Click, click, click – the sound of arranging a Rubik’s cube resonates in the air as 17-year old Aashrit Maheish twists and turns the puzzle around. By the time you realise what is happening, he has already arranged it colour–wise in 15 seconds. Then he proceeds to crack it blindfolded and then with his feet.
The teenager is one of the organisers of the 2015 Rubik’s cube Indian National championships to be held in Chennai for three days starting May 29. This is the second time the contest is being held in India. The first was in Mumbai in 2014.
“This time, three youngsters who are part of the C- Cube club – Kesava Kirupa, a class XI student of Chettinad Vidyashram, Hari Anirudh, studying in National Institute of Technology, Trichy and I are organising it in the city,” says Aashrit.
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He says the youngest competitor in the events is a five-year-old and the oldest is about 60. “This year, around 400 people have registered. But, we are expecting around 300 persons to take part in the event. There are different competition categories including speed solving, blindfolded solving, multiple-blindfolded solving, one-handed solving and cracking the puzzle with the feet,” he adds.
Solving the cube is a very engrossing pastime that is gaining popularity in the city. “I started practising it two-and-a-half years ago by looking at videos on YouTube. It used to take me two minutes to solve the puzzle earlier, now it takes only 15 seconds. I am trying to improve the timing,” says Aashrit, who has just completed his class XII from Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School in Mylapore. His fastest record he claims is eight seconds.
According to him, the cube has helped in academics too. “I was not good in maths, but this sport helped me improve my performance in the subject as it developed my logical skills and also my patience,” explains the teenager.
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Kesava Kirupa, who has been into speed cubing for more than three years, says that his friend taught him how to solve the puzzle. “It has helped me to focus more on subjects,” he adds.
Aashrit says more and more students should take up speed cubing. “There are no centres which teach you to solve Rubik’s cube. It has to be either learnt through practice or from the internet,” he adds.
Rubik's cube facts
The Rubik's cube was invented in 1970 by professor Erno Rubik who wanted a 3D model to demonstrate to his students. Only when he shuffled the cube and all the colours got mixed up did he realise that he had invented a puzzle
There are a total of 43 quintillion combinations possible with the Rubik's Cube. That is 43 followed by 18 zeroes
What comprises a Cube
The Rubik's Cube has a total of 26 pieces comprising of 6 centre pieces which have one colour, 12 edge pieces which have 2 colours and 8 corner pieces which have 3 colours
How is time recorded in a competition.
There is a timer called the stackmat timer which has two sensors on either side and a display in the middle.
The competitor places both her palms on the sensors and the timer starts once she removes her palms.
Once the competitor finishes the cube, she places her hands back on the sensor to stop the timer. The time displayed on the meter is recorded.
Competitions
The World Rubik's Cube championship happens once every two years. There have been seven tournaments till now. The first was in 1982 in Budapest. And since 2003, there has been one happening every two years.
This year, the world championship will take place in Brazil.
Last year's Indian national championship took place in July in the DJ Sanghvi college in Mumbai. It was attended by 150 participants.
Champions
The current world champion is Feliks Zemdegs of Australia.
The national champion is Akash Rupela who solved the cube in 6.91 seconds.
India has had one official world record by Kabyanil Talukdar from Assam for solving the Rubik's Cube blindfolded in under 30 seconds. This includes memorization and solving time together.
India also has a Guinness record by Bhargav Narasimhan from Chennai for least time taken to solve 5 Rubik's Cubes one-handed. He also holds the official Asian record for one-handed solving.