tourist's blog

TCO 2019 Algorithm Rules
By tourist, history, 6 years ago, In English

The rules for advancement to the onsite finals of TCO 2019 Algorithm have changed from those for TCO 2018:

http://tco19.topcoder.com/home/algorithm/algorithm-rules

This page claims there are "three (3) ways to advance to the Onsite Finals"!

The first way to advance is to take part in SRMs. There are four three-month Online Stages, during which every positive score in an SRM counts towards a global ranking. The best competitor in each Online Stage advances to the onsite finals directly, with the next 10 competitors advancing to Online Round 4 (which is the final qualification round).

The other two ways stay the same. The best 10 competitors (used to be 14 though) advance from Online Round 4, and the best 2 competitors advance from Online Wild Card Round.

The changes seem to be big enough -- and already relevant, since SRM 736 on August 15 (in two days from now) already counts towards Online Stage 1. However, apart from TCO 2019 website I've only seen this information in Topcoder weekly newsletters, and I believe many people have missed it.

What do you think?

  • Vote: I like it
  • +162
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Comments Comments (4)
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6 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +48 Vote: I do not like it

I think it's good that you posted it here because this way, more people will see it. (Although it's not like that many compete in TC.)

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6 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +2 Vote: I do not like it

The idea of unifying the main tracks that bring money -- Design and Development, with the rest -- SRM and Marathons, is quite natural for those who do not compete themselves.

There are 4 stages of qualification for the Design ad Development since ages, it was called the Digital Run, but now it's just TCO Qual Stages after the rebranding. Marathon format was defended by its CAB.

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6 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +38 Vote: I do not like it

A question to organizers: It's likely that someone will win multiple stages. In this case, will the runner-up of later rounds get a slot? (It will significantly change the difficulty of qualification in this way).

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    6 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

    I don't have any executive power so I can't make any promises here, but the intention is that whenever there is a moment when N people could advance from some track, the top N people who are eligible in that track (which includes "didn't already qualify") will advance.

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