Round 2. In addition, we will invite the top 200 overall finishers to compete online.

PRIZES

• Overall 1st place — $2500
• Overall 2nd place — $1000
• Overall 3rd-5th places — $500 each
• Overall 1-50th place — t-shirts with 8 | VC and company logos
• Local Winner — Dinner with Joe Lonsdale (founder of Palantir, Addepar, & 8 | Partners) and other Silicon Valley technologists
• Local top finishers — Opportunity to meet with leadership from 8 | VC portfolio companies

Good luck!

On a more serious note, the rating system on Codeforces still has major issues. The top ratings continue to inflate heavily, and if anything it seems that volatility has only increased (subscriber gained almost 200 points for winning yesterday's contest when previous round-winners near the top ten would earn less than 100. Would tourist just lose 300+ points for another performance like his last? :P). Why was the system changed so significantly? Are these the results that we expected to see?

Hey all,

Quick heads up that Vladimir Novakovski (IOI '01 Silver) will be giving a Quora AMA-style session here -- he has a ton of experience in both software and finance, and in particular has hired a lot of top competitive programmers into various roles. The session starts in about fourteen hours. Feel free to ask any questions that come to mind!

Hi everyone! Addepar will be hosting an 8-hour long contest on Friday, June 27th at 4PM PDT. The contest will feature eight algorithmic problems, and prizes will be awarded to the top scorers, including iPad Minis for the top five, Addepar t-shirts for the top fifty, and a free trip to California to meet with Addepar cofounder Joe Lonsdale for the winner. You can register and find out more about the contest here.

Addepar is a tech startup in Mountain View, California that is building the next generation of financial software for institutions. It’s my second month here and it’s been a lot of fun so far -- we have tough challenges to work on and a strong, friendly community. We are actively recruiting and will be in touch with the top contestants about opportunities at Addepar. See our careers page for more info!

Problems were prepared by me (scott_wu), aime15, alex_wang, srnth, and Vladimir Novakovski. Good luck! We hope you enjoy the contest. :)

P.S.: Stay tuned for a possible Codeforces Addepar contest sometime in the near future!

UPD: Congratulations to the top five contestants, who will all be winning iPad Minis:

1. Alex_2oo8
2. stevenkplus
3. random.johnnyh
4. nika
5. hogloid

Special congratulations to Alex_2oo8, who will win a free trip to Mountain View to meet with Joe Lonsdale. Thanks to everyone for participating!

The USACO February contest will run next weekend from February 7th to February 10th. The contest site can be found at usaco.org.

Good luck!

Hello everyone! Codeforces Round 174 will be held for both divisions on Sunday, March 17th at 7:30 PM MSK. The problem setters are abacadaea and me (scott_wu). We would like to thank Gerald for his help in preparing the contest and Delinur for translating the problems. We also thank MikeMirzayanov for creating such an awesome site. We are very excited as this is our first Codeforces round.

For this contest you’ll be helping Farmer John, Bessie, and the cows. We hope you enjoy the problems! :)

The score distribution will be slightly nonstandard.

Div2 — 500 — 1000 — 2000 — 2000 — 2500

Div1 — 1000 — 1000 — 1500 — 2000 — 2500

Good luck and happy coding! As always, to make the round more exciting, we recommend that you take a look at all the problems!

UPD: Our editorial can be found here. Thanks for participating!

Congratulations to the winners:

Div1

1. al13n
2. rng_58
3. HELEN_KK
4. wjmsbmr
5. bmerry

Div2

1. hockey_for_NOI
2. Efremov_licesos
3. Muali
4. koratel
5. lxfind

It seems like people with rating 1649 and lower can still register for the div1 contest? I see 2 unrated and 3 blues on the registrants list.