A game of cutting
Source: All-Russian Olympiad 2019 grade 10 problem 2
April 23, 2019
Combinatorial gamesgame strategyarithmeticcombinatorics
Problem Statement
Pasha and Vova play the following game, making moves in turn; Pasha moves first. Initially, they have a large piece of plasticine. By a move, Pasha cuts one of the existing pieces into three(of arbitrary sizes), and Vova merges two existing pieces into one. Pasha wins if at some point there appear to be pieces of equal weights. Can Vova prevent Pasha's win?