Rules

This category is only available in Russian. Switch

1. Terms and conditions

Foreign citizens who have reached the age of 18 and citizens of Russia who are at least 14 are eligible to participate in the competition.

Category problems are available in two languages: Russian and English. Competition participants are divided into three streams (Main, Juniors, and Employees).

A Main Stream Participant is a legally capable individual who has reached the age of eighteen, acts on their own behalf, holds citizenship of any country, and is not an employee of the Organizer and/or its affiliated persons during the period from September 16, 2025, to December 7, 2025. Individuals who are family members (spouses, children, etc.) of an employee of the Organizer and/or its affiliated persons involved in the organization of the Competition cannot be Main Stream Participants.

Juniors stream: minors who have reached the age of 14 and are citizens of Russia.

A Stream Participant in the "Employees" category is an individual who is employed by the Organizer and/or its affiliated persons during the period from September 17, 2025, to December 7, 2025, and is not involved in the organization of a specific Competition Track. Family members and relatives of these employees are not allowed to participate in the Competition.

All terms not defined in these rules are interpreted as in the Competition Regulations available at: https://yandex.com/cup/regulations.

2. Registration

To participate in the Competition, it is necessary to register. The Organizer reserves the right to disqualify a participant who provides knowingly false information about themselves during registration. Registration will be open until October 29, 2025, at 23:59 Moscow time (UTC+3).

After registering, the participant confirms they have read and accept the Competition Regulations available at https://yandex.com/cup/regulations and Competition Rules available at https://yandex.com/cup/rules#algorithm.

3. Round scoring system

During the tournament

The Trial and Qualification Rounds last 240 minutes each. Each problem has a limited number of attempts to solve: 100. All submitted solutions are checked during the competition. Participants submit their solutions as soon as they are ready directly in the testing system using the provided software. When submitting solutions, participants choose which compiler will be used by the testing system running Linux.

Solutions are checked by system tests that are identical for all participants and hidden from them. Checking is carried out automatically, so participant solutions must strictly adhere to the input and output file formats specified in the problem instructions. Unless otherwise specified, all input data is assumed to be correct and satisfy all constraints specified in the problem when checking solutions.

The time limit for each test and maximum permitted memory are specified in the problem instructions. If either of these limits is exceeded, the test is failed.

List of testing system verdicts

Message	Test number included?	Description	Potential reason
OK	No	Correct solution	The program works correctly in the testing system
Compilation error	No	Program compilation completed with an error	1. The program has a syntactic or semantic error; 2. Language specified incorrectly
Wrong answer	Yes	Problem solved incorrectly	1. There's an error in the program; 2. The algorithm is invalid
Presentation error	Yes	Output data can't be checked because the format is different than what's specified in the problem instructions	1. The output format is invalid; 2. The program doesn't put out a result; 3. Redundant output
Time-limit exceeded	Yes	The program exceeded the set time limit	1. There's an error in the program; 2. The solution is not effective
Memory limit exceeded	Yes	The program exceeded the set memory limit	1. There's an error in the program (for example, infinite recursion); 2. The solution is not effective
Run-time error	Yes	The program finished with a non-zero return code	1. Execution error; 2. A program in C or C++ doesn't end with `return 0`; 3. A non-zero return code is specified explicitly

In the event of a Compilation error, the solution will not be checked on any of the tests and the participant will be informed about the error immediately. This attempt will not be taken into account when calculating penalties. In the event of Run-time error, Memory limit exceeded, and Time-limit exceeded errors, program output is not checked.

Repeated submission of identical solutions is not permitted.

Calculation of interim and final results

Participants are ranked based on the number of points scored. Participants who have scored the same number of points are ranked by the time of the last submission that strictly increased their score.

Problem solution time is counted in seconds from the start of the competition until the moment the first problem solution is submitted that earns the most points.

Solutions that earned no points by the end of the competition are not taken into account when calculating the time.

The table with current results displays the number of points scored by the participant for the problem. Problems may contain several groups of tests. A participant's solution earns points for a group of tests if it successfully passes all tests in the group. The number of test groups and potential points for each group are specified in the problem instructions. Points earned for different test groups are totaled together.

The table with final round results will be frozen one hour before the competition ends. The decision on winners will be made after additional verification based on final results.

4. The Competition Structure

The competition is held in three rounds:

The Trial Round will start on October 20, 2025, at 12:00 and end on October 29, 2025, at 23:59. During this period, each registered participant can start at a time that is convenient for them. The duration of the round is 240 minutes. The start time is indicated in Moscow time (UTC+3). Participation in the Trial Round is optional and does not affect the tournament table.
The Qualification Round of the Competition will be held on November 2, 2025, starting at 5:00 p.m. Moscow time. The round will last 240 minutes. The result of the Qualification Round will be determined by two values: points for solved problems and penalty time. A participant will rank higher in the final table if they have more points, taking penalty time into account. If participants have the same number of points, the participant with less problem-solving time will rank higher.

Rule on proctoring of the qualification stage and submission of recordings to the organizers

General provisions:
- This rule establishes the requirements for participants who are applying to advance to the final stage of the Competition.
- The rule is mandatory for all Competition participants who wish to advance to the final.
Proctoring requirements:
- Participants applying to advance to the final must use a proctoring system during the qualification stage.
- The proctoring system must ensure the integrity and transparency of the qualification stage by monitoring the participant and their surroundings while completing the problems.
Recording and submission of materials:
- During the qualification stage, the proctoring system must record the entire process of completing the problems. The recording must include video materials showing the participant, their computer screen, and the surrounding area.
- After completing the qualification stage, the participant must upload the recording to a convenient platform (for example, cloud storage or YouTube).
- The participant must ensure that the recording quality allows the organizers to view it without difficulty and verify compliance with the Competition rules.
Participant responsibility:
- Participants are responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of the proctoring system and the quality of the submitted recording.
- Failure to comply with the requirements of this rule may result in disqualification from the Competition.
Organizers’ rights:
- The organizers have the right to verify the integrity of the recording and the compliance of the qualification stage conditions with the Competition rules.
- If violations or discrepancies are detected, the organizers have the right to request additional information from the participant or disqualify them from the Competition.
The announcement of the participants advancing to the final will be made by November 10, 2025.
The Final Round will be held from December 5 to December 7 in Istanbul, Turkey. During the finals, all participants start at the same time and have a total of 300 minutes to solve problems. The prize pool will be distributed among participants of the final round. The five participants from the Main Stream and three participants from the Junior Stream with the best results will receive monetary prizes.

The Organizer reserves the right to invite additional participants to the final round if any of the selected participants opt out. Additional participants are selected based on the results of the semi-finals.

5. Prizes

More information about prizes is available in the Competition Regulations https://yandex.com/cup/regulations.

This category is only available in Russian. Switch