December 7, 2005
Moscow, December 7, 2005. Yandex held the Final of the Russian Open Cup VI in Internet search. Igor Makhaniok, the new “Man Who Found Everything”, became the youngest winner of the Cup in history.
Yesterday, the three super finalists — the best players of 1,990 in this Cup — met in the concert studio of the youth TV channel O2TV. The first prize (RUR 502,000) and the title of “the Man Who Found Everything” went to 21-year-old Igor Makhaniok, a programmer from Minsk. Maxim Sidorov from Togliatti took the second place, and Svetlana Subbotina from Troitsk was the third. Beside Yandex prizes, the finalists received additional prizes from Ozon, the principal sponsor of Yandex Cup VI.
To win, the super final contestants had to answer six questions. Finding the last name of the “Russian prose writer, whose text was used by mathematician Markov as material to study Markov chains” proved to be the hardest challenge. Maxim Sidorov was the fastest to solve this task, taking 31 minute. The last three questions were the easiest — Igor Makhaniok spent a minute on each (the complete list of questions can be found below).
This year, the Super Final of the Cup was held in an environment that was unusual for the Cup participants. An audience of some 100 people and several TV cameras were following the game. It was not easy to endure such pressure; the final competition lasted for more than two hours. In addition, for the first time the computers of the super finalists were connected to the Internet using WiFi technology.
“We thank all the participants of the Cup and their supporters for our joint annual festival”, tells Natalia Ostasheva, head of the search competition. “Meanwhile, the Cup’s life goes on. During Cup VI, we held three regional search contests — in Ekaterinburg, Vologda, and Voronezh. Saint-Petersburg contest is on the way. And for next year, we invite everyone who played and searched with us — both at the Russian Open Cup and at regional competitions.”
“We especially thank our partners: Ozon online shop, whose merry dog mixed wonderfully with the general mood, and to the very professional and patient guys in O2TV”, says Elena Kolmanovskaya, Chief Editor of Yandex. “We hope that they will be involved in the future Cups, too.”
The Yandex Cup is an annual Internet search contest, where any user having command of the Russian language and the keyboard can participate. Records of all the past contests, the results, and search competition methodology can be found at the official site of the Cup. The next Russian Open Cup in Internet search is scheduled for autumn 2006.
Here is the complete list of questions of Yandex Cup VI Super Final (questions were asked in Russian; players searched their answers in Russian-language segment of internet):
1. The largest counterpart of Sudbury in Russia (name)
Answer: Popigai
2. Russian prose writer, whose text was used by mathematician Markov as material to study Markov chains (last name)
Answer: Aksakov
3. Where did the first architect of the tower located opposite House 5, Red Square, Moscow, come from? (city)
Answer: Milan
4. Mayor elected in 1912 by the Moscow City Duma, but not approved by the Ministry of the Interior (last name)
Answer: Lvov
5. What was the name of Pochtovoe village in the Crimea before the Great Patriotic War?
Answer: Bazarchik
6. Organization that assisted with repatriation of emigrants to the Soviet Union in the 1930-40s (short name)
Answer: Sovnarod.
