Personal Cubing Records

Puzzle	Name	Category	Result*	Comments/Details	Set on:
	Pyramorphix	Single Solve	15.55	This puzzle shatters very easily. People who play with it break it 95% of the time. I have probably reassembled this puzzle over 500 times. I can do so in less than a minute.	13-Oct-05
	Pyramorphix	Average	26.96	20.70, 25.53, 31.07, 33.97, 38.66, 22.92, 30.96, (18.65), 21.63, (46.90), 24.01+, 20.17 + = 2 second penalty for misaligned face. Though there is no clear-cut definition for a Pyramorphix as to what one turn away is, the Pyramorphix was closer to being one turn away than to being solved, so I gave myself a penalty.	31-Dec-05
	Pyraminx	Single Solve	6.14		10/3/11
	Pyraminx	Average	12.36	12.36 (rolling) = 15.10, 11.86, 15.47, 9.59, (36.16), 12.76, (6.35), 11.25, 14.71, 11.53, 9.30, 12.03. All solves were scrambled by Dennis and I raced him head-to-head while he was solving 3x3.	10/20/11
	2x2x2	Single Solve (super lucky)	0.60	After applying the computer-generated scramble, the cube was one turn away from solved. Can't wait to get a scramble that yields a solved cube ;-).	-
	2x2x2	Single Solve (lucky)	1.64	Scramble: R' D F' R2 U2 R2 B' L' B' R' B' L U2 R' D' Solution: y U2 L U2	1-Jan-06
	2x2x2	Average	4.67	Rolling average done on the Maru cube I bought at the Harvard Fall 2010 competition. I used one layer --> OLL/PLL for my solves, except for the H, Pi, and U cases, for which I know the CLL cases.	10/29/10
	2x2x2	Blindfolded Solve	44.84	Scramble: U2 B' D' L2 D2 F R D L' U2 F2 D' B D2 F D' L2 U2 F2 R2 U B D R' B2	20-Sep-07
	2x2x2	Fastest Assembly	5:31.77	Done with a Rubik's 2x2x2 (which I lost), not with an Eastsheen as shown in picture	5-Sep-05
	3x3x3	Single Solve	8.54	Non-lucky! Scramble (white top, green front): D U2 B F' D' B2 F L B2 F D U' R D' U' B' F' U2 B2 F' L D' B U' F2.	9/22/11
	3x3x3	Average	11.94	Rolling average: 11.94 = 11.33, (14.62), 12.37, 11.22, 12.02, 12.24, 12.81, 13.78, 11.68, (10.06), 10.28, 11.69. Done on one of my new ZhanChis that I got from US Nationals 2011. First ever sub-12 second average.	9/22/11
	3x3x3	First Sub-30 Second Average	29.406	28.34, 32.29, 27.9, 32.51, 29.33, 30.43, (34.16), 26.58, 29.93, (25.75), 29.32, 27.46	11-Dec-04
	3x3x3	First Sub-20 Second Average	19.93	Perhaps the most euphoric moment of my speed cubing career.	27-Jun-05
	3x3x3	First Non-Rolling Sub-20 Second Average	19.40	18.28, 20.86, 19.05, 16.79, 19.52, 20.69, 19.31, (21.31), 21.18, (15.50), 18.46, 19.84 Achieved after conducting a record 4x4x4 average	9-Oct-05
	3x3x3	First Sub-15 Second Average	14.98	Rolling average: 14.35, 12.69, 14.33, 16.67, 16.47, 17.12, (20.47), 13.39, 13.22, 15.68, (11.33), 15.83	1/25/07
	3x3x3	First Sub-14 Second Average	13.96	Rolling average: 12.45, 14.72, 15.57, (11.57), 15.08, 15.25, (15.73), 13.19, 12.36, 13.43, 13.86, 13.68. Done the night before the Princeton Fall 2010 competition.	11/6/10
	3x3x3	One-Handed Solve	17.60	Scramble: L R D' B F2 D' U' L F2 U B' F2 U2 F' U2 L2 R2 D' L' R D L2 R2 D U2. My solve had a PLL skip.	7/17/11
	3x3x3	One-Handed Average	26.00	26.00 (rolling) = 22.28, 28.94, (19.73), 28.94, 22.25, 25.86, (31.63), 24.46, 29.49, 25.70, 30.00, 22.07.	9/21/11
	3x3x3	Single Feet Solve	1:09.11	Had a PLL skip.	8/7/11
	3x3x3	Feet Average	1:43.18	1:43.18 = 1:47.46, 1:58.51, (2:36.77), 1:50.48, 1:45.76, 1:26.92, 1:49.09, 1:54.80, 1:33.23, (1:23.91), 1:36.69, 1:28.88 Rolling. Training for U.S. Nationals 2011. I figure this is the event I have the best chance of placing in the top 3 for.	8/5/11
	3x3x3	Blindfolded Solve	1:48.67	Scramble: L' R' F' R' U B2 L' R2 U' B' F R2 D2 L' B2 F' L2 F L R D2 U' B F U' This is the scramble of the former 3x3x3 blindfolded WR of 1:15.60 set by Chris Krueger at the Canadian Open 2007.	25-May-07
	3x3x3	Most Successful Consecutive Blindfolded Solves	8	4:13.21, 6:44.30, 6:26.84, 5:33.84, 6:46.45, 9:54.35, 6:36.94, 5:49.38	1-Aug-05
	3x3x3	Fastest Complete Stick (R,U × 105 = 210 turns)	25.56	About 8.216 turns/second	15-Jul-07
	3x3x3	Fastest Cubing Marathon (42 cubes)	19:15.27	About 27.5 per cube, scrambled by Ken Kawamoto (Thanks!) Could easily beat this now, just haven't gotten any opportunities to do this recently.	-
	3x3x3	Fastest 100 Cubes	47:35.46	About 28.55 per cube, scrambled by Ken Kawamoto (What would I do without you? Thank you so much!) I could easily beat this record now if I just had someone to scramble...	-
	3x3x3	Fastest Execution of All 21 PLL Algorithms in a Row	42.59	About 2.028 seconds/PLL. Executed in alphabetical order: A2, A1, E, F, G1, G2, G3, G4, H, J1, J2, N1, N2, R1, R2, T, U2, U1, V, Y, Z This is really fun and addicting! My goal is to break 42 seconds (<2sec/PLL). My next best attempt is 45.21 seconds - a huge difference!	28-Feb-08
	3x3x3	Fewest Moves Solve	29	Also my best official result. Done at Princeton Fall 2011. Dan Cohen taught me the premove technique a few minutes before we started and I ended up using it. Scramble: U F2 R2 D2 U R B2 R2 F2 U R2 U F R2 B2 R' U2 R'. Solution: (idea was to use a D' premove) x F R' U2 R U R U z' y F L' U L y' U R2 U' R2 U R U R U R' U2 R U' R' U2 R U F' x' y'.	9/24/11
	4x4x4	Single Solve	48.02	Done on my DaYan+mf8 4x4. Scramble: R2 Uw' R2 Fw' L2 D2 Uw' R2 U Fw2 Rw2 R F U R2 Uw Rw' F2 L' Rw2 Uw2 B2 Fw2 F L2 R2 Fw' L Fw D' L' Uw2 L' Uw' B' D' U2 L2 Rw' R'. My PLL was the PLL parity.	10/17/11
	4x4x4	Average	56.74	56.74 (rolling) = (49.03), 53.98, 52.35, 51.28, 1:11.07, 56.83, (1:22.38), 56.83, 59.75, 52.48, 51.54, 1:01.25. Done on my DaYan+mf8 4x4. Part of a 75-solve average of 1:01.47.	10/18/11
	4x4x4	Blindfolded	16:40.00	Done at Harvard Fall 2010. I'm amazed at this time, considering I hadn't practice at all since my attempt at Berkely Summer 2010 except for one practice solve (successful) the night before.	10/2/10
	4x4x4	Fastest Assembly	4:01.93	Done on Valentine's Day! Right now, I have no sweetheart besides the cube.	14-Feb-08
	5x5x5	First Ever Solve	46:09.72	No assistance, no solution guide, no lubrication. I unpackaged the 5x5x5, scrambled it with an algorithm from JNetCube, and began solving it.	13-Nov-05
	5x5x5	Single Solve	1:37.05	Also my fastest official 5x5 solve. This was my 4th 5x5 solve at Princeton Fall 2011.	9/24/11
	5x5x5	Average	1:58.87	1:58.87 (rolling) = 2:01.77, 1:56.72, 2:01.05, 2:12.39, 1:57.98, 1:47.50, 1:57.29, (2:14.12), 1:57.48, 2:11.26, (1:43.99), 1:45.25	1/9/10
	5x5x5	Fastest Assembly (Rubik's 5x5)	7:20.48	This is intense. And very fun. But the setup - arranging all the pieces in front of you - takes forever.	6-Jul-07
	Square-1	Single Solve	1:01.78	When this record was set, I used a total of three algorithms: an edge swap, the J perm (see Stefan Pochmann's video), and the parity fix.	16-May-09
	Square-1	Average	1:38.01	1:44.29, 1:42.29, 1:27.41, 2:04.05, 1:17.97, 1:55.67, 1:31.62, 2:05.95, 1:05.36, (1:01.78), 1:25.44, (2:10.37)	16-May-09

1. Horace Mann Spring 2005 - 28-May-05 - my first competition
2. Caltech Dallas Summer 2005 - 13-Aug-05 - The cubing competition was a good excuse for my dad, brother, and me to go to Dallas to do some sight-seeing as well.
3. Rutgers Fall 2005 - 10-Dec-05 - I was only able to compete in the 3x3x3 blindfolded category because I had area band auditions in the morning and early afternoon. I placed 2nd in 3x3x3 blindfolded, behind current WR holder Leyan Lo.
4. Rutgers Spring 2006 - 29-Apr-06 - I won the 3x3x3 speedsolve and blindfolded events. I came in 2nd in the 3x3x3 one-handed, 4x4x4, and 5x5x5.
5. Trumbull Spring 2006 - 27-May-06 - I set the 2x2x2 WR on my 4th solve and also won the 2x2x2 event. I came in 2nd in the 3x3x3 speedsolve, behind Canadian record holder Matt Walter. I also came in 2nd in 3x3x3 blindfolded, behind Canadian record holder Craig Bouchard. I came in 3rd in the 4x4x4 and 3x3x3 one-handed events.  Here are the pictures and videos my dad took.
6. Rutgers Fall 2006 - 18-Dec-06 - I broke many of my official records here. I came in 3rd for 4x4x4 and 5x5x5, 2nd for 2x2x2 and 3x3x3, and first for 3x3x3 blindfolded. Though I came late due to a math competition, a fortuitous behind-schedule start of the competition allowed me to still compete in all events I wanted.
7. Cornell Spring 2007 - 31-Mar-07 - Hosted by the Cornell Cubing Club (They also have a DDR club!). I met Jessica Fridrich and Mirek Goljan and got Fridrich to sign a cube of mine. It's still on my shelf for display. The two of them had to leave early and told me to kick the other competitors' butts as they were leaving. I ending up winning the competition :-).
8. Rutgers Spring 2007 - 22-Apr-07 - I was disappointed to lose the main event in the finals after winning the first and second rounds. My 5x5x5 average could have been much better were it not for two massive pops on solves 3 and 4. I was very proud of my 3x3x3 blindfolded victory on my third attempt. Probably my last victory over Rowe - now he's waay ahead of me and has blindfolded WR-setting potential.
9. Captain's Cove 2007 - 26-May-07 - Very beautiful setting! Food and restrooms nearby. I loved the giant cube decorations. Was hot and sunny, but the competition area was under a tent. Later in the day, it was slightly difficult to see. Amusingly, I got second in every event I competed in except the main event, which I got first in. I am disappointed with my 4x4x4 performance - I can do better. I should've broken my 4x4x4 official records.
10. Kearny Kardinal 2008 - 16-Feb-08. Perhaps the last competition I will ever win the 3x3x3 speedsolve event at.
11. Princeton Open 2008 - 22-Mar-08. I did fewest moves and Square-1 for the first time.
12. Da Vinci Science Center 2008 - 14-Jun-08. I did Master Magic for the first time. I did not place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any event I competed in, but I only competed the first day of the two-day competition.
13. Big Cubes Summer 2009 - 26-Jul-09. This competition was a lot of firsts: first competition in a backyard, first competition with no 3x3 events but big cube events, first competition with a rain delay (!). I am very grateful that this competition focused on big cubes because it motivated me to learn 4x4 blindfolded and practice my big cubes, improving my 4x4 and 5x5 times significantly.
14. Connecticut Summer 2009 - 1-Aug-09. In the six days between the big cubes competition and this one, I started my internship at Pink OTC Markets, which occupies 13+ hours a day including commuting time. So I haven't had much time to practice and just did a few solves of each puzzle on Friday night before going to sleep. I was very happy with how I performed considering my lack of practice, and über-happy that the organizer, Gavin Nelson, squeezed in a 4x4 blindfolded event, just for me (though I convinced Tim Reynolds to do it, too, since originally we thought you needed a minimum of 2 competitors for an event). The most satisfying part of this competition was successfully solving a 4x4 blindfolded.
15. Berkeley Summer 2010 - 7/11/10. I was in California this summer interning at Oracle, which provided me a rental car. Seeing this competition posted online, I decided to go. My primary goal for this competition was to do a 4x4 blindfolded solve successfully, but even though I did all three of my alloted attempts, I failed them all. I was pretty disappointed and ended up doing worse than expected in all my other events as well. I must say cubing is more competitive on the West Coast, in my opinion.
16. Harvard Fall 2010 - 10/2/10. Over the summer, I met Amy Tai (Harvard '13), who was also an intern at Oracle. She was into cubing, too, and decided to host a competition at Harvard in the fall, and hence, this competition happened. This was one of the smallest competitions I went to, with only 21 competitors, but as a result, we were able to do a lot more events than planned. The highlight of the competition for me was successfully solving a 4x4 blindfolded in 16:40.00, shattering my previous official PR by over 11 minutes. It was also great to meet some well-known cubers for the first time, like Andy Tsao and Patricia Li. Also, I bought three fantastic Maru cubes - a 2x2, a 3x3, and a 4x4 - at this competition from Bob Burton. I even used the 3x3 I purchased in the final round of the 3x3 event, setting a PR average of 13.84. A small, fast-paced, and fun competition!
17. Princeton Fall 2010 - 11/6/10. In contrast to the Harvard competition I went to a month prior, this competition was very big, with 94 competitors. Leading up to this competition, the puzzle I had probably been practicing the most was the 2x2, so I was very happy that I set a PR average of 4.59 and got second place in the 2x2 event. I didn't perform at my best in the one-handed, 4x4, or 5x5 events, but that was mainly because I was out of practice. In the 3x3 event, I felt I performed well, but my best was only good enough for 7th. One surprising thing that happened was breaking my official blindfolded PR, with a new PR and first sub-2-minute solve of 1:56.05. Also fun was learning how to scramble a Rubik's Clock from Bob Burton. Despite the large number of competitors, I was impressed that the competition was still able to end roughly on time.
18. Cornell Spring 2011 - 4/23/11. This was my second competition at Cornell. I was visiting Ken as well, and he came with me to the competition. He brought a couple friends, too! - Olivia Hentz and Myron Zhang. Eric Huang also dropped by for a bit. It was great having so much support at the competition, and it was really nice of Ken to film most of my solves. You can watch them on YouTube here. I didn't really practice for this competition, so I was happy to break several PRs: one-handed single, 2x2 single, 5x5 single, and 5x5 average. On a whim, I decided to ask the competition organizer if I could attempt 4x4 blindfolded, and they said okay, so I did my first 4x4 blindfolded attempt since Harvard Fall 2010 and failed terribly. The failed attempt took 31 minutes. I decided to give up and not waste any more time. The most exciting part of the competition was my last 2x2 solve of the day, on which I finally broke my 5-year-old former WR 2x2 single solve PR.
19. Berkeley Summer 2011 (8/7/11) - This was my second competition at UC Berkeley - my first was last summer. The classroom was a bit smaller than last year's, and interestingly, we had two stations in the front of the room, and two stations in the middle of the room. So some of the cubers and audience members sat between the two stations. I had barely practiced at all for this competition, so I was happy to set three PRs (2x2 single, 3x3 average, one-handed average). After the competition, I tried some other people's cubes and learned about the latest improvements in cube technology and realized that my Guhongs, which I thought are pretty fantastic, still leave much to be desired. I didn't learn any new algorithms this competition, but I did become more convinced to change some of my algorithms to more finger-trick-intensive ones that have the potential to be significantly faster. Also, I met James Ouyang again, who I originally met at a Cornell competition. He also gave me his old E&M textbook, which I needed for a physics class freshman year. The competition was a little disorganized at times, and sometimes the judges didn't have stopwatches, so they counted the inspection time in their heads. This really bothered me. All in all, this competition was a good warm-up for Nationals in four days!
20. Yale Fall 2011 (9/10/11) - This was the first competition I've ever hosted! My primary goal was to run a smooth and fun competition for everyone, so I only competed in the 3x3 speedsolve. Amazingly, we had 53 competitors, including 5 Yalies. Planning for the event took a lot of effort and cost $608.44 total, and our revenue was only $460 (b/c we let the 5 Yalies + Bob + Jaclyn in for free), so we ended up losing $148.44. I posted 14.xx averages in the first two round, but in the final, I'm not sure what happened, but I got my first sub-10 single in competition of 9.75 and my first sub-13 and first sub-12 3x3 average of 11.94. I finally broke my previous 3x3 single record of 11.19 from Rutgers Spring 2007; in fact, I broke it 3 times this competition. Apart from the 3x3 speedsolve round 1 and 4x4, we were ahead of schedule all day and were able to do three mystery events as well as a head-to-head competition of the top 16 people from the 3x3 speedsolve round 2. The only downer in the competition was some malfunctioning timers and displays. All in all though, it was an incredibly fun and successful competition, and Sudler Hall was the perfect size for it. I'm looking forward to hosting another competition in the spring.
21. Princeton Fall 2011 (9/24/11) - This was the second competition at Princeton University I've been to. I came down the day before and caught up with Chris Jeng (WP '09), Jon Lin (WP '09), Dan Chen (WP '10), Ming Lu (GSET '07), and Brenton Partridge (GSET '07). I spent the night in Jon Lin's double, sleeping on the hardwood floor.

    I had just set three unofficial PRs in the past three days - 3x3 single (8.54), 3x3 average (11.94), and one-handed average (26.00), so I was feeling in pretty good shape. However, it turned out that the official PRs I set were all in events I hadn't practiced much recently: 4x4 average (1:00.67), 5x5 single (1:37.05 - first sub-1:40, both unofficial and official!), 5x5 average (1:52.58), and 3x3 fewest moves (29).

    My 29-turn fewest moves solution was the most exciting thing that happened. Shortly before we started the event, I overheard Kian Barry and Dan Cohen discussing premoves, and I asked Dan, "What's a premove?" He explained the technique to me, and I said that sounded pretty cool and useful. I started my hour by quickly finding a 41-turn solution, which I wrote down as a back-up solution in case I couldn't find anything shorter. Then I figured out how to make a pseudo-2x2x3 in 7 turns. I thought more about it and figured out how to use a premove (D') to turn the pseudo-2x2x3 into a regular 2x2x3. After the 2x2x3, there were no easy blocks, so I just flipped the 2 misoriented edges Petrus style, and I ended up with a 1x1x2 block. I finished the F2L using 2-gen and had a Sune LL with some move cancellations inbetween! Pretty lucky, but pretty awesome that I got a sub-30 solution and used a technique I learned minutes before the start of the event. [In case you're interested, the scramble was: U F2 R2 D2 U R B2 R2 F2 U R2 U F R2 B2 R' U2 R' and my solution was: x F R' U2 R U R U z' y F L' U L y' U R2 U' R2 U R U R U R' U2 R U' R' U2 R U F' x' y'.]

    I was also very happy about getting my second-ever official sub-10 3x3 solve - a 9.94 in the final round. Another sweet thing that happened was I didn't have to pay for registration because Macky put me on the "staff" and waived my registration fee in return for my helping out.

    On my way to the Dinky station after the competition, I bumped into Mark Hansen on University Ave! What a fortuitous day! Also, I just have to say that I love the posters that the Princeton Cubing Club makes for their competitions and their creative use of the posters as award certificates. I'm definitely hanging mine up!

Last Updated: September 25, 2011.