In a $44\times 44$ board, some of the cells are blue, and the rest are red. No blue cells borders another blue cell on the side. The red cells, on the other hand, form a connected component (one may get from any red cell to any other red cell only by traversing edge-adjacent red cells). Prove that less than one third of the cells on the board are blue. [i]Proposed by B. Frenkin[/i]

There is a bacterium in one of the cells of a $10 \times 10{}$ checkered board. At the first move, the bacterium shifts to a cell adjacent by side to the original one, and divides into two bacteria (both stay in the same cell). Then again, one of the bacteria on the board shifts to a cell adjacent by side and divides into two bacteria, and so on. Is it possible that after some number of such moves the number of bacteria in each cell of the board is the same? [i]Alexandr Gribalko[/i]

Consider a checkered $3m\times 3m$ square, where $m$ is an integer greater than $1.$ A frog sits on the lower left corner cell $S$ and wants to get to the upper right corner cell $F.$ The frog can hop from any cell to either the next cell to the right or the next cell upwards. Some cells can be [i]sticky[/i], and the frog gets trapped once it hops on such a cell. A set $X$ of cells is called [i]blocking[/i] if the frog cannot reach $F$ from $S$ when all the cells of $X$ are sticky. A blocking set is [i] minimal[/i] if it does not contain a smaller blocking set.[list=a][*]Prove that there exists a minimal blocking set containing at least $3m^2-3m$ cells. [*]Prove that every minimal blocking set containing at most $3m^2$ cells.

Let $n \ge 2$ be a positive integer. Each square of an $n\times n$ board is coloured red or blue. We put dominoes on the board, each covering two squares of the board. A domino is called [i]even [/i] if it lies on two red or two blue squares and [i]colourful [/i] if it lies on a red and a blue square. Find the largest positive integer $k$ having the following property: regardless of how the red/blue-colouring of the board is done, it is always possible to put $k$ non-overlapping dominoes on the board that are either all [i]even [/i] or all [i]colourful[/i].

Let $n > 1$ be an integer. In a [i]configuration[/i] of an $n \times n$ board, each of the $n^2$ cells contains an arrow, either pointing up, down, left, or right. Given a starting configuration, Turbo the snail starts in one of the cells of the board and travels from cell to cell. In each move, Turbo moves one square unit in the direction indicated by the arrow in her cell (possibly leaving the board). After each move, the arrows in all of the cells rotate $90^{\circ}$ counterclockwise. We call a cell [i]good[/i] if, starting from that cell, Turbo visits each cell of the board exactly once, without leaving the board, and returns to her initial cell at the end. Determine, in terms of $n$, the maximum number of good cells over all possible starting configurations. [i]Proposed by Melek Güngör, Turkey[/i]

The numbers $1$ to $1024$ are written one per square on a $32 \times 32$ board, so that the first row is $1, 2, ... , 32$, the second row is $33, 34, ... , 64$ and so on. Then the board is divided into four $16 \times 16$ boards and the position of these boards is moved round clockwise, so that $AB$ goes to $DA$ $DC \,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\, \, CB$ then each of the $16 \times 16 $ boards is divided into four equal $8 \times 8$ parts and each of these is moved around in the same way (within the $ 16 \times 16$ board). Then each of the $8 \times 8$ boards is divided into four $4 \times 4$ parts and these are moved around, then each $4 \times 4$ board is divided into $2 \times 2$ parts which are moved around, and finally the squares of each $2 \times 2$ part are moved around. What numbers end up on the main diagonal (from the top left to bottom right)?

In a checkered square, there is a closed door between any two cells adjacent by side. A beetle starts from some cell and travels through cells, passing through doors; she opens a closed door in the direction she is moving and leaves that door open. Through an open door, the beetle can only pass in the direction the door is opened. Prove that if at any moment the beetle wants to return to the starting cell, it is possible for her to do that.

Each cell of an $100\times 100$ board is divided into two triangles by drawing some diagonal. What is the smallest number of colors in which it is always possible to paint these triangles so that any two triangles having a common side or vertex have different colors?

Each of the ${4n^2}$ unit squares of a ${2n \times 2n}$ board ${(n \ge 1) }$ has been colored blue or red. A set of four different unit squares of the board is called [i]pretty [/i]if these squares can be labeled ${A,B,C,D}$ in such a way that ${A}$ and ${B}$ lie in the same row, ${C}$ and ${D}$ lie in the same row, ${A}$ and ${C}$ lie in the same column, ${B}$ and ${D}$ lie in the same column, ${A}$ and ${D}$ are blue, and ${B}$ and ${C}$ are red. Determine the largest possible number of different [i]pretty [/i]sets on such a board. (Poland)

Two cells in a $20 \times 20$ board are adjacent if they have a common edge (a cell is not considered adjacent to itself). What is the maximum number of cells that can be marked in a $20 \times 20$ board such that every cell is adjacent to at most one marked cell?

On each non-boundary unit segment of an $8\times 8$ chessboard, we write the number of dissections of the board into dominoes in which this segment lies on the border of a domino. What is the last digit of the sum of all the written numbers?

We number the columns of an $n\times n$-board from $1$ to $n$. In each cell, we place a number. This is done in such a way that each row precisely contains the numbers $1$ to $n$ (in some order), and also each column contains the numbers $1$ to $n$ (in some order). Next, each cell that contains a number greater than the cell's column number, is coloured grey. In the figure below you can see an example for the case $n = 3$. [asy] unitsize(0.6 cm); int i; fill((0,0)--(1,0)--(1,1)--(0,1)--cycle, gray(0.8)); fill(shift((1,0))*((0,0)--(1,0)--(1,1)--(0,1)--cycle), gray(0.8)); fill(shift((0,2))*((0,0)--(1,0)--(1,1)--(0,1)--cycle), gray(0.8)); for (i = 0; i <= 3; ++i) { draw((0,i)--(3,i)); draw((i,0)--(i,3)); } label("$1$", (0.5,3.5)); label("$2$", (1.5,3.5)); label("$3$", (2.5,3.5)); label("$3$", (0.5,2.5)); label("$1$", (1.5,2.5)); label("$2$", (2.5,2.5)); label("$1$", (0.5,1.5)); label("$2$", (1.5,1.5)); label("$3$", (2.5,1.5)); label("$2$", (0.5,0.5)); label("$3$", (1.5,0.5)); label("$1$", (2.5,0.5)); [/asy] (a) Suppose that $n = 5$. Can the numbers be placed in such a way that each row contains the same number of grey cells? (b) Suppose that $n = 10$. Can the numbers be placed in such a way that each row contains the same number of grey cells?

There are $n$ positive integers on the board. We can add only positive integers $c=\frac{a+b}{a-b}$, where $a$ and $b$ are numbers already writted on the board. $a)$ Find minimal value of $n$, such that with adding numbers with described method, we can get any positive integer number written on the board $b)$ For such $n$, find numbers written on the board at the beginning

The numbers from $1$ to $100$ are placed without repetition in each cell of a \(10 \times 10\) board. An increasing path of length \(k\) on this board is a sequence of cells \(c_1, c_2, \ldots, c_k\) such that, for each \(i = 2, 3, \ldots, k\), the following properties are satisfied: • The cells \(c_i\) and \(c_{i-1}\) share a side or a vertex; • The number in \(c_i\) is greater than the number in \(c_{i-1}\). What is the largest positive integer \(k\) for which we can always find an increasing path of length \(k\), regardless of how the numbers from 1 to 100 are arranged on the board?

A table with three rows and 100 columns is given. Initially, in the left cell of each row there are $400\cdot 3^{100}$ chips. At one move, Petya marks some (but at least one) chips on the table, and then Vasya chooses one of the three rows. After that, all marked chips in the selected row are shifted to the right by a cell, and all marked chips in the other rows are removed from the table. Petya wins if one of the chips goes beyond the right edge of the table; Vasya wins if all the chips are removed. Who has a winning strategy? [i]Proposed by P. Svyatokum, A. Khuzieva and D. Shabanov[/i]

In each square of a $100 \times 100$ board there is written an integer. The allowed operation is to choose four squares that form the figure or any of its reflections or rotations, and add $1$ to each of the four numbers. The aim is, through operations allowed, achieving a board with the smallest possible number of different residues modulo $33$. What is the minimum number that can be achieved with certainty?

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Consider an infinite checkered board. A set $S$ of cells is [i]connected[/i] if one may get from any cell in $S$ to any other cell in $S$ by only traversing edge-adjacent cells in $S$. Find the largest integer $k_n$ with the following property: in any connected set with $n$ cells, one can find $k_n$ disjoint pairs of adjacent cells (that is, $k_n$ disjoint dominoes). [i]Proposed by David Anghel and Vlad Spătaru[/i]

The Mictlán is an $n\times n$ board and each border of each $1\times 1$ cell is painted either purple or orange. Initially, a catrina lies inside a $1\times 1$ cell and may move in four directions (up, down, left, right) into another cell with the condition that she may move from one cell to another only if the border that joins them is painted orange. We know that no matter which cell the catrina chooses as a starting point, she may reach all other cells through a sequence of valid movements and she may not abandon the Mictlán (she may not leave the board). What is the maximum number of borders that could have been colored purple? [i]Proposed by CDMX[/i]

On the screen of a computer there is an $2^n\times 2^n$ board. On each cell of the main diagonal there is a file. At each step, we may select some files and move them to the left, on their respective rows, by the same distance. What is the minimum number of necessary moves in order to put all files on the first column? [i]Proposed by Vlad Spătaru[/i]

Let $n \ge 2$ be a positive integer. Each square of an $n\times n$ board is coloured red or blue. We put dominoes on the board, each covering two squares of the board. A domino is called [i]even [/i] if it lies on two red or two blue squares and [i]colourful [/i] if it lies on a red and a blue square. Find the largest positive integer $k$ having the following property: regardless of how the red/blue-colouring of the board is done, it is always possible to put $k$ non-overlapping dominoes on the board that are either all [i]even [/i] or all [i]colourful[/i].

A knight is placed on each square of the first column of a $2017 \times 2017$ board. A [i]move[/i] consists in choosing two different knights and moving each of them to a square which is one knight-step away. Find all integers $k$ with $1 \leq k \leq 2017$ such that it is possible for each square in the $k$-th column to contain one knight after a finite number of moves. Note: Two squares are a knight-step away if they are opposite corners of a $2 \times 3$ or $3 \times 2$ board.

Determine the greatest positive integer $A{}$ with the following property: however we place the numbers $1,2,\ldots, 100$ on a $10\times 10$ board, each number appearing exactly once, we can find two numbers on the same row or column which differ by at least $A{}$.

On a $100 \times 100$ chessboard, the plan is to place several $1 \times 3$ boards and $3 \times 1$ board, so that [list] [*] Each tile of the initial chessboard is covered by at most one small board. [*] The boards cover the entire chessboard tile, except for one tile. [*] The sides of the board are placed parallel to the chessboard. [/list] Suppose that to carry out the instructions above, it takes $H$ number of $1 \times 3$ boards and $V$ number of $3 \times 1$ boards. Determine all possible pairs of $(H,V)$. [i]Proposed by Muhammad Afifurrahman, Indonesia[/i]

Two students $A$ and $B$ play a game on a $20 \text{ x } 20$ chessboard. It is known that two squares are said to be [i]adjacent[/i] if the two squares have a common side. At the beginning, there is a chess piece in a certain square of the chessboard. Given that $A$ will be the first one to move the chess piece, $A$ and $B$ will alternately move this chess piece to an adjacent square. Also, the common side of any pair of adjacent squares can only be passed once. If the opponent cannot move anymore, then he will be declared the winner (to clarify since the wording wasn’t that good, you lose if you can’t move). Who among $A$ and $B$ has a winning strategy? Justify your claim.

Consider a checkered $3m\times 3m$ square, where $m$ is an integer greater than $1.$ A frog sits on the lower left corner cell $S$ and wants to get to the upper right corner cell $F.$ The frog can hop from any cell to either the next cell to the right or the next cell upwards. Some cells can be [i]sticky[/i], and the frog gets trapped once it hops on such a cell. A set $X$ of cells is called [i]blocking[/i] if the frog cannot reach $F$ from $S$ when all the cells of $X$ are sticky. A blocking set is [i] minimal[/i] if it does not contain a smaller blocking set.[list=a][*]Prove that there exists a minimal blocking set containing at least $3m^2-3m$ cells. [*]Prove that every minimal blocking set containing at most $3m^2$ cells.