Exposing a Cheater in Contest \
It has come to my attention that a participant in a recent Codeforces contest may have engaged in cheating by having a higher-rated user submit solutions on their behalf. This behavior not only violates the spirit of fair competition but also undermines the integrity of the platform. I believe it is important to bring this to light with the evidence I have gathered.
The Evidence
During Contest Codeforces Round 970 (Div. 3), user aryxn5 achieved a significantly higher rank than usual. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the solution submitted for Problem A (and other problems) was identical to that of another user sparsh_16, who has a considerably higher rating and experience in competitive programming.
The suspicious points are as follows:
- Both users submitted the exact same solution for multiple problems
- The coding style, variable names, and even the comments were identical, which is highly unlikely unless the code was copied.
- Skipped Submissions: In the last contest Codeforces Round 967 (Div. 2), aryxn5 skipped several problem submissions. This pattern is often seen when a user is waiting to receive a solution from someone else.
Comparison of Solutions
For reference, here is a comparison of the solutions submitted by the two users for Problem A:
Cheater's Submission:
