Just Before the ACM-ICPC World Finals: A Direct Speech

16:18, May 14, 2012

Before the departure to ACM-ICPC World Finals in Warsaw, UrFU team gave a short interview

Before the UrFU IMCS team depature for Warsaw we talk to them. First of all, we asked several questions to Magaz Asanov, director of department of Mathematics, Mechanics and Computer Sciences.  

- How difficult is it to prepare a strong student team in programming?..

- A hard question. In fact, the training is based upon three cornerstones: a gift, a general training, and a special training. The gift is the something pre-given. The general training is the teaching process in the department as a whole, while the special training means some extra work in a specific area. I don’t train the teams, indeed! My credit is in the general environment which allows the students to train effectively. The students are urged on themselves in such an atmosphere.

- The environment is of great importance…

- Of principal importance, so I would say, and also of great difficulty. We are organizing lots of competitions for students, and they, in turn, organize contests’ for the secondary schools. My role is of an organizer – to create the opportunities, to provide the necessary funds… The students are doing lots of work by themselves. Of course, they have a mentor – Denis Dublennykh, who won ACM-ICPC bronze medals twice in 2010 and 2011; he is npow a PhD student at IMCS. - Which personal qualities are required to achieve a success in programming contests? - He must have his eyes shining, so to say. He have to be an inspired one. He have to be able to work a lot. The programming contest requires each participant of the team to contribute his best.

- Is it possible to host the ACM-ICPC World Finals-2016 in Ekaterinburg?

- Absolutely. On May, 13, there will be a meeting of the ACM-ICPC board in Warsaw, where our Rector, Vikor Koksharov, will make a presentation. All the university will be supporting us!  

Now, let’s turn to the members of the team! We asked several questions to UrFU IMCS students, Egor Schelkonogov, Olga Soboleva and Oleg Dolgorukov.

- Tell, how you are preparing for the contest?

- We having training sessions one or two times in a week. We meet and solve the problem set for 5 hours, just as it will be in the ACM-ICPC Finals. We are training to solve as mush problems as we can. We also don’t have to make large intervals between sessions, as it would influent the results greatly. Like with any kind of sport, you have to keep yourself in a good form.

- What is the secret of success? What you have to do to become the champions of the world?  

- Train hard, first of all! Our team started to participate in the contests last year. Meanwhile, we are not just partners in the team.. We are friends, we have good relations between each other, and that helps greatly. We are making a good addition to each other.

- What does it mean to be a team, then?

- You have to stay in contact, avoid the conflicts… Oh, to be plodding is by no means less important! (laughing). At times you do not want to solve this particular problem, but nevertheless you have to. Otherwise, there will be no team play, and no success. Acting separately, you can’t do much.

- Are you afraid of the other competitors, honestly?..

- It is a wrong feeling. One have to love his competitors. We have a lot to learn from them – from teams from Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, China… They are reaching great results from year to year. There are lots of strong teams. But we are going to Warsaw with ardor, and, of course,  a bit of luck does not hurt!

- What about the possibility to host ACM-ICPC World Finals in Ekaterinburg? What do you think of that, can we handle this?

- It is quite possible, though we still have to improve some things. The most important is to strive to this purpose sincerely. We already have good experience of organizing all-Russian contests in our home city.  We believe that it’s possible!