The FMC thread

[Ninja Storm]

I might sound noobish... but what's a skeleton? I looked around the forums and I still have no clue.

It's essentially a basis for getting most of the pieces solved in as few moves as possible. Then, you find ways to solve the last few pieces while retaining the skeleton.


...I think.

[mDiPalma]

i didn't want to ask this in the q&a thread because i thought id get a better answer here:

what does "NISS" stand for?

[Mike Hughey]

i didn't want to ask this in the q&a thread because i thought id get a better answer here:

what does "NISS" stand for?

"Normal Inverse Scramble Switch".
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/sh...l=1#post428682

[Sebastien]

I just got this in the German forum competition. Possibly the best (and luckiest) edge insertion ever!

Scramble: U L2 D B2 R' D' F2 B U F2 D L2 U' L2 B2 D' B2 R2 D'

2x2x2: F2 R' . U' D B' D B
2x2x3: F2 R' D R
Pseudo F2L-1: R L' F L F' R'
U-Perm: D B D' B' L' D L'

. = L2 U' D F2 U D'

Zusammen: F2 R' L2 U' D F2 B' D B F2 R' D R2 L' F L F' R' D B D' B' L' D L'

25 moves

[Ranzha V. Emodrach]

1. U F2 L2 D F2 L2 U L2 D2 U' R' F D' U' R B2 U' L' F R2 U2

x2 F2 U F2 U' D L D2 // 2x2x2 [7]
F U2 L F2 L F L' F' y2 // 2x2x3 [8/15]
R U' R' U' R2 U2 R2 U F R2 F' // EOF2L [11/26]
y' r' U' R U L U' R' U F' // ZBLL [9/35]

2. D' L2 B2 D' L2 U R2 D2 L2 F2 R' B U F' L2 U' B2 U R' U2

y F2 R' F' R2 B L' // Rouxblock [6]
U D F U2 x2 // 2x2x3 [4/10]
y' R' F R F' R U2 R' U' R // EOF2L [9/19]
y R U2 R' U2 L' U R U' R' L // COLL [10/29]
U // EPLL [1/30]

Is there any way I could've made these better? They were both ridiculously lucky.

[okayama]

Saarland Open 2012 scramble: D2 L2 B R2 U2 F' L2 U2 B2 L2 F' D L2 B U L' U2 L' F' R'

Extremely good scramble. Quite many nice starts were found both on normal and inverse.
Actually Tim found 24 moves (18 moves to leave 3 corners) and Sébastien found
25 moves (17 moves to leave 4 corners). Congrats! Maybe their solutions will follow.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any good solution in time. Some of my attempts:

Spoiler:

[1]
2x2x2 block: B D' F' R' and F2 makes c/e pair.

[2]
1st square: R D2 F
2nd square: B'

[3]
1st square: R' F'
2nd square: B'
c/e pair: U R U'
2x2x3 block: F D' F' L2

Then still there're many continuations. For example

Finish F2L: L' U' L U' F' U' F', or
Finish F2L: L' R U' L R' F' U F, or
Finish F2L: L' R U' L U' R' F' U F, or
Finish F2L: L' R U' L U B U B' R' and so on,

but I did not investigate so much after that in reality.

[4]
In most of my time I investigated this one.

Pre-scramble: R'

2x2x1 block: B2 U' B'
2x2x2 block: D'
2x2x3 block: F'

On inverse, I found F2L-1 + EO in two ways. So on normal,

Pre-scramble: L2 U B L2 B' U' R' or
Pre-scramble: L2 U F U2 F' U' R'

and the start B2 U' B' D' F' makes it. I searched continuation several times
after that, but I couldn't find any good finish in time.

The clock was ticking, and I decided to write down a safe solution as follows.

Pseudo 2x2x3 block: B2 U' B' D' F'
Pseudo F2L minus 1 slot: L' F U' F' U2 L (***)
All but 5 corners: R' U B' U B + U2

17 moves, but no time to search good insertions, so just did:

Insert at the beginning: L' F' L B2 L' F L B2
Insert at +: B L' B R2 B' L B R2 B2 (A-perm)

Solution: L' F' L B2 L' F L U' B' D' F' L' F U' F' U2 L R' U B' U B2 L' B R2 B' L B R2 B2 U2 (31 moves)

When I wrote down the solution almost no time was left...
According to Insertion Finder, the optimal insertions are:

B2 U' B' D' F' L' [@1] F U' F' U2 L R' U B' U B U2
Insert at @1: L' F2 L B L' F2 L B'
After the 1st insertion: B2 U' B' D' F' L2 F2 L B L' F2 L F [@2] B' U' F' U2 L R' U B' U B U2
Insert at @2: U' F' U B' U' F U B
Fewest moves: 25. 8 moves cancelled


After 1-hour, Arnaud showed interest in the start above,
and found some nice finish as follows:

Pre-scramble: U2 R'

Start: B2 U' B' D' [U2] F' (U2 inserted)
Finish F2L: L' U' L B' U B
All but 3 corners: U B L B' L' U' L
Correction: U2 R'

21 moves to leave 3 corners.
And another one he found:

Pre-scramble: L' R'

Start: B2 U' B' D' F'
F2L minus 1 slot: L' F U' F' U2 L2 (exactly the same as my start (***))
c/e pair + EO: U' L' U2 L
All but 3 corners: F U2 F' U'
Correction: L' R'

also 21 moves to leave 3 corners. Well done Arnaud!
(Both skeletons give 27-move solutions)

And I'm disappointed at my result again, I'm now getting into a slump both online and official...

[EMI]

The scramble really was awesome. Adrian found a 15-moves F2L and I found an 18-moves F2L. We're both not really good at FMC though :P
Adrian's solution:
Scramble: D2 L2 B R2 U2 F' L2 U2 B2 L2 F' D L2 B U L' U2 L' F' R'
z' F' D2 F2 L'
U R U R2
L' U2 L2 U' L' U R
(he used edge control in his final solution anyways)
My solution:
R' B' U R D'
U' F' L U L
U F' U' F
U2 F U F'
(I also used different insertions in the end, anyways, just to show you how awesome this scramble was )

[mycube]

is this the scramble of the saarland open fmc?

[Tim Reynolds]

Here's my NAR 24 from Saarland:

Scramble: D2 L2 B R2 U2 F' L2 U2 B2 L2 F' D L2 B U L' U2 L' F' R'

Spoiler:

Solution: D' F D F' R2 F R2 F' R2 B' D' B' U2 B D' B' U2 B' D F2 L2 F U' R (24)
Use the inverse scramble:
2x2x2: R' U F' L2 (4|4)
2x2x3: F2 D' B' * D2 B (5|9)
F2L-1: R2 F R2 F' R2 (5|14)
F2L and LL edges: F D' F' D (4|18)

Insert B' U2 B D B' U2 B D' (6) at * for 2 moves cancellation = 24.

I think we got WR podium: 24 + 25 + 29 (Jan Bentlage) = 78

[Sebastien]

My 25 move solution:

I'm especially happy about it, because it did something within this attempt I had never done before, not even at home. And apparently this helped a lot!

2x2x2 on Inverse: R' U F' L2
Switch and 4 corners: U F' U' F2 D' F2 D . F2 B' D2 B D F'

I wasn't satisfied with the amount of cancelling moves for the insertions I found in there and the Insertion Finder confirms me, that 28 moves is optimal for that skeleton. BUT:

I quickly saw that . = D' F2 D B' D' F2 D B, which cycles my not solved pieces but in a not helping way cancels A LOT of moves, indeed it cancels 8 moves and so I decided to insert this and get a slightly different skeleton:

4 corners: U F' U' F2 B' D' F2 . D F2 D2 B : D F' L2 F U' R

. = F2 R' B' R F2 R' B R
: = B' D F D' B D F' D'

Solution: U F' U' F2 B' D' R' B' R F2 R' B R D F2 D' F D' B D F2 L2 F U' R