Hello, Codeforces!
We are happy to invite you to an exciting online event: ICPC Online Challenge powered by Huawei.
This Challenge features the problem
Scheduling Algorithm for Collaborative Inference System With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, large language model (LLM) services are becoming increasingly integrated into people’s daily lives and work. At the same time, the economic efficiency and data security of these services are receiving greater attention.
Edge-Cloud Collaborative Inference has emerged as a promising approach to addressing these challenges. In this architecture, LLM inference is divided between a user’s on-premises edge environment and the cloud. Using a U-shaped split, the first and last layers of the model run on the edge, while the computationally intensive middle layers run in the cloud. This allows private inputs and outputs to remain on the user’s side while cloud resources are used for the heavier computation.
However, this architecture requires repeated interaction between the edge and the cloud during both the prefill and decoding stages. When requests are processed sequentially, these interactions can create “bubbles”—periods in which computing resources remain idle while waiting for other parts of the system.
Your challenge is to design a concurrent scheduling strategy that:
- maximizes overall system throughput; and
- ensures that every request satisfies its latency Service Level Objective (SLO).
Participants will need to carefully coordinate computation and communication across the edge and cloud while balancing throughput and per-request latency requirements.
We hope you will enjoy this challenging optimization problem inspired by real-world AI infrastructure.
Start: August 14, 2026 11:00 UTC (UTC+0)
Finish: August 28, 2026 10:59 UTC (UTC+0)
Prizes
| Rank | Prize | |
| Grand Prize (Rank 1) | € 12 000 EUR + travel and an invitation to the the 50th Annual ICPC World Finals in a guest role | |
| First Prize (Rank 2-6) | € 8,000 EUR | |
| Second Prize (Rank 7-16) | € 3,000 EUR | |
| Third Prize (Rank 17-50): | € 800 EUR | |
| * If the allocated Huawei Challenge prize cannot be delivered to your region for any reason it may be replaced by another prize (if no legal restrictions), at the discretion of the Sponsor. | ||
By participating in this Challenge, you agree to the official Rules.
The use of AI tools, including generative AI and AI-assisted coding tools, is permitted during the Challenge. Participants remain fully responsible for the correctness, originality, and compliance of their submissions with all applicable rules.
To be eligible for a prize, you must register through: https://icpc.global/regionals/finder/ICPC-Online-Challenge-2026.
If you cannot access the rules document, please contact [email protected].
Good luck, and we hope you enjoy this complex yet exciting Challenge!
aw man have to reach age of majority: (
Hello, everybody. Hello, MikeMirzayanov Can I make a code using AI?
yes
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Yes. Generative AI and AI-assisted coding tools are permitted in this Challenge. Participants remain responsible for their submissions; automated submissions, collaboration, and sharing code or solution ideas are prohibited.
Hahahahaha
So, do I need to pay a fee to register on icpc.global?
The guidelines explicitly say at the beginning of the document:
"NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. COMPLETION OF REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CHALLENGE."
So ig its free to join.
No. There is no registration fee; the Conditions state that no purchase is necessary to enter or win. Please register on Codeforces to participate and on the ICPC website to be eligible for a prize.
I will ak.
66
99
99
999
Let's go, love these challenges!
guys how does one register officially on ICPC website, I am struggling please help
ICPC Challenge powered by Huawei is an independent competition. You only need to register here to participate.
"To be eligible for a prize, you must register through: https://icpc.global/regionals/finder/ICPC-Online-Challenge-2026."
I am finding it difficult to register there for that
To register for prize eligibility, please sign in or create an ICPC account at https://icpc.global/regionals/finder/ICPC-Online-Challenge-2026, then click “Register” and complete the registration. Although the portal uses team-registration terminology, this Challenge is for individuals. If you are still unable to register, please email [email protected] with a screenshot and your ICPC account email.
I have already registered on icpc.global, but I do have diffrent e-mail addresses on the two websites, is it ok? Or I shall start a new cf account with my icpc.global e-mail to attend the competition?
You do not need to create a new Codeforces account. Please email [email protected] with your Codeforces handle and both account email addresses so the organizers can confirm your prize-eligibility registration.
Hi!
I have a question about prize eligibility/registration for the 2026 ICPC Online Challenge powered by Huawei.
The announcement describes this as an individual online Challenge, and the registration page allows one contestant who can also act as the coach while online. However, the ICPC prize-registration form requires a certified institution and an “Institution Unit Assignment.”
The 2026 ICPC Online Summer Challenge rules attached state that this is an individual contest and don't list university enrollment as an eligibility requirement. However, the ICPC registration portal requires an institution. For independent participants who aren't university students, is this a portal limitation, if that the case, how should we register for prize eligibility?
I have also contacted the organizers by email, but I wanted to ask here in case someone familiar with previous ICPC Online Challenges knows how this works and help clarify.
This is not an official statement, I just quote a 3 years old comment here:
https://icpc.global/private/help/i-do-not-have-an-institution
i think this might help just login and check it should show this(sent the link to confirm authenticity of the statement below
I do not have an institution Type for example "Retired" or your place of business in the university/institution field, and it will allow you to add a new non-institutional description.
University enrollment or affiliation is not required; this is an individual Challenge. Please use the ICPC “I do not have an institution” workflow and enter an appropriate non-institutional description. If the form still requires a certified institution or Institution Unit Assignment, please contact [email protected].
Downvote me
Getting ready
holcel lol kek cheburek
Are challenges rated?
this one will be not rated
No, this Challenge is unrated and will not affect your Codeforces rating.
Hi, I'm a high school student (not enrolled at a university) registering for this year's Challenge, and running into a couple of related questions on prize eligibility:
The team registration form requires an Institution, but I don't have one (searching "ICPC U", mentioned in an older comment, returns no match this year). What's the correct way for a non-university participant to fill this in?
Separately — I'm a minor and don't have a bank account in my own name. If I place in the prize range, how does payment work in that case? Can a prize be paid to a parent/guardian's account instead?
Would appreciate guidance from the organizers or anyone who's navigated either of these as a non-university / underage participant. Thanks!
https://codeforces.me/contest/2252/submission/385954382
University enrollment is not required; please use the “I do not have an institution” workflow and enter an appropriate description such as “High School Student.” However, the published Conditions generally require participants to have reached the age of majority unless the Organizer and Sponsor expressly approve an exception with appropriate parental or guardian consent. Prizes are non-transferable and awarded in the individual participant’s name, and the published rules do not confirm whether payment may be made through a parent’s or guardian’s account. Please contact [email protected] and [email protected] before participating to confirm eligibility and payment arrangements.
I have a question regarding the AI policy.
This announcement says that generative AI and AI-assisted coding tools are allowed during the challenge.
The use of AI tools, including generative AI and AI-assisted coding tools, is permitted during the Challenge. Participants remain fully responsible for the correctness, originality, and compliance of their submissions with all applicable rules.
But when I go to the ICPC registration page, I see a statement saying that the use of AI systems (including AI chatbots) is prohibited.
By registering for this contest, you acknowledge and agree to abide by the ICPC Terms of Use and Participation. Participation is strictly limited to human individuals; the use of AI systems, including but not limited to AI chatbots, is expressly prohibited.
Has anyone figured out which rule actually applies to participants who register through the ICPC website? I’m a bit confused about whether using tools like ChatGPT is allowed during the contest.
I think that this challange is about optimization(making things better) problem, open problem and chasing the best, so we can turn to AI for help. And normal ICPC races is like exam, so AI is banned for fairness
This contest may be AHC like, it may be a kind of Heuristic contest. And it's a long-term contset, so it allow to use AI in a standardized usage rules.While real ICPC contest(algorithm) does not allow the use of AI naturally.
For this specific Challenge, generative AI and AI-assisted coding tools are permitted. The generic prohibition previously shown during ICPC registration does not apply to this Challenge. Participants must still compete individually, must not communicate with other participants, use another participant’s code, or share solution ideas, and remain fully responsible for the originality, correctness, and compliance of their submissions.
is this tuff?
I think there will be a lot of people who just paste the problem statement into ChatGPT/Claude and expect them to AK it.
well they give permission to do that i mean i m seeing many people with 0 ratings under 100 idk why ?? maybe because of ai even though i thought ai single handly shouldnt be able to give them such high scores
Lol started CP 2 months ago , maybe next year I would be able to upsolve qns I'm these type of contests
When I go to the https://icpc.global/regionals/finder/ICPC-Online-Challenge-2026 It says contest not found, does anyone know how to fix it? or pls privately message me so i know how to register, bc i registerd here, but not on website
the link works for me but
after clicking register you are prompted to login at https://icpc.global/private/teamRegistration/site/41451
and then later: https://icpc.global/login?redirect_uri=/private/teamRegistration/site/41451
if it helps maybe you should try these links directly :>
The ICPC event page is available now: https://icpc.global/regionals/finder/ICPC-Online-Challenge-2026. Please sign in or create an ICPC account, return to that page, and click “Register.” If you still see “contest not found,” please email [email protected] with a screenshot and your ICPC account email.
I dont have a institution
choose anyone
Please do not choose a random institution. Use the ICPC “I do not have an institution” workflow and enter an appropriate non-institutional description. If the form still blocks you, please email [email protected] with a screenshot and your ICPC account email.
so im gonna be 12k richer by the end of this contest
that is if you win
i know. thats why i said im gonna be 12k richer
you're gonna be placed 12000th bro you aint winning ANYTHING if you get TLE2 on an 800
trust me ai is NOT gonna help you if they allowed it
Watch.
upvote for your confidence
Lock in mate
Not looking very good so far have fun beating all the reds and chatgpt 5.6 sol owners
i take it back
hahha took me 5 days to understand problem, came back to search for you in rankings
I am really so interested for the round of ICPC ...
Will there be hidden final tests after the Challenge?
YES — THERE WILL BE A SYSTEM TEST AFTER THE CHALLENGE. The 22 preliminary tests are for feedback only and do not contribute to the final ranking. Final results will be determined by 20 separate frozen final tests.
So the actual ranking and judgement will not like the 1'st rank guy will got will rank so we have to tune our solution according to 22 preliminary tests and considering 20 separate frozen final tests. but how we can consider those 20 frozen test cases ?
The 20 frozen final tests are separate and unavailable during the Challenge, so they cannot be inspected or targeted individually. The 22 preliminary tests are for feedback only and do not contribute to the final ranking; the final score is the arithmetic mean of the 20 frozen-test scores.
What exactly do we need to know and apply to participate in this competition properly?
Register for Contest 2251 on Codeforces and participate individually. To be eligible for a prize, also complete the ICPC registration linked in the announcement. Please read the problem statement and Conditions. AI assistance is permitted, but collaboration, sharing solution ideas or code, and automated submissions are not.
Can teams participate?
The “To be eligible for a prize, you must register through …” section appears to support team registration. However, when I click the registration button, it says that participation is individual.
No. Participation is individual. The ICPC portal uses team-registration terminology, but this Challenge is not a team contest; please register yourself as the contestant.
Sorry,in china,I can't visit "travel and an invitation to the the 50th Annual ICPC World Finals in a guest role"and"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nbqIxp13MKrxoIn5hbA3TCV_9ah4b1kVXs1Z291KnOk/".
Because the Chinese government disabled the google in nationwide!
Who can tell me what's in this link? >> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nbqIxp13MKrxoIn5hbA3TCV_9ah4b1kVXs1Z291KnOk/
nothing important
only for 1 person round trip economy, visa, 5 nights 6 day, food hotel
oh,thanks!but where is the world final being held?
dubai
Thank you for flagging the accessibility issue. The Rank 1 benefit is travel and an invitation to the 50th Annual ICPC World Finals in a guest role. For an accessible copy of the detailed travel terms, please email [email protected].
how hard will this be .. div 2 / 3?
this is not typical contest with div 1,2,3,4. Its marathon, with another system. This is like get score every time when you improve your cod. if you have 1600+-, i think you will have middle score
This is not a Div. 2/3-style round. It is a two-week optimization Challenge with score-based submissions, so there is no meaningful fixed division or rating equivalent.
I’m no longer in college (graduated 3 years ago) but really keen to take part in this. How could I register on the site? It asks me to input an institution which seems like the site can only handle users which are still in school.
Edit: nvm figured it out
Wait. Is this round not similar to usual rated algotihmic Codeforces contests ? And, also, is this round unrated ?
Correct: this is not a usual algorithmic Codeforces round. It is a two-week optimization Challenge, and it is unrated.
Hi, I’m a high-school participant and I’m still unable to complete the ICPC prize-eligibility registration. The Challenge team confirmed by email that I am eligible and initially told me to select “ICPC U,” but that institution does not appear in the portal. Does anybody know how to proceed with registration?
Please use the ICPC “I do not have an institution” workflow and enter an appropriate description such as “High School Student”; do not select an unrelated institution. If the form still blocks you, please email [email protected] with a screenshot and your ICPC account email.
where to find the i do not have an insittution workflow? cant seem to find it. in the register team section it forces me to select a insititution , cant type anything i like , has to be an insitution. cant seem to find any prompt or button to select no insitutiton either.
After signing in to the ICPC portal, please follow the “I do not have an institution” guidance at https://icpc.global/private/help/i-do-not-have-an-institution. If the registration form still requires an institution, please email [email protected] with a screenshot and your ICPC account email.
“The use of AI tools, including generative AI and AI-assisted coding tools, is permitted during the Challenge. Participants remain fully responsible for the correctness, originality, and compliance of their submissions with all applicable rules.” AI alloweded?
yes, but i think just problem statement will hit token limit :)
Yes. Generative AI and AI-assisted coding tools are permitted in this Challenge. Participants remain responsible for their submissions; automated submissions, collaboration, and sharing code or solution ideas are prohibited.
from Where and how can i know my registration is successfully completed??
Codeforces participation and ICPC prize-eligibility registration are separate. Your Codeforces registration should appear on the contest registration page. For the ICPC registration, a successful-registration email is the confirmation. If you did not receive one, please contact [email protected].
Is consulting AI allowed?
Yes. Generative AI and AI-assisted coding tools are permitted in this Challenge. Participants remain responsible for their submissions; automated submissions, collaboration, and sharing code or solution ideas are prohibited.
I have registered with my ICPC account, but my institution is listed as Al-Sham Private University, and my team is still pending. I registered it in the morning. Should I edit the institution, or has this contest slipped out of my hands this time?
If Al-Sham Private University is your actual institution, please do not replace it with an unrelated institution. A pending registration does not mean you have missed the Challenge. If it remains pending, please email [email protected] with a screenshot and your ICPC account email.
Thanks I have sent an email for him and I am waiting!
What Institution should I pick to register in the contest on ICPC platform?? Should I register with the option I will participate as both contestant and coach ?? I wrote an email already but haven't received an answer yet :c
Please register yourself as the individual contestant. If the portal requires a coach, select the option indicating that you will also act as the coach. Use your actual institution; if you have none, follow the ICPC “I do not have an institution” workflow.
Do we need to connect our ICPC account to CF account in order to be eligible for prize?
No direct account-linking step is required. Register separately on Codeforces and through the ICPC portal, preferably using the same email address for both accounts.
Will only the latest submission be tested on the final tests, or all of them?
Best one
Is this official info? Could you tell where this is stated? As far as I know, usually the latest non-zero submission is used.
Only your latest submission with a positive score will be run on the frozen final tests. A newer positive-scoring submission replaces the previously selected submission even if its preliminary score is lower.
what does it mean by latest submission with a positive score ?" Latest submission with a positive score" = of all my submissions that scored more than 0? and the most recent one by submission time is the one copied over to the 20 frozen tests?
Yes. Among all of your submissions that received a strictly positive preliminary score, the chronologically most recent one is selected for the 20 frozen final tests. A later zero-scoring submission is ignored, while a later positive-scoring submission replaces the earlier one even if its preliminary score is lower.
I registered on the icpc website but its not showing up under "My contests" however I have got the mail that I have successfully registered.
Same for me, I think for now it's Ok.
If the ICPC email explicitly confirms that you registered successfully, please retain that confirmation. If the event still does not appear under “My Contests” or its status remains unclear, email [email protected] with the confirmation and a screenshot.
what is system test? is there round 2 after contest. or they going to test solution on real system and update top rankers
context: i click on 'The problem statement has recently been changed. View the changes.' -> "IMPORTANT: YES, THERE WILL BE A SYSTEM TEST AFTER THE CHALLENGE."
20 another "system tests". It means yours rank can change.
There is no second participation round. After the Challenge, each participant’s latest positive-scoring submission will be evaluated on 20 separate frozen final tests, and the final ranking will be calculated from those results.
Is it possible to increase solution size a bit? (64kb) ~ 1500 lines to low for different approaches
No, the 64 KB source-code limit will remain unchanged. Please keep submissions within the current limit.
I'm having an issue in completing the ICPC registration.
I have completely filled all the required fields but I still get below warning (I don't see any such fields or degree info tab). Can any one please help how to solve this? thanks.
"Registration Incomplete
Please complete required fields (marked by a small star) in your profile.
Missing fields:
Degree Info — Area of study Degree Info — Degree pursued Degree Info — Expected graduation Degree Info — Start of Post-Secondary Studies"
Those fields belong to your ICPC profile. If the Degree Info section is not visible, please email [email protected] with your ICPC account email and a screenshot of the registration warning so the portal team can assist you.
lol this competition is a blood bath scores are already too close
Problem statement is very poorly written
so i can use ai? for code ?
try it. orz
If you think pasting 2 wikipidia pages combined into ChatGPT is gonna do you wonders then go on.
bold of you to think i will be using chatgpt
Bold of you to assume it matters what AI you use
well i am just trying man
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Yes. Generative AI and AI-assisted coding tools are permitted in this Challenge. Participants remain responsible for their submissions; automated submissions, collaboration, and sharing code or solution ideas are prohibited.
I’ve seen several top-ranking accounts sending submissions every few minutes for two days straight. Are automated agent systems with automatic sending allowed?
especially rank #1 plagues's submission every hour since last 3 days is hard for human — no rest in between unlike #2, #3.
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No. AI assistance is permitted in this Challenge, but automated submissions are prohibited. Participants must submit manually and remain responsible for every submission. Frequent submissions alone do not prove automation; suspected violations should be reported privately to the organizers.
"It turns out Huawei also holds contests on Codeforces. I always thought it was only the NOI in China."
competition so tough i am at 453 rank its so tiring. dynamic batching s1 s2 exhausted your mind. i also try all K cloud workers maintain balanced queues within
±2 ms ±2 ms eliminating tail-latency stragglers but it didnt work at all
no idea how they got 16k+ score man stuck at 15.5k
mine 15.9. even Ai cant help u
ok guys 16.2k was the limit with ai for me , not paid all free models used
I believe top 100 scores or even more just says nothing(they are just maximizing score on given test set and can suck on different), even top1 can become top100 I guess
I hope not:)
Maybe) But it seems (in my opinion) 22 + 20 tests is too low
let's see what can be done i am not sure either we have to maximize scoore on 22 test cases only but how we can consider 20 frozen cases?
The 20 frozen final tests are separate and unavailable during the Challenge, so they cannot be inspected or targeted individually. The 22 preliminary tests are for feedback only and do not contribute to the final ranking; the final score is the arithmetic mean of the 20 frozen-test scores.
Do you realize you could be banned for this comment?
Is it okay to create multiple accounts to submit and then delete them later?
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No. Codeforces requires participants to use their personal single account. Do not create or use multiple accounts to submit; deleting extra accounts later does not make it permissible.
Since I'm participating for the first in this challenge , I didn't know that we need to register on both platform , i.e., codeforces contest window and icpc.global , now registration is not available on the icpc global portal, what to do??
Its open for me, try again or send mail to host/manager, [email protected]
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The ICPC event page currently shows “Registration Allowed,” with registration closing on August 28. Please sign in or create an ICPC account, return to the event page, and click “Register.” If it still appears unavailable, email [email protected] with a screenshot and your ICPC account email.
Let's gooo!
Good luck too everyone who will participate
Images are all down on the problem description. 404's when I try open image in new tab.
why no contests nowadays
I'm sw engineer with 11+ years of experience. Is it just me not understanding the 100 page long problem description? You don't have to be Shakespeare to be hired by Codeforces, but I think the English of the author is horrible.
skill issue, train more
Is it normal that I registered for a team but didn't receive a confirmation email?
@ICPC_Challenge I just wanted to confirm: is it enough to simply register on this website? I don’t need to submit any code or connect/bind my Cloudflare (CF) account, correct? Thanks.
it's not possible to write
ICPC_Challenge, is it expected that the status of my "team" on icpc.global still shows as "Pending" more than two days after I completed the registration? The page also says "Eligibility: No issues found" — is that sufficient confirmation that I have registered successfully?
Also, I used the same email address for icpc.global and Codeforces accounts, but my Codeforces email is hidden in the settings. Will the accounts still be matched, or do I need to make the email publicly visible?
I emailed [email protected] with both questions yesterday but haven't received a response yet.
Fortunately, this competition doesn't allow hacking the code. Otherwise, there would be no solution.
But it's really interesting.
GG! Really liked the setup with AI allowed and plenty of time to work. Learned a lot throughout the event. learned manage on budget to max out lightweight models using prompt engineering . Coming from research engineering branch It felt great to finally compete without being limited just by my programming knowledge ,learned so many math concepts/ algorithm never heard of before.
The first submission scoring points was after 1:56 (under 2 minutes). Several more submissions scoring points were made in the first 5 minutes. (Look at the "status" tab.)
What was happening? Was the problem available before the start time to some? Or is this amazing AI progress? Or perhaps genuine testers? Or are some people just brilliantly fast?
AI usage was permitted, I'm pretty sure gpt 5.6 can write first version in just 2-5 minutes.
The problem was not released early to regular participants. Very fast submissions alone do not prove advance access or a rules violation, especially because AI assistance was permitted. Any suspicious accounts or submissions will be reviewed privately by the organizers and Codeforces administrators.
Thanks for your reply. The progress of AI is amazing.
I think that if an AI system can understand the problem description and write working code, then it is at least plausible that it could access a website as a user and circumvent any checks designed to prevent automated submission.
But equally a human could cut and paste the problem description and generated code in under two minutes.
Those type of contests should allow submissions more than 65k symbols. Otherwise code minifier is needed, which make solution code unreadable and could misfire plagiarism checkers
Thank you for the feedback. The 64 KB source-code limit will not be changed retroactively for this finished Challenge, but the concern about readability and minification will be considered when planning future Challenges.
As the contest is over now, is it possible to see the solution code of other's?
Not yet. Other participants’ source code is not currently published while frozen final testing and review are pending. Please wait for the final results and any subsequent Codeforces publication of submissions.
Please tell me where I can find solutions to this problem.
There is no separate public solution archive at this time. Participants’ source code is not currently published while frozen final testing and review are pending; please wait for the final results and any later Codeforces publication of submissions.
I have a question I'd like to ask. If the contestants were able to extract multiple-bit data information from the differentiated error messages returned by the analysis system and conduct side-channel detection on the online data, a single request could obtain such data. With only a small amount of testing, the test data set could be successfully restored. As a result, the data feature dimensions they obtained were significantly higher than those of other contestants. If the main difference in the final model performance is mainly due to the advantage in obtaining such non-public information, would this constitute a violation of the fairness of the competition? Is this behavior in violation of the competition rules?
Idts it would perform well on hidden dataset.
Not in a competition that have hidden test casea in final testing. If not, then yes, you can extract the test cases.
Can you please tell us when will the system testing be? We are very anxious.
now that contest is over, did anyone started discussion forum on this. share link if you find any
It was really a challenging competition.
Are there any goodies, or certificates for participants outside the top 50 (e.g., top 100 or top 200)?
Obviously no.
Results when
@icpc please tell when can we expect the results