I can't help it, but I still think the Polish Open was a better tournament compared to Worlds.
At the Polish Open they had so many things that made you feel welcome:
- Marching band
- National antemn
- Raising a cube-flag
- All competitors names were called one after another. Competitors stood up, waved, got applaus and sat down. This made me feel part of a community of friends, not competitors. It also gave me the chance to put together name and face of many competitors I hadn't met before (but knew by name)
- Joint lunch (free!)
- Almost instant scores on the score-board
- Live feeds on the internet
Worlds had some advantages:
- 3 days of competition
- (Top) Competitors from all over the world, some of whom I had never met in person.
- Price money (not for me)
- mr Rubik.
But in general I thought Worlds was to big. At sunday morning some competitors (my roommate Bob Burton) had to do Blindfolded, Clock and Fewest Moves at the same time. The same happened to me for some side events were I literally had to run from event to side-event and back. It didn't help that there was no lunch-break in the schedule either.
Worlds became a great tournament in the final hours. All competitors were announced by a speaker, the camera did great work, all the best competitors were on stage (except Erik on 3x3x3) and the rest was watching them, mr. Rubik was there and he was enjoying himself (lots of autographs and Grada Ooms even kissed him
). The final dinner was shared with all cubers and we partied all night long (literally, I left at 5:30 to catch my 7:10 flight without getting any sleep)
