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Interviews / frictionless

frictionless

Jeremy Sawicki

What is your best strategy for solving tough Marathon problems?

There are the usual go-to algorithms like simulated annealing and beam search, but it is also important to look for problem-specific insights or heuristics. I tend to focus a lot on performance, since more searching means better results, but a good heuristic can have an even bigger impact if you can find one.

How do you plan to prepare for the Marathon Match Tournament 2025 Final?

I have been preparing all along by competing. The best thing to do now is to get enough sleep.

Which skill or area do you think was most critical for your success in this tournament?

Looking back at my two first place results, they both involve constructing a graph using a fixed set of points within a larger map, precomputing as much as possible to make searching within the graph fast, and using SIMD for even more performance. All of that helps to perform a more thorough search within the limited time available.

If you had to describe your competitive style in one word, what would it be?

Frictionless.

Which coder or competitor do you admire most, and why?

I was outperformed by sullyper in all of the Marathon problems where he competed. I have to respect that.