1st annual offline tournament "Best Of The Best"

What if someone finds it? Is that even theoretically possible?

Theoretically, yes!
This artwork isn't prohibited by the map author, so it might appear somewhere... Keep searching :) If you find it, you're lucky, and you can safely use it...

Furthermore, the lack of results from other players until the end of the tournament leaves some (albeit small, and for some, large) hope that your result will be one of the best => you are less likely to stop playing halfway through.

Therefore, it is quite fair that the rules state that anyone who announces information about their playthrough and results before the end of the tournament will be disqualified... In order not to diminish interest in the tournament.

In general, I didn't check one location on the map for the artifact I was looking for, because it's easier to finish the map than to go there.

It's not there either; I checked there first, even though I got beaten up... :D Although, judging by the guards, it would have been more logical to generate a save file so that it would be there. But, apparently, that's too complicated...