Internet search competitions

Yandex does a lot to popularize internet in Russia. Since 2001, Yandex has hosted the Yandex Open Search Cup which shows Internet as a useful information resourse. The idea behind the internet search competition is getting the contestants to compete in finding the answers to set questions on the Internet. Competition is held between people who have knowledge of the same language (or group of languages). This is stipulated by the need to set comparable questions. We recommend not placing any restrictions on the search means - contestant can use any search engines or catalogs.

Competitions can be held remotely (online, by the means of Internet) or with contestant present.

In case or remote competitions, contestants usually find their own means of accessing the Internet. In this case, they can be placed in incomparable conditions (different computers and connection speed). This is why, when holding remote competitions (especially the first round), it is important to choose such timing that allows the contestants to find the best available conditions.

When contestants are present, they should be assembled in the same place (internet cafe, or a computer class). This guarantees that every contestant is playing without any outside help which is difficult to ensure with remote competitions. However, getting all the contestants together raises understandable organizational challenges.

Competitions can be held in one or several stages. The type of competition held, the number of stages and parameters of each stage depend on the goals and resources of the organizing party. We can provide only the most general recommendations:

For competitions with a large number of contestants and a goal of finding a winner, we recommend at least two stages: one remote and the final with contestants present.

For competitions with a small number of contestant and run under the motto "it is not winning, it is taking part that counts" (for example a school Olympiad) it is possible to hold only one stage with contestants being present.

Internet search competitions can be organized as a team competition, however, so far Yandex has only run solo events. Because of it rules contain a specific ban on team play and rules of the remote competitions are written in such a way that limits the advantages of a joint effort.

Such a large search competition as "Russian Open Cup in Internet search" is organized by Yandex in three stages - two remote and a final with contestants being present.

It is necessary to have a panel of judges to judge the competition. In the case of remote competitions, it is advisable to have some time allotted after the publication for results for the judges to review any appeals made by the contestants. When contestants are present it is possible to resolve all the issues as they arise.

In general, when competition consists of games of different types, the final result is calculated as the sum of points earned (or a sum of places taken) in all games. However, when the type of games held differs significantly, it is possible to declare a winner in each type of the game, and then hold a final between the winners in each category.

The game consists of a series of questions which are set one after another. Each question should be answered in a set amount of time. Any answers submitted after the time has run out do not count.

In the basic version proposed by us, each question becomes available to contestants

a) at the same time,

b) after the time allotted for the previous question has run out.

It is possible to vary both of these parameters. For example, question can be set to each contestant straight after the answer for the previous one is submitted (this was done by us in the final "race of the finalists," description of which is given below). Alternatively, questions can be set a certain amount of time before the time allotted for the previous question runs out ("a handicap") or make the whole list of questions available immediately. However, for remote games, we strongly suggest that the basic version is used as it provides the greatest protection against team play.

The questions are set in such a way, that to answer them no knowledge of languages apart from the language in which the contest is being held is needed. For example, in the Russian Open Cup this language is Russian. However, the correct answer can in itself be a word in a foreign language.

Team play is officially prohibited. Internet search competitions are solo events with individual results. Each contestant should play individually. If team play is discovered, the results of all participants of the team are annulled.

How to check the answers and count the score

The answer to each question should consist of two parts:

The text of the answer (usually 1-2 words, date or a number); and URL of the website which contains this information

The answer is considered incorrect if:

Either the text of the answer or the URL is missing; Document with the supplied URL does not contain the answer given;

The answer to the question is incorrect;

Instead of the URL of the document containing the answer, an URL of the search results page is given.

Given the conditions above, an answer will be considered correct if the URL of a document existing in the Internet and containing the correct answer is given. It is not necessary that the answer to the question matches the answer considered "correct" by the organizing party - it is a competition in internet search, not a one in finding the truth.

It is possible to provide a combined answer consisting of two URLs (one part of the answer at the first address, another at the second).

If the answer to the question is a year, it is possible to give an URL of a document of an online publication which has the description of the event in the body text and the year in the URL itself. Such an answer will be considered correct.

If the supplied URL does not respond during the assessment of the answers, but has responded during the game, the answer will be considered correct if:

This URL has been checked by the organizers before;

This URL will give a positive result on a second try (during a set period of time - for example one day)

If the URL does not contain the answer but has a search form, the result will be considered correct if a judge can obtain the supplied answer by entering a search in this form.

If the desired answer is contained in the frames, the answer will be considered correct if a judge can find the answer by simply visiting the URL supplied in the answer.

If the supplied URL leads to a site cached by a search engine, the answer will be considered correct only if the cached site contains a link to the original document.

For each correct answer contestants receive one point. The speed with which the answer was given does not matter if it falls within the allotted time. However, it can be taken in consideration if several contestants get the same number of points.

For example, the first round of the "Russian Open Cup in Internet search" consists of 20 questions with 3 minutes allotted for each. After 3 minutes the answers do not count. The first round, therefore, lasts 1 hour.

Contestants are set questions, which have a single correct answer that is either a word or a rational number (if the word contains a hyphen or a dot it needs to be deleted, in other words the words should be "glued" together). A correct answer gives access to the next question.

The contestant first to answer all the questions, or if nobody has answered all the questions in the set amount of time, the contestant who answered the most questions is declared the winner. If after the time ran out there are several contestants who have answered the same number of questions, they are given additional time to answer the next unanswered question. The contestant who answers this question first is then declared the winner.

The game is called "the race of the finalists" because it is typically used in the final of the "Russian Open Cup in Internet search" to establish the prize takers. Three winners of the first part of the final (which is usually a combined event consisting of games of different type) answer questions moving along the line of computers. A correct answer to a question gives the access code for the next computer which contains the next one. The distribution of first, second and third place is visible as contestants progress towards the finish line which lies beyond the last computer.