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Original source (www.kerneloptimization.fun)
Clipped on: 2026-01-30
Kernel Optimization Challenge
Can You Beat Claude?
A community leaderboard for Anthropic's performance take-home challenge. Optimize your code to achieve the lowest clock cycles and see how you compare.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.
Recruiting Threshold: 1487 cycles
Claude Opus 4.5 Best: 1363 cycles
Leaderboard
Top performers ranked by clock cycles (lower is better)
| Rank | User | Best Score | Submissions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101th | 1,299 cycles | 14 | |
| 102th | 1,300 cycles | 3 | |
| 103th | 1,300 cycles | 27 | |
| 104th | 1,302 cycles | 19 | |
| 105th | 1,303 cycles | 50 | |
| 106th | 1,304 cycles | 4 | |
| 107th | 1,305 cycles | 21 | |
| 108th | 1,307 cycles | 7 | |
| 109th | 1,307 cycles | 12 | |
| 110th | 1,307 cycles | 25 | |
| 111th | 1,308 cycles | 7 | |
| 112th | 1,309 cycles | 10 | |
| 113th | 1,309 cycles | 5 | |
| 114th | 1,313 cycles | 9 | |
| 115th | 1,313 cycles | 1 | |
| 116th | 1,318 cycles | 69 | |
| 117th | 1,320 cycles | 20 | |
| 118th | 1,329 cycles | 28 | |
| 119th | 1,329 cycles | 20 | |
| 120th | 1,330 cycles | 10 | |
| 121th | 1,337 cycles | 14 | |
| 122th | 1,338 cycles | 3 | |
| 123th | 1,338 cycles | 3 | |
| 124th | 1,340 cycles | 51 | |
| 125th | 1,340 cycles | 1 |
Showing 101-125 of 379 participants
Page 5 of 16
How It Works
- Sign in with your X account
- Submit your optimized Python code
- We run it in a secure sandbox
- Your score appears on the leaderboard
Scoring
Performance is measured in clock cycles from the simulated machine. Lower is better. Beat 1,487 cycles to reach the recruiting threshold, or 1,363 cycles to match Claude Opus 4.5's best.
Rules
- 5 submissions per hour
- 30 second execution timeout
- Code must pass validation tests
- Only your best score counts
Based on Anthropic's Performance Take-Home Challenge
This is a community project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.