ITMO students Mikhail Perveev, Zakhar Yakovlev, and Nikita Golikov (team SPb ITMO: pengzoo) managed to solve 9 out of 12 tasks. The team is trained by Andrey Stankevich, an associate professor at ITMO’s Information Technologies and Programming Faculty and coach to several generations of ICPC champions.

“The contest went well for us and we’re happy with the results; still, it’s unfortunate that we didn’t manage to submit our solution for the geometry-based task 1. Now, we'll just train and await the upcoming finals,” comments Nikita Golikov, a member of the team and a PhD student at the university’s Institute of Applied Computer Science.

Throughout this season, ITMO University was represented in the contest by 5 teams: Cataleptodius, pengzoo, Bread for 14.5 rubles, I don't know, and KTIS. The title of ICPC Northern Eurasia’s absolute champion of 2023 went to Yolki-palki, a team from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, who managed to solve all 12 tasks. The full scoreboard can be found on the official website.

In total, the ICPC Northern Eurasia Finals involved 324 teams, with contests taking place simultaneously in St. Petersburg (Russia), Novosibirsk (Russia), Astana (Kazakhstan), and Kutaisi (Georgia). The largest venue, MTS Live Hall in St. Petersburg, played host to 152 student teams.

The regionals finals were organized by the official representative office of ICPC in Northern Eurasia, established under the aegis of ITMO University (ICPC NERC HQ).

ICPC Northern Eurasia Finals 2023 in St. Petersburg. Credit: NERCNews

ICPC Northern Eurasia Finals 2023 in St. Petersburg. Credit: NERCNews

According to the final results, at least 12 teams will represent Northern Eurasia and their universities in the next year’s world finals:

  1. MIPT: Yolki-palki (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology)

  2. HSE: Youthful Passion Fruit (Higher School of Economics)

  3. SPb ITMO: pengzoo (ITMO University)

  4. SPb SU: block of cats (St. Petersburg State University)

  5. Belarusian SU: 1: Last hope (Belarusian State University)

  6. AITU (Astana IT U): jaujurek 3 bala (Astana IT University)

  7. Yerevan SU: SD3 (Yerevan State University)

  8. MAI: 1 (Moscow Aviation Institute)

  9. Belarusian SUIR: 1: So Stuffy (Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics)

  10. Novosibirsk SU: 1: Avdim last hope (Novosibirsk State University)

  11. Skoltech: Caravella (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology)

  12. Tbilisi SU: Darwin Nunez (Tbilisi State University)

ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest) is the world’s largest and most prestigious competitive programming event. Held for over 40 years, it brings together tens of thousands of students from all over the world. Last year, just the qualifying round of the Northern Eurasia leg of the contest attracted more than 2,300 student teams.

Per the contest’s rules, participation is open to teams of three students. Their task is to solve 12 tasks of varying difficulty over the course of 5 hours. The tasks are based on real-life challenges: the teams must optimize train schedules, model air traffic control systems, optimize barrier placement, track the movements of robots, design racing tracks, model luggage collection systems for airports, assess fuel and gas reserves, and more.

In Russia, interest towards the contest arose in the mid-90s, when teams from ITMO, St. Petersburg State University, and Moscow State University were first invited to take part in regional European contests. Since then, students from ITMO University have won the title of world champions seven times – a record not beaten by any other institution.