HSE Students Win Six Gold Medals at International Mathematics Competition for University Students

© HSE University

Students from the HSE Faculty of Computer Science (FCS) and Faculty of Mathematics have won six gold medals at the International Mathematics Competition for University Students (IMC). HSE students also received silver and bronze medals. One of the world’s most prestigious international university mathematics competitions, IMC 2026 was held in July–August this year in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.

The IMC is organised by University College London and the American University in Bulgaria. This year, more than 450 students representing over 50 leading universities from around the world took part in the competition.

It was not easy to qualify for the HSE team competing in the IMC: throughout the year, students must actively participate in other mathematics olympiads and competitions, including the FCS Open Student Mathematics Olympiad.

The team was accompanied by Ivan Kukharchuk, an expert at the FCS Centre of Student Competitions. Throughout the academic year, he runs training sessions for students preparing for olympiads.

The HSE team ranked among the top 10 universities in the unofficial team standings.

Who Represented HSE at the IMC

Gold medals were won by Aleksandr Klimchuk, a third-year student, and Artemii Bakaev, a second-year student, both from the Applied Mathematics and Information Science programme at the Faculty of Computer Science, as well as first-year students Ainur Makhmutov, Nikita Zolin, and Andrei Kandrashkin. Aleksei Pozdeev, a second-year student at the Faculty of Mathematics, also won gold.

Silver medals went to first-year Applied Mathematics and Information Science students Mikhail Dalinger and Roman Prozorov, as well as Taisiia Lipatova, a second-year student at the Faculty of Mathematics.

Karim Alyautdinov, a second-year student on the Bachelor's in Economics and Data Science at the Faculty of Computer Science and the Faculty of Economic Sciences, and Vasilii Silvestrov, a third-year Applied Mathematics and Information Science student, won bronze medals.

HSE/NES Programme in Economics students Artush Khachatrian (second year), Egor Razzhivin, and Denis Zorin (both fourth year), also received bronze medals. Artemii Stankevich and Nikolai Sergeev, both fourth-year students, received honourable mentions for successfully solving particularly challenging problems.

Aleksandr Klimchuk

Aleksandr Klimchuk took part in the IMC for the second consecutive year. ‘In terms of the difficulty of the problems, I would say that it was a little easier this time. Perhaps that is why I found last year’s problems more interesting. But that did not affect my mood, and I am happy with the result,’ the student said. ‘Bulgaria is a pleasant and welcoming country. The biggest challenge here was the incredible heat. Even the fans could not completely save us during the competition. Most importantly, I got to talk to many friends from other universities—that is my favourite part of the competition.’

Aleksei Pozdeev and Taisiia Lipatova

Photo courtesy of Aleksei Pozdeev

After years of preparing for competitions, Aleksei Pozdeev felt confident at the IMC, but he also understood that he might not get a second chance to perform well. ‘Our whole life is about preparing for mathematics olympiads,’ he said. ‘When you move from being a school student to a university student, the importance of self-study increases dramatically.’ Aleksei particularly enjoyed talking to IMC participants from other countries. ‘The most interesting high-level discussions I have ever had over a chessboard took place at the IMC,’ the student noted. ‘And it is always interesting to come up with solutions that are better than the ones proposed by the organisers—and this time, I managed to do it.’

Mikhail Dalinger

Mikhail Dalinger also appreciated the atmosphere of the event. ‘There were lots of students from all sorts of countries, and I had a chance to meet many of them,’ he said. ‘Of all the problems, I liked the ninth one best. At first glance, it looks quite difficult, but if you keep trying for long enough, it can be solved using almost any approach. This was my first international competition at such a high level, and I was impressed by the high standard of organisation and the quality of the problems.’

Vasilii Silvestrov

‘It is great that there are events where people from all over the world come together to solve mathematical problems, play volleyball, and simply socialise,’ Vasilii Silvestrov said. This was his first trip to the IMC, and he says he will remember it for a long time. ‘The problems at the competition were slightly more difficult than usual, which threw me off, as it did roughly half of the participants. I hope that next year the HSE team will win even more medals and achieve higher places,’ Vasilii said.

The team stayed in Blagoevgrad. ‘As far as sights are concerned, there is basically only a cross on the mountain, and we climbed up to it every evening in a very diverse group—Indians, Colombians, and locals, as well as Poles, Cypriots, and Russians,’ the student said. ‘The atmosphere of a small town makes you think about how important it is who surrounds you in life. If you are surrounded by interesting people, you never get bored, even when you spend an hour walking up a mountain with them every day.’

Ivan Kukharchuk

‘This year, the HSE students achieved an excellent result at the IMC: our university made it into the top 10 in the world,’ Ivan Kukharchuk said. ‘It is particularly pleasing that the team included many completely new faces, for whom this was their first experience of taking part in an international university olympiad. I am sure that those taking part for the first time will be able to improve their results and win the gold they are aiming for next year. I encourage everyone not to be afraid and to take part in HSE’s selection process for international competitions. Keep an eye out for information about our Open Olympiad—its first round will take place as early as September. See you on the team!’