ChGK in the Prairie

Chapter 20: Crashing the Quantum Computers

The main event, the ChGK Nationals proper, takes up day 2, with an Orthodox mass being held beforehand.

Once the mass ends, the team comes together and then they all start shaking. We did well in brain ring last night, we should be in good position to finish on top. However, I am afraid that two years of sacrifices will be done for nothing if we lose! Patricia ruminates, while she knew what difference she made on the team. Near the entrance to the Russian Mission School's gymnasium:

"Pray that we don't get too many questions on pop culture; that was the topic on the question we failed last year! I get it, it's not like quiz bowl" Patricia then proceeds to pray. Amen.

"That's why you have me to begin with" the sixth player then comments.

"The reason why you feel like we trust you too much is because the question sets tend to lean towards the more academic at higher levels. You are fantastic in history, arts and literature, but only once or twice this season has science questions on a level more advanced than AP courses in high school been asked in ChGK" Yakiv explains to his captain.

The Russian high school system of my time pushed regular tenth and eleventh graders to the level of AP science courses in the US, and humanities got the shaft. And, if you were good, you were often pushed to compete in subject olympiads at the raion level, my own school just picked the best 3 kids in a given subject, Bohdan gets flashbacks from his own time in school when Yakiv mentioned the subject levels of the questions asked earlier in the season.

"So you think my relative weakness in the sciences, outside of maybe biomedical sciences, was not a liability because of the content level?" Patricia asks.

"Yes. My ex was an electrical engineer, he knew more about physical sciences but he was a more one-dimensional znatok (connoisseur) than you. But you implicitly admitted that your scientific weakness was relative, and more specifically relative to yourself in other subjects. You're still pretty strong in science in a ChGK context" Vira explains to her.

"If you compared me to the pool of players in the Great Plains, Rockies and the South, sure, I would be a solid player all-around. If you compared me to historical greats such as Potashev, Druz or Wasserman..." Patricia laments, knowing the basis of comparison can drastically change the conclusion.

Patricia is right. Several of the all-time ChGK greats hold advanced degrees in STEM subjects. But let's not forget about how Russian college students were pretty much expected to continue into graduate school as usually understood by Americans, Bohdan muses, realizing that the bulk of the American ChGK talent is in coastal areas. The most advanced science questions we were asked in tournaments tended to be at most on the level of, well, AP courses, and that was, like, in major international tournaments. Or the Achievement Junkie Invitational.

"I must say the following: on average, competitive ChGK science questions, of which you know by now there isn't a whole lot, tend to have a content ceiling not to exceed approximately ninth to tenth grade" Yakiv comments on the science question content.

"Today, the results of two long years of sacrifices will bear their fruits! We shall crash the Quantum Computers and secure the United States' berth at the ChGK Worlds!" Patricia exclaims, followed by the rest of the team.

"Go Kansas!"

And then the tournament director gives the signal to all teams to get seated at their designated tables. Up to this point, there is no question that appears anything unlike other ChGK tournaments they took part in this season. But then comes a question that eerily starts to feel more like Achievement Junkie Invitational questions, or collegiate quiz bowl bonus parts. In the middle of the second game of the day, no less.