This website contains problems from math contests. Problems and corresponding tags were obtained from the Art of Problem Solving website.

Tags were heavily modified to better represent problems.

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Found problems: 117

2019 Saudi Arabia JBMO TST, 4

All the cells in a $8* 8$ board are colored white. Omar and Asaad play the following game: in the beginning Omar colors $n$ cells red, then Asaad chooses $4$ rows and $4$ columns and colors them black. Omar wins if there is at least one red cell. Find the least possible value for n such that Omar can always win regardless of Asaad's move.

2021 Dutch IMO TST, 1

Let $m$ and $n$ be natural numbers with $mn$ even. Jetze is going to cover an $m \times n$ board (consisting of $m$ rows and $n$ columns) with dominoes, so that every domino covers exactly two squares, dominos do not protrude or overlap, and all squares are covered by a domino. Merlin then moves all the dominoe color red or blue on the board. Find the smallest non-negative integer $V$ (in terms of $m$ and $n$) so that Merlin can always ensure that in each row the number squares covered by a red domino and the number of squares covered by a blue one dominoes are not more than $V$, no matter how Jetze covers the board.

2020 Argentina National Olympiad, 6

Let $n\ge 3$ be an integer. Lucas and Matías play a game in a regular $n$-sided polygon with a vertex marked as a trap. Initially Matías places a token at one vertex of the polygon. In each step, Lucas says a positive integer and Matías moves the token that number of vertices clockwise or counterclockwise, at his choice. a) Determine all the $n\ge 3$ such that Matías can locate the token and move it in such a way as to never fall into the trap, regardless of the numbers Lucas says. Give the strategy to Matías. b) Determine all the $n\ge 3$ such that Lucas can force Matías to fall into the trap. Give the strategy to Lucas. Note. The two players know the value of $n$ and see the polygon.

2017 Puerto Rico Team Selection Test, 2

Ana and Beta play a turn-based game on a $m \times n$ board. Ana begins. At the beginning, there is a stone in the lower left square and the objective is to move it to the upper right corner. A move consists of the player moving the stone to the right or up as many squares as the player wants. Find all the values ​​of $(m, n)$ for which Ana can guarantee victory.

2002 Abels Math Contest (Norwegian MO), 4

An integer is given $N> 1$. Arne and Britt play the following game: (1) Arne says a positive integer $A$. (2) Britt says an integer $B> 1$ that is either a divisor of $A$ or a multiple of $A$. ($A$ itself is a possibility.) (3) Arne says a new number $A$ that is either $B - 1, B$ or $B + 1$. The game continues by repeating steps 2 and 3. Britt wins if she is okay with being told the number $N$ before the $50$th has been said. Otherwise, Arne wins. a) Show that Arne has a winning strategy if $N = 10$. b) Show that Britt has a winning strategy if $N = 24$. c) For which $N$ does Britt have a winning strategy?

1995 Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik, 1

A game is played with two heaps of $p$ and $q$ stones. Two players alternate playing, with $A$ starting. A player in turn takes away one heap and divides the other heap into two smaller ones. A player who cannot perform a legal move loses the game. For which values of $p$ and $q$ can $A$ force a victory?

2013 Cuba MO, 5

Three players $A, B$ and $C$ take turns taking stones from a pile of $N$ stones. They play in the order $A$, $B$, $C$, $A$, $B$, $C$, $....$, $A$ starts the game and the one who takes the last stone loses. Players $A$ and $C$ They form a team against $B$, they agree on a strategy joint. $B$ can take $1, 2, 3, 4$ or $5$ stones on each move, while that $A$ and $C$ can each draw $1, 2$ or $3$ stones in each turn. Determine for which values of $N$ have winning strategies $A$ and $C$ , and for what values the winning strategy is $B$'s.

2020 Czech-Austrian-Polish-Slovak Match, 3

The numbers $1, 2,..., 2020$ are written on the blackboard. Venus and Serena play the following game. First, Venus connects by a line segment two numbers such that one of them divides the other. Then Serena connects by a line segment two numbers which has not been connected and such that one of them divides the other. Then Venus again and they continue until there is a triangle with one vertex in $2020$, i.e. $2020$ is connected to two numbers that are connected with each other. The girl that has drawn the last line segment (completed the triangle) is the winner. Which of the girls has a winning strategy? (Tomáš Bárta, Czech Republic)

2015 Latvia Baltic Way TST, 9

Two players play the following game on a square of $N \times N$ squares. They color one square in turn so that no two colored squares are on the same diagonal. A player who cannot make a move loses. For what values of $N$ does the first player have a winning strategy?

2019 Bosnia and Herzegovina Junior BMO TST, 3

$3.$ Let $S$ be the set of all positive integers from $1$ to $100$ included. Two players play a game. The first player removes any $k$ numbers he wants, from $S$. The second player's goal is to pick $k$ different numbers, such that their sum is $100$. Which player has the winning strategy if : $a)$ $k=9$? $b)$ $k=8$?

2021 Moldova Team Selection Test, 10

On a board there are written the integers from $1$ to $119$. Two players, $A$ and $B$, make a move by turn. A $move$ consists in erasing $9$ numbers from the board. The player after whose move two numbers remain on the board wins and his score is equal with the positive difference of the two remaining numbers. The player $A$ makes the first move. Find the highest integer $k$, such that the player $A$ can be sure that his score is not smaller than $k$.

2006 MOP Homework, 4

For positive integers $t,a$, and $b$, Lucy and Windy play the $(t,a,b)$- [i]game [/i] defined by the following rules. Initially, the number $t$ is written on a blackboard. On her turn, a player erases the number on the board and writes either the number $t - a$ or $t - b$ on the board. Lucy goes first and then the players alternate. The player who first reaches a negative losses the game. Prove that there exist infinitely many values of $t$ in which Lucy has a winning strategy for all pairs $(a, b)$ with $a + b = 2005$.

2017 May Olympiad, 4

Let $n$ be an even integer greater than $2$. On the vertices of a regular polygon with n sides we can place red or blue chips. Two players, $A$ and $B$, play alternating turns of the next mode: each player, on their turn, chooses two vertices that have no tiles and places on one of them a red chip and in the other a blue chip. The goal of $A$ is to get three vertices consecutive with tiles of the same color. $B$'s goal is to prevent this from happening. To the beginning of the game there are no tiles in any of the vertices. Show that regardless of who starts to play, Player $B$ can always achieve his goal.

2018 Junior Balkan Team Selection Tests - Romania, 3

Alina and Bogdan play the following game. They have a heap and $330$ stones in it. They take turns. In one turn it is allowed to take from the heap exactly $1$, exactly $n$ or exactly $m$ stones. The player who takes the last stone wins. Before the beginning Alina says the number $n$, ($1 < n < 10$). After that Bogdan says the number $m$, ($m \ne n, 1 < m < 10$). Alina goes first. Which of the two players has a winning strategy? What if initially there are 2018 stones in the heap? adapted from a Belarus Olympiad problem

2018 Estonia Team Selection Test, 9

Let $m$ and $n$ be positive integers. Player $A$ has a field of $m \times n$, and player $B$ has a $1 \times n$ field (the first is the number of rows). On the first move, each player places on each square of his field white or black chip as he pleases. At each next on the move, each player can change the color of randomly chosen pieces on your field to the opposite, provided that in no row for this move will not change more than one chip (it is allowed not to change not a single chip). The moves are made in turn, player $A$ starts. Player $A$ wins if there is such a position that in the only row player $B$'s squares, from left to right, are the same as in some row of player's field $A$. Prove that player $A$ has the ability to win for any game of player $B$ if and only if $n <2m$.

1999 ITAMO, 4

Albert and Barbara play the following game. On a table there are $1999$ sticks, and each player in turn removes some of them: at least one stick, but at most half of the currently remaining sticks. The player who leaves just one stick on the table loses the game. Barbara moves first. Decide which player has a winning strategy and describe that strategy.

KoMaL A Problems 2020/2021, A. 790

Andrew and Barry play the following game: there are two heaps with $a$ and $b$ pebbles, respectively. In the first round Barry chooses a positive integer $k,$ and Andrew takes away $k$ pebbles from one of the two heaps (if $k$ is bigger than the number of pebbles in the heap, he takes away the complete heap). In the second round, the roles are reversed: Andrew chooses a positive integer and Barry takes away the pebbles from one of the two heaps. This goes on, in each round the two players are reversing the roles. The player that takes the last pebble loses the game. Which player has a winning strategy? [i]Submitted by András Imolay, Budapest[/i]