Is it really impressive, or just kind of interesting?

If they spent about 10 GWh solving the problem (was it solved?) then that is much much more than 500 lifetimes of a human brain working.

A specific version of the problem has been solved. But not the broader, harder version. The article explains that fairly clearly.

I’m very anti AI and OpenAI, and do think it’s a pretty interesting finding! Very likely not worth their spend, but interesting and novel nonetheless the less