Problem

Source: St Petersburg 2022 11.3

Tags: algebra



Ivan and Kolya play a game, Ivan starts. Initially, the polynomial $x-1$ is written of the blackboard. On one move, the player deletes the current polynomial $f(x)$ and replaces it with $ax^{n+1}-f(-x)-2$, where $\deg(f)=n$ and $a$ is a real root of $f$. The player who writes a polynomial which does not have real roots loses. Can Ivan beat Kolya?