The Rubik’s Cube World Championship, which sees competitors battle to solve the iconic cube as quickly as possible, is being staged in France for the first time from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 July 2017 and will see a record number of ‘speedcubers’ in action.
Australian Feliks Zemdegs will defend the world title for the Rubik’s Cube, which he has held since winning in 2013 with an average solve time of 8.18 seconds and defended in 2015 with an average solve time of 7.56 seconds.
Although the championship is traditionally aimed at individual competitors, this year the inaugural Nations Cup will see teams of three from 45 countries go head-to-head for the first time.
Due to the excitement around the new Nations Cup format, it is anticipated that Ernő Rubik, the legendary Hungarian creator of the iconic Rubik’s Cube, will be in attendance at the event. A professor of architecture from Budapest, he created the cube in 1974 to encourage his students to think about spatial relationships. Since its international launch in 1980, an estimated 450 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold, making it the world’s most popular toy.
The Rubik’s Cube World Championship will take place at Les Docks de Paris, France, and will welcome 1,100 competitors from 69 countries, competing in eighteen individual competition classes, including blindfolded solving, solving with feet and tackling different puzzles. The first championship took place in 1982.
Australian Feliks Zemdegs holds the world record for the fastest solve of the Rubik’s Cube in an eye-watering 4.73 seconds in Melbourne in December 2016, although the Netherlands’ Mats Valk is fractionally behind with a best solve of 4.74 seconds in Indonesia in November 2016.
However, the competition’s rules mean that entrants solve the Rubik’s Cube five times. The fastest and slowest attempts are removed and an average time is taken so the competitor with the fastest single solve does not always win.
Again, Feliks Zemdegs held the world record for the best average solve time of 6.45 until April this year, when Max Park of the USA set an average solve time of 6.39 seconds.
With just eight tenths of a second between the world’s top ten speedcubers – all of whom will be in action in Paris – the Rubik’s Cube title promises to be hotly contested.
Below is a list of the world’s top ten speedcubers and their best average solve times:
1 Max Park USA 6.39
2 Feliks Zemdegs Australia 6.45
3 Sebastian Weyer Germany 6.81
4 Mats Valk Netherlands 6.83
5 Seung Hyuk Nahm Korea 6.86
6 Lucas Etter USA 6.89
7 Philipp Weyer Germany 7.10
7 Bill Wang Canada 7.10
9 Patrick Ponce USA 7.11
10 Michał Pleskowicz Poland 7.13
There are 18 individual events at the 2017 Rubik’s Cube World Championship, including:
• 2×2 Rubik’s Cube
• 3×3 Rubik’s Cube
• 4×4 Rubik’s Cube
• 5×5 Rubik’s Cube
• One-handed 3×3 Rubik’s Cube
• Blindfolded 3×3 Rubik’s Cube
• 3×3 Rubik’s Cube (fewest moves)
• 3×3 Rubik’s Cube with feet
• Rubik’s Clock
• 4×4 Rubik’s Cube blindfolded
• 5×5 Rubik’s Cube blindfolded
• 3×3 Rubik’s Cube multiple blindfolded
Chrisi Trussell of London-based Rubik’s Brand Ltd, which licences the Rubik’s Cube to distributors around the world, said, “The Rubik’s Cube World Championship in Paris is set to be by far the biggest speedcubing competition the world has seen, with over twice as many competitors as the previous World Championship.
“Because of the competitive nature of the field, there is bound to be an incredible sense of tension. Feliks Zemdegs is difficult to beat but it’s amazing to see so many keen cubers in action from all corners of the globe. Ultimately, this is a social event and it’s always energising to see the support competitors give each other.
“The introduction of the new Nations Cup, which allows countries to compete against each other, adds a layer of intrigue to the championship.”
Kaynak : 