Javiera and Claudio play on a board consisting of a row with $2019$ cells. Claudio starts by placing a token anywhere on the board. Next Javiera says a natural number $k$, $1 \le k \le n$ and Claudio must move the token to the right or to the left at your choice $k$ squares and so on. Javiera wins if she manages to remove the piece that Claudio moves from the board. Determine the smallest $n$ such that Javiera always wins after a finite number of moves.

There are $11$ empty boxes. In one move, a player can put one coin in each of some $10$ boxes. Two people play, taking turns. The winner is the player after whose move in one of the boxes there will be $21$ coins. Who has a winning strategy?

Consider 2009 cards which are lying in sequence on a table. Initially, all cards have their top face white and bottom face black. The cards are enumerated from 1 to 2009. Two players, Amir and Ercole, make alternating moves, with Amir starting. Each move consists of a player choosing a card with the number $k$ such that $k < 1969$ whose top face is white, and then this player turns all cards at positions $k,k+1,\ldots,k+40.$ The last player who can make a legal move wins. (a) Does the game necessarily end? (b) Does there exist a winning strategy for the starting player? [i]Also compare shortlist 2009, combinatorics problem C1.[/i]

Two thieves stole a container of $8$ liters of wine. How can they divide it into two parts of $4$ liters each if all they have is a $3 $ liter container and a $5$ liter container? Consider the general case of dividing $m+n$ liters into two equal amounts, given a container of $m$ liters and a container of $n$ liters (where $m$ and $n$ are positive integers). Show that it is possible iff $m+n$ is even and $(m+n)/2$ is divisible by $gcd(m,n)$.

Let $f(x)$ be a polynomial, such that $f(x)=x^{2015}+a_1 x^{2014}+...+a_{2014} x+a_{2015}$. Velly and Polly are taking turns, starting from Velly changing the coefficients $a_i$ with real numbers , where each coefficient is changed exactly once. After 2015 turns they calculate the number of real roots of the created polynomial and if the root is only one, then Velly wins, and if it’s not – Polly wins. Which one has a winning strategy?

John and Mary play the following game. First they choose integers $n > m > 0$ and put $n$ sweets on an empty table. Then they start to make moves alternately. A move consists of choosing a nonnegative integer $k\le m$ and taking $k$ sweets away from the table (if $k = 0$ , nothing happens in fact). In doing so no value for $k$ can be chosen more than once (by none of the players) or can be greater than the number of sweets at the table at the moment of choice. The game is over when one of the players can make no more moves. John and Mary decided that at the beginning Mary chooses the numbers $m$ and $n$ and then John determines whether the performer of the last move wins or looses. Can Mary choose $m$ and $n$ in such way that independently of John’s decision she will be able to win?

A board consists of $2021 \times 2021$ squares all of which are white, except for one corner square which is black. Alma and Bertha play the following game. At the beginning, there is a piece on the black square. In each turn, the player must move the piece to a new square in the same row or column as the one in which the piece is currently. All squares that the piece moves across, including the ending square but excluding the starting square, must be white, and all squares that the piece moves across, including the ending square, become black by this move. Alma begins, and the first player unable to move loses. Which player may prepare a strategy which secures her the victory? [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/a/7/270d82f37b729bfe661f8a92cea8be67e5625c.png[/img]

Two are playing the game "cats and rats" on the chess-board $8\times 8$. The first has one piece -- a rat, the second -- several pieces -- cats. All the pieces have four available moves -- up, down, left, right -- to the neighbour field, but the rat can also escape from the board if it is on the boarder of the chess-board. If they appear on the same field -- the rat is eaten. The players move in turn, but the second can move all the cats in independent directions. a) Let there be two cats. The rat is on the interior field. Is it possible to put the cats on such a fields on the border that they will be able to catch the rat? b) Let there be three cats, but the rat moves twice during the first turn. Prove that the rat can escape.

Isaak and Jeremy play the following game. Isaak says to Jeremy that he thinks a few $2^n$ integers $k_1,..,k_{2^n}$. Jeremy asks questions of the form: ''Is it true that $k_i<k_j$ ?'' in which Isaak answers by always telling the truth. After $n2^{n-1}$ questions, Jeramy must decide whether numbers of Isaak are all distinct each other or not. Prove that Jeremy has bo way to be ''sure'' for his final decision. (UK)

There are $n$ coins in a row. Two players take turns picking a coin and flipping it. The location of the heads and tails should not repeat. Loses the one who can not make a move. Which of player can always win, no matter how his opponent plays?

$200$ soldiers occupy in a rectangle (military call it a square and educated military a carree): $20$ men (per row) times $10$ men (per column). In each row, we consider the tallest man (if some are of equal height, choose any of them) and of the $10$ men considered we select the shortest (if some are of equal height, choose any of them). Call him $A$. Next the soldiers assume their initial positions and in each column the shortest soldier is selected, of these $20$, the tallest is chosen. Call him $B$. Two colonels bet on which of the two soldiers chosen by these two distinct procedures is taller: $A$ or $B$. Which colonel wins the bet?

The lock of a safe consists of 3 wheels, each of which may be set in 8 different ways positions. Due to a defect in the safe mechanism the door will open if any two of the three wheels are in the correct position. What is the smallest number of combinations which must be tried if one is to guarantee being able to open the safe (assuming the "right combination" is not known)?

Let \( m \) and \( n \) be positive integers. Kellem and Carmen play the following game: initially, the number $0$ is on the board. Starting with Kellem and alternating turns, they add powers of \( m \) to the previous number on the board, such that the new value on the board does not exceed \( n \). The player who writes \( n \) wins. Determine, for each pair \( (m, n) \), who has the winning strategy. [b]Note:[/b] A power of \( m \) is a number of the form \( m^k \), where \( k \) is a non-negative integer.

John and James wish to divide $25$ coins, of denominations $1, 2, 3, \ldots , 25$ kopeks. In each move, one of them chooses a coin, and the other player decides who must take this coin. John makes the initial choice of a coin, and in subsequent moves, the choice is made by the player having more kopeks at the time. In the event that there is a tie, the choice is made by the same player in the preceding move. After all the coins have been taken, the player with more kokeps wins. Which player has a winning strategy? [i](6 points)[/i]

At the beginning of a two-player game, the number $2004!$ is written on the blackboard. The players move alternately. In each move, a positive integer smaller than the number on the blackboard and divisible by at most $20$ different prime numbers is chosen. This is subtracted from the number on the blackboard, which is erased and replaced by the difference. The winner is the player who obtains $0$. Does the player who goes first or the one who goes second have a guaranteed win, and how should that be achieved?