The 41st Balkan Mathematical Olympiad begins in Bulgaria with the participation of 21 countries

On April 27, the 41st Balkan Mathematics Olympiad begins in Bulgaria. It will be held until May 2 in “St. Constantine and Elena”, Varna. More than 130 students from 21 countries from all over the world will come to us, reports the Association of Olympic Science Teams. The regulation of the competition provides that 10 official countries from the Balkans and guest countries of the tournament, which this year will be 11 in number, take part in it. They include countries such as France, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and others. Bulgaria, as the host, will be represented by two teams at the tournament.

The Balkan Mathematics Olympiad was founded by Bulgaria, Romania and Greece in 1984, when the tournament was held in Athens. Over the years, the Balkaniad gained popularity and became one of the most serious international events, which entered the calendars of dozens of guest countries participating outside the official ranking. Competition day for students is one and this year it will be April 29. Within 4 and a half hours, each student solves 4 problems, which includes one problem each from the topics Algebra, Combinatorics, Geometry, and Number Theory. Each team can appear with up to 6 students, which means that 138 competitors will test their knowledge at the Balkaniad.

The main organizers of the Balkan Mathematics Olympiad in Bulgaria are the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) and the Union of Mathematicians in Bulgaria (SMB). The chairman of the organizing committee is Art. Cor. Nikolay Nikolov, and the secretaries are Prof. Stanislav Harizanov and Eng. Alexander Velinov. The patron of the tournament is the mayor of Varna, Blagomir Kotsev, and the Ministry of Education and Culture has chosen “Dr. Petar Beron” as the school-organizer of the event. Partners of the Balkaniad are Jane Street, Astea Solutions and the Association of Olympic Teams in Natural Sciences.

In recent years, the Bulgarian participants have always won medals and in the unofficial team ranking, our country is in the top 3. The students who defend the Bulgarian tribagrenik at the Balkaniad are chosen among the best performers from the Autumn Mathematical Tournament, the National Winter Mathematical Competition and the Spring Mathematical Competition. Then they go through an additional selection with control competitions, where the best 6 enter the national team for the competition, and the next 6 ranked from 9 to 11 grades enter the second Bulgarian team.

Tasks for the Balkaniad are chosen after each participating country (excluding the hosts) proposes up to 5 tasks, after which the hosts form a committee that selects a ShortList of tasks – 5-6 tasks from each of the four areas. Finally, the jury of the Olympiad, consisting of the leaders of the official participating countries, chooses the competition theme the day before the competition itself.