Hi guys,

The ACM ICPC Kanpur Online Round that took place on CodeChef has now ended.

A total of 224 teams of 2 & 3 individuals each registered for the competition and here are the  key statistics for the event:

The final team rankings can be found here.

A more detailed ranking table is available here.

The final list of teams that will make it to the onsite round of the Kanpur competition will be declared In the latter half of the coming week following a more rigorous inspection.

Congratulations to you all!

The problems have now been transferred to the practice section so you can all try your hand at it now.

Cheers,

Team CodeChef

Comrades of code!

I bring you news at this ungodly hour, for it is news worth knowing!

The October Cook-off, 2011, concluded an hour ago.

It started amidst great confusion and borderline panic, because of a lot of carelessness from our side. Problems weren’t visible, the problem statements weren’t updated, the Time Limits were messed up… I think it’s better if you don’t know too much.

For this mishap, we truly apologise. Firstly, to our problem setter and tester, Anton Lunyov and David Stolp. They penned the entire contest from scratch, and our mistakes jeopardized a good fifteen minutes of it. They are not to blame.

We’d like to thank them for what has proven to be a well-balanced set, although marginally biased again towards the mathematical spectrum of programming; sources claim our setter Mr. Lunyov likes his problems “mathy.” What do you think?

After the initial hiccups though, things at the back end stabilized, and all of us here got to witness an enjoyable latter half of the contest, as the top ranks changed a few times. We have here some screenshots that may garner your interest…

How they stood a little over an hour before the end of the contest.

Then, at 2307 hrs…

Gennady moves up to second by solving LAMQUGAM… without a penalty.

At 2313 hrs, as PERMDIG saw another successful submission…

artem_rakhov jumps into contention from 6th, just like Gennady did.

At 2325 hrs, PERMDIG saw YET ANOTHER successful submission…

Gennady solves his last problem without a penalty, takes the top spot; “what a comeback!” we exclaimed.

But, with only eight minutes to go…

EgorK reclaimed his first position with a penalty-less submission for LAMQUGAM, and deservedly took the cake.

So, as one too many penalties proved costly for Gennady, the contest drew to a close. Also, if you may have noticed above, mikhailOK managed yet another flawless submission. While scouting the top few names for plausible winners, his was the only one without any penalties. But with so little time to go, it ended at…

Notice the final submission for LAMQUGAM by KADR, who deservedly reached 7th, and our POTM laycurse, who held the record for maximum penalties in the top 10. =D

So, just as above, here are your winners:

1.  EgorK
2.  gennady.korotkevich
3.  mikhailOK
4.  artem_rakhov
5.  uwi
6.  iwiwi
7.  KADR
8.  laycurse
9.  damians
10. xcwgf666

A special mention to mikhailOK for being the only to executing a flawless competition while solving four problems. Pity you didn’t get LAMQUGAM.

The final Cook-off rankings can be viewed here.

Here are the usual statistics for the page:

The editorials for all problems can be viewed here.

Once again, sincere apologies to the problem setter and tester, and to all the participants themselves. We ask you to have faith in us. You will not be disappointed.

We hope to see you competing in the upcoming November Long Contest, which begins at 1500 hrs on the first day of the next month.

Cheers,
Adarsh Loyal,
Team CodeChef.

Greetings, CodeCheffers!

We have our Programmer of the Month for October: Hiroto Sekido.

Most of you may know him as laycurse. He has been a part of CodeChef since November 2010. Since then, he has solved 65 problems. He currently ranks 2nd in the short contest format, and 80th in the long contest format. He has recently joined the CodeChef problem setting panel as well, something we’re quite happy about.

Here’s some first-hand information about him…

Name: Hiroto Sekido
Age: 26
University: Kyoto University
User id: laycurse

- Brief introduction about yourself.

I live in Kyoto, and I am a doctoral student of Kyoto University.
My hobby is, of course, programming.
I have a great time at CodeChef, TopCoder, CodeForces and some other online judges.
Other than programming, I bought a digital single-lens reflex camera recently.
Sometimes I enjoy taking photos with the camera.

- What got you into programming?

ACM/ICPC.
It made me realise there is much pleasure in solving problems with programming.

- Have you ever wanted to be something else, apart from a programmer?

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a “HERO”.
A HERO is strong.
A HERO can survive the world.

- What would we find you doing on a Saturday evening?

if( there is a programming competition ){
go to the competition;
} else if( I am sleepy ){
go to sleep;
} else if( rand()%2 == 0 ){
go to sleep;
} else {
do something; /* for example, playing video games or a short trip in
Kyoto with new my camera */
}

- How long have you been participating at CodeChef? What brought you here?

chaemon told me about CodeChef in November 2010.
Since then, I have been participating consistently.

- Preferred language(s)?

C, C++, and Japanese.

- Programming is to you as… ? e.g. water is to life.

Programming is a part of my soul.

- Any advice you’d like to offer for other programmers?

I have only one advice.
Have fun:)

- What are your plans for the future?

I would like to attend more onsite programming events (like
TopCoder Open or Google Code Jam) as a competitor.

Cheers!
Team CodeChef.

Patrons of programming!

The October Long Contest for 2011 concluded this afternoon at 1500 hrs (IST). And what a good contest it was!

Unlike the September Challenge, there were no ties on the global as well as the Indian rank list. This is a testimony in the form of a standing ovation to the quality of the problems; for which we are profoundly grateful to the problem setters and tester.

The men responsible are Gennady Korotkevitch, Vamsi Kavala, Hiroto Sekido, Anirban Mitra, AnhDQ, Ankul Garg, and problem tester Harsha S. Thank you once again!

Now, for a special mention to our indigenous programmers: For the first time in the history of the CodeChef Long Contest, the global top-10 ranks included five Indian programmers. Seeing as all of us here at CodeChef share that nationality, we were understandably pleased. Well done guys, you make us proud.

Just a little more trivia before we move on to the lists of winners. The aggregate number of submissions this month was nearly double than that of last month’s. This may well be the result of a cleverly-crafted challenge problem, for which we have none other to thank than Mr. Korotkevitch.

The relevant statistics for this month are:

Contest Statistics:

Both average scores — for users from, and outside India — have increased. This may be due to the decrease in the overall difficulty of the contest’s problems. (That does not overrule the possibility that the average intelligence of the participants was higher. )

Anyway, without further ado, here are your twenty distinct winners for October:

India:

1.   rudradevbasak
2.   pragrame
3.   balakrishnan_v
4.   utkarsh_lath
5.   Johar
6.   architk
7.   rishabhm
8.   theicebreaker
9.   ron
10. gurpreet_09

Rest of the World:

1.    prgobet
2.   nevidomy
3.   anton_lunyov
4.   cgy4ever
5.   raveman
6.   lutyj
7.   fandes
8.   todo
9.   tanzaku
10. abkqz

That is all for now. Congratulations to all, once again.

If you haven’t yet checked out the editorials for this contest, you can do so here.

We’re running a 2.5-hour Cook-off on Sunday, the 23rd of October. The intensity begins at 2130 hrs, so be there!

Cheers,
Team CodeChef.