World record for solving Rubik's cube 3. Speedcubers and world records

Speedcubers, who are they? A speedcuber is a person who solves a Rubik's cube at speed. And in fact, anyone who times themselves while solving a Rubik's cube is a speedcuber. And even if his result is 40 minutes, this person is still a speedcuber.

However, any novice speedcuber is able to assemble this puzzle in less time. But what are real pros capable of in this matter? Do you know anything about them?

The first world record was set by 16-year-old Vietnamese-American student Minh Thai, who was able to solve the puzzle in 22.95 seconds. This happened at the world's first speedcubing championship - World Rubik's Cube Championship 1982. This is especially impressive considering that the record was not set on a modern speed cube with magnets, and on one of the first versions of the Rubik's cube, which had a very mediocre torsion.

After this there was a lull. Not because there were no tournaments, but because there was no organization that could organize the results of all participants.

In 2004 this place was taken by WCA - World Cube Association (World Cube Association). From that moment on, the results of all participants are saved in the database.

Since those distant times, records have been updated more than once. The rules and dice changed, new disciplines were added, and, of course, new record holders appeared.

The best in the business

One of the best speedcubers of this decade, the record holder among record holders is Felix Zemdegs. This young Australian has already set 117 world records and holds the current world record in the 3x3x3 cube - 4.22 seconds for a single attempt and 5.8 seconds for the average of five solves, in 4x4 and 5x5 cubes, in solving a Rubik's cube with one hand.

His results are impressive, although he started out like all speedcubers. In 2008, when he was 12 years old, he became interested in speedcubing and began training. By January 2010, he was the first in the world to solve a Rubik's cube in less than 10 seconds. Since then he has won everything and won competitions. And at the age of 17, at the World Championships, Felix proved that he was the best speedcuber in the world.

It may seem that Felix Zemdegs does not meet competition at tournaments, but this is by no means the case. It has many competitors from different countries.

One of its main competitors is Max Park. The American athlete already holds 12 world records. Of course, after Felix's results, this is not all that impressive, but if you dig deeper, each of them is amazing.

What is his record for the average time of five solving a Rubik's cube with one hand? He was the first in the world to do this in less than 10 seconds. He also holds records in solving 6x6 and 7x7 cubes, both in a single assembly and in the average time of five assemblies, as well as in the average time on a 4x4 cube.

And the next record holder is known not only for his records - Mats Falk (this is how his last name is read in Dutch). His name began to be mentioned many times more often after he signed a contract with QiYi MoFangGe, one of the world's main brands. Their flagship model was named after him, you all know everything about this cube - it is now one of the best.

Mats was able to set 5 world records. But the most offensive situation happened to him at the Jawa Timur Open 2016. It was there that he set a world record of 4.74 seconds, but not for long. A little later, at the same competition, Felix Zemdegs made a 4.73 and broke Mats' record.

And Max Park took all the records from Kevin Hayes, not only world ones, but also national ones, because they are both from the USA. But still, Kevin was the first person in the world who was able to solve a 7x7 cube in less than 2 minutes, and he was already able to set 20 world records.

Moreover, the Yuxin company cooperates with the American. They want to name a 7x7 cube after him, and maybe even a whole series of large cubes. And since Yuxin knows how to make quick and high-quality puzzles, the series will undoubtedly turn out great.

It may seem that all the best speedcubers are abroad, but this is not the case. There are many worthy speedcubers in our country.

For example, Dmitry Dobryakov. It is he who holds the Russian record for solving a Rubik's cube both in a single attempt and in average time. And it is he who will represent Russia at the Red Bull Rubik's Cube World Championship in Boston.

And in due time the whole world learned the name of Vladislav Shavelsky, who set two world records in such a discipline as solving a 7x7x7 cube. He also set 13 European records and 27 Russian records in disciplines from 4x4x4 to 7x7x7. He still holds the Russian records for assembling 5x5x5 and 7x7x7 cubes.

Or Roman Strakhov, who has repeatedly set world and European records for solving a 5x5x5 Rubik's cube blindly. He is now ranked third in the world in this discipline.

Russian speedcubing also knows the name of Dmitry Kryuzban, who set 60 Russian records and even a European record.

Every year we discover new names and faces that bring Russian speedcubing to the world level. Some of them are close to national records or have already achieved them: Alexey Zharikov, Artem Ganzha, Andrey Che and many others.

How to reach a professional level in speedcubing?

But how to achieve such results? Is it even possible to catch up with such speedcubing mastodons? And how to do this?

Of course, such results are achieved after many years of training. But everyone has different abilities and approaches to training, so there is no universal method.

There are a lot different ways assemblies: Jessica Friedrich method, Roux method, ZZ and many others. Try different formulas, training methods and you will find the one that suits you.

And no matter how many formulas you know, don’t stop. Each new formula improves your skills.

But no matter what method you use, you definitely need to study the Look ahead technique, literally “look ahead.” The point is to think through all your moves in advance.

To train it, you need to use a type of training called slow turn, that is, specifically collect the cube slowly and see all the movements of the elements.

For the first time, the popular mechanical puzzle called the Rubik's Cube (very often mistakenly called the Rubik's cube) became known in 1974, when the Hungarian sculptor Erne Rubik presented his creation to the world. In the original (classic version) the puzzle consisted of three rows of multi-colored cubes, consisting of 24 elements with 54 color faces. For this reason the puzzle was called 3x3x3. All parts are made of plastic and can rotate around their axis.

Each visible side of such a cube consists of 9 faces of the same color, which in their initial state are chaotic. In the future, he needs to rotate the cube around the axes until all the colors on one side come together. The game is over when all 6 sides of the cube are composed of elements of the same color.

It is worth noting that today the Rubik's Cube is considered one of the most popular toys. Over the entire period from the moment of its creation, over 350 million of these products were sold in the world.

It is important to note that later the Rubik's Cube received some improvements and variations. Today modifications are known from 2x2x2 (when you need to add only 2 faces on each side) to 17x17x17 (this is more of a computer puzzle). Toys in the form of trapezoids, pyramids, gigaminxes and other varieties are also produced. But it remains the most popular classic version 3x3x3.

World records for Rubik's Cube 3x3x3

It is not surprising that the appearance of this puzzle and a huge number of such toys in the hands of teenagers provoked an unprecedented excitement and gave impetus to competitions between them. Initially (at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries), such competitions had a relatively formal format. But with the advent of the global network, when the opportunity arose to actually live record your results and share them with other cubers, work with this puzzle has significantly accelerated. Even informally, a time limit was set for a real super champion - namely, he must solve the classic version of the Rubik's Cube in a time interval not exceeding 10 seconds.

This milestone was first surpassed in May 2007 by the Frenchman Thibaut Jacqulineau. During the assembly, he managed to complete the task in a record time - it took only 9.86 seconds for all the edges of the puzzle to be painted the same colors. It is important to note that this record did not last long. He was beaten twice in 2007 and 2008, and later almost sensational moments began to arise in cubing. Thus, already in July 2008, Erik Akkersdijk established the phenomenal speed of assembling the magic cube in the classic version at that time - it took the cuber only 7.08 seconds to complete the full assembly cycle. What an unprecedented result at that time. True, this record did not last long. They managed to surpass it already in 2010 with a new result of 6.77 seconds. And this is not the limit either.

Of course, 3x3x3 is the most commonly used puzzle variant in competitions, but other variants are also beginning to gradually develop today. Already today, records in the nominations are officially recorded high-speed assembly puzzles with parameters 2x2x2, 4x4x4, puzzles 5x5x5, as well as 6x6x6, and with them 7x7x7 are gaining momentum. At the same time, computer development does not stand aside, when the assembly of puzzles is entrusted to “artificial” intelligence.

To understand what stage the competitive process is at today, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with several officially recorded records to date.

Rubik's Cube records 2x2x2

• In January 2014, the unsurpassed Australian cuber Felix Zembegs was able to please his fans with another unprecedented result in the speed of solving the Rubik's Cube - he managed to correctly set the colors on all its sides in just 0.88 seconds.
• Another quite impressive record for the speed of solving a Rubik's Cube with 2x2x2 parameters at the world championship in September 2015 was set by Lukas Etter, which took place in Nashville. It took him only 1.51 seconds to do this.
• In 2016, a new world record for solving a 2x2x2 Rubik's Cube was achieved by Pole Maciej Czapiewski, who needed only 0.49 seconds to align all the faces!

Rubik's Cube records 4x4x4

• In 2014, the fastest time to solve a 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube was recorded by German cuber Sebastian Weyer, who took just a then-record 21.97 seconds.
• Later, already in 2015, 19-year-old Australian Felix Zembegs, at a competition that took place in China, managed to solve a 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube in just 4.9 seconds.

Something incredible happened today: Chinese speedcuber Yusheng Du broke the world record for solving a Rubik's cube at the WuHu Open 2018 competition!

This event is solely for three reasons:

1) The previous world record was 4.22, that is, Yusheng Du beat it by as much as 0.75, which is simply incredible at this level! It’s scary to think how hard you’ll have to try to jump even higher than this result.

2) This assembly is the first official sub-4 in history. Why, it would be more correct to call it sub-3.5, because with such results, fractions of seconds count!

3) Everyone expected the next world record from Felix Zemdegs, Max Park or someone comparable in popularity and level, but Yusheng Du is not at all that famous.
Many were also confused by the average time of the speedcuber in this round - 9.00 , which clearly does not correspond to such a crazy single attempt.

If you look into his WCA profile, then it becomes clear what he has already done Avg5=7.43 at competitions, that is, this August was not very successful for him. His previous official record is 6.03 , although MoYu writes on their Instagram that Du’s personal home record is 3.41

These are already quite serious results, but the new WR still raised a lot of doubts: Was there a mistake in the scramble? Will the result be counted?
A video could quickly clear everything up, but the angle and quality were far from the best.

Nevertheless, everything was heading towards the fact that the record would still be counted. Many well-known brands (MoYu, MoFangGe, YuXin) almost immediately posted the champion’s result on social networks.

By the way, the record was set on the good old . As you know, the MoYu company has a scholarship program, according to which Du will receive $13,000 for his record on this cube.

The doubts finally dissipated a little later.
“Getting lucky is not a crime” - the World Speedcubing Association congratulated the champion, reminding everyone how back in 2008 there was already a big jump from the old record to the new one - from 8.72 to 7.08.

Here's a reconstruction of the assembly. The scramble turned out to be really very successful: Yusheng Du calculated a double xcross, after which two easy pairs awaited him, and then an ALL fish, which was solved using the standard algorithm, but with reverse side, the speedcuber entered the PLL skip with a turn.

Scramble: F U2 L2 B2 F" U L2 U R2 D2 L" B L2 B" R2 U2
Reconstruction:
Inspection: z y
XXC: U R2 U" F" L F" U" L"
3rd F2L: U" R U R2 U R
4th F2L: U2 R" U R
OLL: U R" U" R U" R" U2 R
AUF: U
7.78 TPS

“3746 USD per second XD” - a humorous note from MoYu - 3746 dollars per second :)

Many people rushed to make a video analysis of the solution to this scramble; Yulia Avizorra was one of the first to do so.

So, this record can be called a truly significant event! Today it has become clear once again that new achievements in speedcubing are a completely unpredictable phenomenon.

What do you think is the next record? Who will install it? When will this happen?