THE RUBIK’S Cube World Championship will take place in Brazil this weekend – with a Scot taking part for Great Britain.
The world’s fastest Speedcubers will congregate in Colégio Etapa, São Paulo, for the biannual competition.
Speedcubing is the sport of solving a Rubik’s Cube in the fastest possible time, and elite Cubers can do this in a matter of seconds.
Scotland-based Breandan Vallance won the championship in Dusseldorf in 2009 with an average time of 10.74 seconds, and achieved a new best average time of 8.32 at the 2013 Edinburgh Open.
Fellow competitor Robert Yau, from Surrey, has a personal best average time of 8.21 seconds places him fractionally faster, meaning that he ranks within the sport’s top ten.
Daniel Sheppard, from Guildford, is hot on their heels with a personal best of 10.48 seconds and will be looking to make an impact at this year’s event.
At the 2013 championship, Australia’s Feliks Zemdegs stunned the competition, solving the Rubik’s Cube with a winning average time of 8.18 seconds, and he will be looking to defend his title.
Competitors solve the Rubik’s Cube five times. The fastest and slowest attempts are removed and an average time is taken so it’s not always the fastest single solve that wins the competition.
Erno Rubik, who celebrated his 71st birthday yesterday, created the Rubik’s Cube in Budapest in 1974 and it has since become the world’s best-selling toy with over 400 million sold.
Speaking ahead of the event, Breandan Vallance said, “Speedcubing has taken me around the world – I’ve been lucky enough to visit a lot of exotic places and meet a lot of great people.
“What’s especially exciting about the 2015 Rubik’s Cube World Championship is that it is taking place in South America for the first time.
“We know that there are a few Cubers in Brazil who are at the very top level, but we haven’t had the chance to compete against them yet.
“If they are as good with a Rubik’s Cube as they are with a football, we might be in trouble!”
