Problem

Source: 2002 China National Olmpiad

Tags: graph theory, combinatorics proposed, combinatorics



In a competition there are $18$ teams and in each round $18$ teams are divided into $9$ pairs where the $9$ matches are played coincidentally. There are $17$ rounds, so that each pair of teams play each other exactly once. After $n$ rounds, there always exists $4$ teams such that there was exactly one match played between these teams in those $n$ rounds. Find the maximum value of $n$.