YandexYandex Cup

CompetitionRegulations

Preamble

These Public Competition Regulations ("Regulations") shall govern the procedure of organization and provision of the Programming Championship public competition ("Competition").

1. Terms and Definitions

The following terms and definitions used herein have the following meanings equally applicable in the singular and plural:

  • Industrial category — the Competition categories of Backend, Frontend, Mobile development, and Analytics.
  • Competitive programming category — the Competition category of Algorithm.
  • Machine learning category — the Competition categories including tracks that will be defined by the start of the Competition.
  • Participant — a legally competent individual who has reached the age of 18, acts on their own behalf, is a citizen of any country, and has completed Competition tasks as required hereby.

    Participation in the Main Stream is not open to employees of the Organizer and/or affiliates and persons who were employees of the Organizer and/or affiliates from September 16, 2025 to December 7, 2025, as well as their family members..
  • Competition commission — a body comprised of the Organizer's employees approved by an order of the Organizer for the purpose of assessing the Results of Competition Participants.
  • Problems — requirements to the content of Results and the procedure of their delivery to the Organizer stated in these Regulations and the terms and conditions set forth in accordance with Clause 5 hereof.
  • Results — the deliverable of the Problem submitted by a Participant to the Organizer by the deadline stipulated in Clause 4 hereof.
  • Finalist — a Participant who has qualified for the Competition finals in accordance with the decision of the Competition Commission.
  • Competition winners/prize winners — Participants who have taken the top five places in each Competition categories, in accordance with the decision of the Competition Committee, whose Results are recognized as the best based on the criteria specified in the Problems.

2. Competition objectives

This is a public Competition that pursues the following socially useful objectives:

  • Support to global competitive and industrial programming.
  • Attraction of the best programmers for participation in the Competition.

This Competition does not constitute the provision of educational services by the Organizers.

3. Competition Organizer

The Competition Organizer is Yandex LLC (OGRN 1027700229193), located at (registered and actual address): 16 Lev Tolstoy St., Moscow, 119021.

The Competition Co-organizer is YandexBel LLC (State Registration Number: 191684602), located at (registered and actual address): 5 Dzerzhinskogo Avenue, Office 707, Minsk, Republic of Belarus, 220069.

4. Terms and venue of the Competition

4.1. The following terms and stages are set for the Industrial and Competitive categories of the Competition:

  • Announcement of the start of the Competition — September 16, 2025
  • Trial Round — October 20–29, 2025 (except for the Machine Learning track)
  • Qualifications — November 2, 2025 (for the Machine Learning track: October 15 to November 5, 2025)
  • Announcement of participants who advanced to the final — by November 10, 2025
  • Finals — December 5–7, 2025

4.2. The location for the trial and qualification rounds of the Competition is remote, via the Internet at the following address: https://contest.yandex.com/.

Venue for the Competition Finals: in-person in Istanbul (Turkey).

4.3. The Organizer undertakes to pay for round-trip tickets to the Competition finals venue, as well as to provide accommodation for the duration of the Competition final.

5. Informing about the terms and conditions of the Competition and result requirements

5.1. Details of the terms and conditions of the Competition and the Result criteria, requirements, and evaluation procedure are available at: https://yandex.com/cup.

5.2. The Organizer retains the right to amend these terms and conditions in accordance with the procedure established by Article 1058 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

5.3. Participants undertake not to discuss the Problems and their solutions with other Participants or third parties. Participants must complete all Problems independently. It is prohibited to publish Problem solutions on the internet or transfer them to other selection participants. During the Qualification round, Participants must take reasonable measures to protect their solutions (for example, solutions should not be stored on computers in directories accessible by other users). After the Qualification round, solutions will be checked for cheating. Participants will be disqualified or their points for individual Problems annulled in the following cases:

  • Use of multiple logins by a Participant or use of someone else's login.
  • Attempts to abuse the testing system.
  • Any disorderly actions.
  • Publication of solutions online.
  • Submission of someone else's solution, even if the other person's solution was edited or changed.
  • Transfer of a participant's decision to other participants, including unintentionally.

AI tools can only be used to search for references (basic information about the APIs of standard libraries) in the following tracks: Backend, Frontend, Mobile Development, Analytics, and Machine Learning. The use of AI tools is prohibited in the Algorithm track.

Decisions on the violation of rules are made by the Organizer independently. Participants will be disqualified even if their solution was obtained and submitted by another participant without their knowledge.

6. Competition registration procedure

6.1. Participants must register before the start of the Competition by filling out the registration form at https://forms.yandex.com/surveys/yandexcup-2025/.

6.2. Each Participant must fill out all required fields in the registration form.

6.3. Additional information to be provided by Competition Winners by request of the Organizer include:

  • Full name
  • Place of residence
  • Passport details
  • Year of birth
  • Contact phone number
  • Bank details
  • Place of employment/study
  • Profession

6.4. As part of the registration of the Participant and execution of this Regulation, the Organizer processes the personal data specified in the registration form and other personal data sent by the Participant to the Organizer to participate in the Competition under the terms of the Privacy Policy (https://yandex.com/legal/confidential). Personal data is processed to organize participation in the Competition and fulfill the Organizer's obligations in accordance with these Regulations and the law, including providing Participants with access to the competition system, processing and sending prizes to Competition Winners and Prize Winners based on Competition results, transferring personal data to third parties for the purpose of sending prizes, filing declarations with tax authorities, and paying taxes in relation to the Competition Winners and Prize Winners; posting information, including the full names, photographs, and biographies of the Finalists and Competition Winners/Prize Winners on the Organizer's website, providing feedback to Participants, and sending information messages to Participants. This consent is valid for 5 (five) years.

6.5. By registering, Participants acknowledge having read and accepted the Competition Regulations available at https://yandex.com/cup/regulations, the General Terms of the Competition https://yandex.ru/legal/competition_generalterms/, and the Competition Rules https://yandex.com/cup/rules ("Competition Rules").

6.6. After registration, Participants shall have the right to send Results to the Organizer within the terms specified in Clause 4 hereof.

6.7. During the Trial Round, Competition Participants can participate in any Competition category. Competition Participants can only participate in Qualifications and be a Finalist in one of the following categories: Backend, Frontend, Mobile development, Analytics, Algorithm, and Machine learning. If a category has multiple tracks, a Participant can only become a Finalist in one of them.

6.8. By sending Results to the Organizer, the Participant retains all intellectual property rights in relation to their Results, but grants the Organizer a royalty-free non-exclusive license to use the Results by means of reproducing, making available to the public, distributing, and modifying, including the right to publish such Results, accompany them with comments and other materials, and include them in complex or composite works for the entire duration of the exclusive rights to the Results without limitation to the area of their use.

7. Procedure for determining Winners and Prize Winners

7.1. Competition Winners and Prize Winners for each prize-winning place shall be determined by the Competition Commission by scoring based on Clause 5.1. of these Regulations. The final score shall be the sum of all points awarded by members of the Competition Commission.

7.2. Based on assessment results, the Competition Committee determines the Winners and Prize Winners. Decisions of the Competition Committee are reflected in the Competition Results Statement ("Statement").

7.3. A Participant who has been recognized two or more times as the Winner and/or Prize Winner of any categories in the Programming Contest held earlier by the Contest Organizer (except for the Algorithm category) can not be announced the Competition Winner and/or Prize Winner. There are no limits to how many times a Participant may be recognized the Winner and/or Prize Winner in the Algorithm category.

8. Summing-up Competition results

8.1. Competition results shall be summed up by posting information about the Winners at https://yandex.com/cup/ by December 15, 2025.

9. Prizes

9.1. Prizes are provided by the Competition Organizer or Co-organizer as specified in Clause 10.5 of these Regulations.

9.2. Winners, in accordance with the prize places they have taken in each of the categories, receive the following prizes:

In the Backend track:

  • FIRST PLACE — ₽500,000
  • SECOND PLACE — ₽400,000
  • THIRD PLACE — ₽300,000
  • FOURTH PLACE — ₽200,000
  • FIFTH PLACE — ₽100,000

In the Frontend track:

  • FIRST PLACE — ₽500,000
  • SECOND PLACE — ₽400,000
  • THIRD PLACE — ₽300,000
  • FOURTH PLACE — ₽200,000
  • FIFTH PLACE — ₽100,000

In the Analytics track:

  • FIRST PLACE — ₽500,000
  • SECOND PLACE — ₽400,000
  • THIRD PLACE — ₽300,000
  • FOURTH PLACE — ₽200,000
  • FIFTH PLACE — ₽100,000

In the Mobile Development track:

  • FIRST PLACE — ₽500,000
  • SECOND PLACE — ₽400,000
  • THIRD PLACE — ₽300,000
  • FOURTH PLACE — ₽200,000
  • FIFTH PLACE — ₽100,000

In the Algorithm track:

  • FIRST PLACE — ₽500,000
  • SECOND PLACE — ₽400,000
  • THIRD PLACE — ₽300,000
  • FOURTH PLACE — ₽200,000
  • FIFTH PLACE — ₽100,000

In the Machine Learning track:

  • FIRST PLACE — ₽500,000
  • SECOND PLACE — ₽400,000
  • THIRD PLACE — ₽300,000
  • FOURTH PLACE — ₽200,000
  • FIFTH PLACE — ₽100,000

9.3. Cash prizes for Winners/Prize Winners who are citizens of Russia are shown net of the personal income tax to be accrued and paid by the Organizer in accordance with Russian law. Winners/Prize Winners who are citizens of Russia shall be paid prize money in RUB to a bank account opened in Russia.

9.4. Winners/Prize Winners who are citizens of Belarus may be paid, upon their written request, the cash prize in Belorussian Rubles to a bank account opened in Belarus at the exchange rate established by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation on the payment date.

9.5. Winners/Prize Winners who are citizens of Kazakhstan may be paid, upon their written request, the cash prize in Tenge or USD to a bank account opened in Kazakhstan at the exchange rate established by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation on the payment date.

9.6. Winners/Prize Winners who are citizens of a country other than Russia, Belarus, or Kazakhstan, and who are not subject to Clauses 9.3–9.5, the cash prize will be paid in USD at the exchange rate set by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation on the payment date.

10. Procedure for receiving prizes

10.1. The prizes specified in Clause 9.2. hereof shall be delivered by the Competition Organizer to the Winners/Prize Winners by wire transfer using the bank details specified by the Winners/Prize Winners.

If the Winner is a resident for tax and currency purposes in accordance with Russian law, then the Prize payment will be made by the Organizer in RUB at the exchange rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation set on the payment date.

If the Winner is not a resident for tax and currency purposes in accordance with Russian law, then the Prize payment will be made by the Organizer in USD.

10.2. To receive a prize, each Winner/Prize Winner shall submit the following documents:

  • A scanned copy of their passport or other ID
  • A scanned copy of the certificate of registration of the individual with the tax authorities at the place of their residence in Russia (if applicable)
  • Bank details
  • Acceptance of the Competition terms and conditions (as per the form prepared by the Organizer)

10.3. If necessary, the Organizer may request additional documents from Winners/Prize Winners in accordance with tax legislation.

10.4. To receive a prize, the Winner/Prize Winner must fill out the form provided by the Organizer and attach all required documents. The form must be submitted on or before December 20, 2025. The prize amount shall be paid to the Winner/Prize Winner within 90 (ninety) calendar days from the date when the Contest Organizer receives the completed form with all required documents attached. If the Winner/Prize Winner fails to submit the completed form and documents specified herein by December 20, 2025, the Winner/Prize Winner will be denied their right to the cash prize.

10.5. If the Winner is a citizen of Belarus, the prizes will be awarded by the Co-organizer according to the following procedure:

10.5.1. Prizes are awarded in accordance with the local regulations of the Co-organizer.

10.5.2. The prize amount is specified in Clause 9.2. of this Regulation in RUB before income tax at the exchange rate of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus on the payment date. In the event the prize is paid by the Co-organizer, the Winner has no right to demand repeated payment of the prize amount from the Organizer.

11. Final provisions

11.1. The Competition is organized in accordance with Russian law. This Competition does not constitute the provision of educational services.

11.2. Registration of a Participant in accordance with the procedure established by Clause 6.1. hereof means their unreserved acceptance of all terms and conditions of the Competition, the Competition Rules, and these Regulations.

11.3. In all other respects that are not regulated hereby by the Regulations and Competition Rules, the parties shall be guided by Russian law.

11.4. All disputes or differences arising in connection with the organization and holding of the Competition shall be settled by negotiation. Any disputes that are not settled by negotiation shall be subject to settlement by a justice of the peace of Judicial District No. 365 of the Khamovniki District of Moscow or in the Khamovniki District Court of Moscow (depending on the rules for determining exclusive jurisdiction established by Russian law).