The 2025 Universal Cup Finals 正式启动¶

2025 年 2 月 21 日上午 9 点，The 2025 Universal Cup Finals 在中国东莞华为溪村正式开幕！ 本文是 Universal Cup 创始人、联合主席陈靖邦先生的发言稿。

感谢 Qingyu 主席，王先生，明扬的精彩发言，作为 Universal Cup 创始人之一，很高兴能有机会和大家分享我的感受。即使现在站在这里，我依然不敢相信， 我们真的邀请到了全世界最优秀的选手来参加由我们自己亲手举办的现场赛事。对于一位算法竞赛选手来说，这是一个过于疯狂的梦想。这首先要感谢华为公司的大力支持， 没有你们，这一切都不会成真。非常感谢！

Many thanks to President Qingyu, Mr. Wang, and Mingyang for your wonderful and inspiring speeches. As one of the founders of the Universal Cup, I am very glad to have this opportunity to share my thoughts with everyone. Even now, I still find it hard to believe that we indeed have invited all the best programmers from all over the world to participate in an onsite contest event that we organize by ourselves. For a competitive programming participant, this is a fantasy dream that is too hard to believe. First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Huawei for the strong support. Without it, none of this would have come true. Thank you very much!

今天我站在这里，台下有我因竞赛结识的朋友，有我一直崇拜的偶像，有引领我进行学习和研究的两位导师，甚至还有我未来将一同开展合作和科研的同事 和伙伴。而这一切，都是因为十五年前，我选择写下第一个 Pascal 程序，输入半径，求解圆的面积。虽然那时我连有效数字和浮点数都分不清楚，但当我 推开这扇大门，从此我便流连于这个充满无限乐趣和可能性的世界。我非常感恩生命中能有这样的选择机会，我也感谢自己选择迈出这一步，从此一往无前， 从无后悔和犹豫，正如在座各位一样。

Today, as I stand here, in the audience there are friends I met through competitions, idols I have always admired and respected, two mentors who have guided me in my studies and research for almost a decade, and even colleagues and partners that I will conduct research together in the future. And all of this is because fifteen years ago, I chose to write down my first Pascal program, inputting the radius to calculate the area of a circle. Although at that time I couldn't even distinguish between significant digits and floating-point numbers, once I opened this door, I became immersed in a world full of infinite joy and possibilities. I am deeply grateful for having the opportunity to make such a choice in life, and I also thank myself for taking that first step, and from that point on, I always move forward without no hesitation and regret. Just the same as everyone here.

然而，一切都会有尽头，哪怕是个休止符，也需要你停下来思考。尽管我们总说"永不退役"，但随着年龄的增长，生活总会需要你把更多的精力放在 别的事情上。在我逐渐淡化选手身份的这几年里，我一直在以不一样的视角，去参与算法竞赛，甚至是参与创造算法本身。在读博的这五年里，我当过 讲师、教练，也当过出题人、裁判。回报社区和实现自我的平衡总是困难的，但在这个过程中，我有幸认识了其他几位创始人。2023 年 12 月， Universal Cup 正式启动。

However, everything has an end, even if it's just a rest mark, it requires you to pause and reflect. Although we always say, 'never retire,' as we grow older, life will inevitably demand that you focus more on other things. Over the past few years, as I gradually faded from my role as a competitor, I've been participating in competitive programming from different perspectives, and even involved in developing algorithms themselves. During my five years of pursuing a PhD, I've been acting as a trainer, a coach, and sometimes a problem setter or a judge. Balancing giving back to the community and fulfilling personal ambitions is always challenging, but through this process, I've had the privilege of meeting several other co-founders. In December 2023, the Universal Cup officially launched.

我们一直在思考自己能做些什么。对于现在的社区来说，资源是丰富的，但更多缺乏的是对资源的合理使用。因此我们选择从举办定期线上赛事 开始。利用这个方式，我们将全球的优质赛题做了统合，增强了跨地域、跨年龄的交流。我们实质上借鉴了由 Oleg Hristenko 创办并经营了 近二十年的 Open Cup 赛事。作为选手，我们非常感谢他一直以来的付出。作为 Universal Cup，我们还要感谢项目启动之后他对我们的认可 和支持。到今天，我们依然延续着良好的合作关系，他山之石，可以攻玉，希望通过前人的经验能让 Universal Cup 变得更好。

We have always been thinking about what we can do. For the current community, resources are abundant, but what's often lacking is the proper utilization of these resources. Therefore, we chose to start by organizing regular online competitions. Through this approach, we've integrated high-quality problems from around the world and enhanced communication across regions and ages. Essentially, we've drawn inspiration from the Open Cup competition, founded and operated by Oleg Hristenko for nearly twenty years. As participants, we are truly grateful for his long-standing contributions. As Universal Cup, we are also thankful for the recognition and support he has shown us since the project's launch. To this day, we continue to maintain a strong cooperative relationship. We hope to make the Universal Cup even better by learning from the wisdom of those who came before us.

我不想将今日举办线下决赛视作成功的标志。对我们而言，它更多的是证明了我们过去两年的努力获得了来自各界的一定认可。但 Universal Cup 接下来还有很多路要走，很多事要做。延续与存活，依然是现在我们的主要目标。我们在致力于构建一个合理的体系，让一切 都变得可持续。进而才是谋发展，让更多有才华的人能够在我们这里实现自己的想法，以更多元的方式去帮助整个社区的发展。这很难，这真的 很难。所以我们需要非常努力，更需要和在座各位一同努力。"同一个世界，同一个梦想"，这是2008年北京奥运会的口号，我想这也适用于我们， 它和 Universal Cup 的宗旨也不谋而合。在当今这个冲突逐渐加剧的世界里，这样的声音也许是难能可贵的，但我们愿意为此奉献全部的热情 和能量。我们也期待大家能加入我们，一同探讨让算法竞赛社区变得更好的可能性。

I don't want to view today's onsite finals as a sign of success. For us, it's more of a confirmation that our efforts over the past two years have gained recognition from various circles. But the Universal Cup still has a long way to go, and a lot to accomplish. Continuity and survival remain our primary goals for now. We are working on building a reasonable system to make everything sustainable. Only then can we focus on development, allowing more talented individuals to bring their ideas to life with us and help the community grow in more diverse ways. This is difficult, it's really difficult. That's why we need to work incredibly hard and, more importantly, we need to work together with everyone here. "One world, one dream." This was the slogan of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and I believe it also applies to us. It aligns perfectly with the mission of the Universal Cup. In today's world, where conflicts are gradually intensifying, such a message may be rare, but we are willing to dedicate all our passion and energy to deliver it. We also hope everyone can consider joining us, seeking and exploring the possibilities for making the competitive programming community better.

常常有人问我，Universal Cup 到底想要达成什么目标。今天我想试着给出我自己的一个答案，这同时也是另一场奥运会——2012年伦敦奥运会的 口号："激励一代人。"曾经我们都是被前人的努力激励的一代人。他们在以他们的方式为后来者照亮前路，或者构建做题网站，或者举办训练营。 这些前辈们今天可能就坐在台下，我也想代表 Universal Cup 和我们这一代人，道一声感谢。今天我们所做的，也终究无法取代他人的努力，更 无法抵挡时代变迁带来的阵痛。当今世界，充满着机遇和挑战，人工智能正在以所有人都意想不到的速度进行着升级和发展，进而极大影响和改变我 们的生活。正因为这样，哪怕只有一点点，我们也希望能够将我们的经验传授给更年轻一代人；能够将我们自身的影响力转变成促进社区变革和破圈， 促进算法竞赛和工业界、学术界交流的动力。甚至哪怕只是在年轻选手的心中树立起一个前进的方向和目标，这也会让我们感受到所做的一切都是有 意义的。我觉得这是一个既简单又复杂的目标，但号角已经吹响，弓箭已经上弦，接下来就看看我们能够做到什么地步吧。

People often ask me what exactly Universal Cup aims to achieve. Today, I'd like to try and give my own answer, which also happens to be the slogan of another Olympic Games—the 2012 London Olympics: 'Inspire a Generation.' We were once that generation inspired by the efforts of those before us. They lit the way for the generations that followed, in their own ways. For example, building online judge systems or hosting onsite training camps. Some of these pioneers are literally sitting in the audience. I would like to say thank you on behalf of the Universal Cup and all our generation. We truly understand that, what we are doing today can never replace the efforts of others, nor can it prevent the growing pains brought by the changing of times. The world today is full of opportunities and challenges, and artificial intelligence is evolving and advancing at an unexpectedly fast speed, significantly affecting and changing our lives. Because of this, even if just a little, we hope to pass on our experience to the younger generation; to transform our own influence into a driving force that promotes community transformation; To bridge gaps, and foster communication between the CP community, the industry, and academia. Even if it's just about setting a direction and goal in the hearts of younger generations, this is already very meaningful to all of us. I believe this is a goal that is both simple and complicated, but the horn has already sounded, and the bow string is drawn. Now, let's see how far we can go.

再次感谢各位的支持，祝大家在东莞玩得开心，在比赛中赛出好成绩。最后再次允许我给大家拜个晚年，新年快乐，祝蛇年吉祥，万事如意！

Once again, thank you all for your support. I wish everyone a great time in Dongguan and excellent results in the 2025 Universal Cup Finals. Finally, please allow me to wish you all a belated Happy Chinese New Year. 蛇年吉祥，万事如意 (mandarin), Wishing you a prosperous Year of the Snake and all the best in everything!