
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
In a checkered square of size  $2021\times 2021$  all cells are initially white. Ivan selects two cells and paints them black. At each step, all the cells that have at least one black neighbor by side are painted black simultaneously. Ivan selects the starting two cells so that the entire square is painted black as fast as possible. How many steps will this take?

*Ivan Yashchenko*

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
user