KConny
Veteran
Me and Gunnar Krig had a discussion about the "Gungz is back thread" and realised that a lot of new people don't know about some of the cubers from back in the days. And they barley have a way to know about them. So we made a list of some of the essential and important cubers. Of course one could argue that "since x is there y should be aswell". And you might be right. We can take everyone, but everyone is not interested in reading about everyone. The list is probably pretty biased since we (me and Gunnar) live in Europe. I don't know much about Akimoto or what he's done for cubing. Others we left out because they don't need an introduction, like Dan Cohen. You get the point. A lot of you out there know a lot more about a lot more cubers than we do. But in this case we see it benefits the reader, not too much information. Anyway here we go:
Ernõ Rubik, Hungary. Inventor of the cube and the reason where all here. As a professor of architecture he made the cube as a teaching tool to make his students better understand 3D objects.
Jessica Fridrich, Czech Republic. Was the first one to publish the CFOP method on internet, the method is now synonymous with Fridrich. She placed tenth in the very first World Championship back in 1982 in Budapest, Hungary. Her speedcubing page also had an important role in the our history.
Lars Petrus, Sweden. Placed fourth in the first world championship in 1982. Is the inventor of the 2nd most popular speed solving method, the Petrus method. His site also needs to be mentioned.
Ron van Bruchem, The Netherlands. Co-founder and board member of the World Cube Association. He started www.speedcubing.com one of the most important sites in the speedcubing history. He's known for his "slow hands"-technique and for setting a new world record in 2007 with 9.55. He's the most prominent organiser of competitions ever. When talking about Ron we have to mention Ton, a good friend of Ron and co-organiser of a lot of competitions.
Stefan Pochmann, (Germany). Inventor of a lot of methods, mainly blindfolded methods. His first blindfolded method, now known as Old Pochmann, and later the M2/R2 method. He was the first to solve the 5x5 blindfolded in competition and thus won the Euro 2004. In addition to this he's had the world records in Megaminx, Clock, Magic and Master Magic. In the beginning of 2009 he got a 3x3 single time of 9.56.
Chris Hardwick, USA. Is one of the few who has participated in all four world championships since 2003. He was the first to solve the 3x3 one-handed sub-30 (25.95), and the the 4x4 sub-60 (55.38), in competition. Nowadays he's one of the most prominent blindfolded solvers, having improved the WRs several times for 4x4BLD and 5x5BLD. Is currently the world record holder for 5x5BLD with the time 15:22. Chris and Daniel Beyer came up with the blindfolded method named Beyer-Hardwick which aims at near optimal move count.
Shotaro 'Macky' Makisumi, Japan. He was the best 3x3 solver back in 2004-2005 improving both the single and average world records several times. He also held several world records in 2x2, 3x3 one-handed and 3x3 blindfolded. Macky, together with Lucas Garron, invented an alternative method for solving the last F2L pair and OLL called MGLS. He also has a great site with a lot of great tutorials and other resources.
Mátyás Kuti, Hungary. World record holder for the 2x2, 4x4, 5x5, Magic, Master Magic, Clock and Square-1. A great all round cuber. His biggest achievements came in the blindfolded events, having had the WR in 3x3BLD, 4x4BLD, 5x5BLD and multi. It was later proven that he cheated on a number of solves by peeking under the blindfold. He's now been stripped of all his results and records in the blindfolded category and suspended from competitions for 2/3 years depending on his will to co-operate with the WCA. He is still practising at home and might make a come back in febuary 2010.
Erik Akkersdijk, The Netherlands. Amazing all round cuber with world records in 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 2x2 and megaminx. He's got the current 3x3 single WR with 7.08 set in 2008, he also had the world record in 2007 with 9.77. In the beginning of 2009 he got the average WR with 11.11. In parts of 2008 and 2009 he held the 2x2, 3x3. 4x4 and 5x5 singles world record at the same time. He's had 19 world records in 4x4 together with 5x5. He's got a new site called Erik's Flying Colours along with an old one.
Tyson Mao, USA. Co-founder and board-member of the World Cube Association. He set a new 3x3 blindfolded world record by being the first under 2 minutes with 1:58.32 back in 2005. He's made several TV-appearances, Tonight Show and Beauty and the Geek to name a few.
Yu 'Gungz' Jeong-Min, South Korea. Improved Anssi's WR for 3x3 average significantly and was the first to average both sub-13 and sub-12, with the result 11.76. He held this WR for more than a year before it was beaten by Edouard Chambon. Gungz had to stop competing when starting his military service and just recently got back into competing.
Anssi Vanhala, Finland. Broke Mackys 3x3 average WR twice at SveKub 2006 and became the first to average sub-14 with a result of 13.22. Anssi suffered some injuries to his wrist due to the toll of cubing and had to slow down. He started practicing feetsolving and holds the current WR for both single and average with 36.72 and 42.08 respectively.
Lars Vandenbergh, Belgium. One of the few that has participated in all four world championships since 2003. He's held several world records for 4x4, 5x5 and Square-1. He was the European champion in 2004 and placed fourth at the WC03. He is one out of three cubers to defend his world champion title when he in 2005 won the Square-1 event for the second consecutive time.
Zbigniew Zborowski, Poland. Has been involved in the development of the advanced speed solving methods ZB and ZZ. He got the WR in fewest moves with 28 turns in 2006 and kept it for almost two years before it was beaten by Guus Razoux Schultz. He also had the fastest single time for 3x3 at the European Championship in Amsterdam in 2004 with the result 14.40.
Dan Knights, USA. World Champion in 2003 with a world record average of 20.00 in the finals and a world record single of 16.71 in the first round.
Ryan Patricio, USA. One of the most prominent one-handed solvers and has set a total of ten WRs in 3x3OH. In 2007 he defended his world champion title from 2005 which makes him, together with Vandenbergh and Máté Horváth (Master Magic 2007 2009) the third cuber to do so.
Minh Thai, USA - Won the first World Championship, held in Hungary '82, with a best time of 22.95 seconds.
Jaap Scherphuis, the Netherlands - His web page is an almost never ending source of information, containing statistics and solutions for most puzzles.
Yu Nakajima, Japan. Won the World Championship in Budapest in 2007, which was only his 2nd competition ever. He's held several world records: 3x3OH single, and both single and average time for 3x3 and 7x7.Is also successful in several other events.
Edouard 'Doudou' Chambon, France. One of the most dominant 3x3 cubers, known for his slow turning style (usually called Chambon style). Second place in 3x3 at the World Championship 2005, second place in 2x2 at the world Championship 2009 and European Champion 2008 in 2x2. In the beginning of 2007 he broke the 3x3 single world record with a time of 10.36, and one year later broke it again, with 9.18. This was beaten by fellow French cuber Thibaut Jacquinot with a time of 9.86, by Erik Akkersdijk with 9.77, then by Ron van Bruchem with 9.55 before taking it back. When doing so, the time of 9.18 was also a part of his new average world record of 11.48. He is the second cuber to set both single and average world records in the same round. Macky had done this twice before. Chambon also broke the 2x2 average WR 3 times 3.74, 3.43 and 3.28.
Jean Pons, France. World champion of 2005 and first to get a sub12 in competition.
So after reading all this I advice you to do some youtube searches to see some historical solves. Like Mackys 12.11.
Ernõ Rubik, Hungary. Inventor of the cube and the reason where all here. As a professor of architecture he made the cube as a teaching tool to make his students better understand 3D objects.
Jessica Fridrich, Czech Republic. Was the first one to publish the CFOP method on internet, the method is now synonymous with Fridrich. She placed tenth in the very first World Championship back in 1982 in Budapest, Hungary. Her speedcubing page also had an important role in the our history.
Lars Petrus, Sweden. Placed fourth in the first world championship in 1982. Is the inventor of the 2nd most popular speed solving method, the Petrus method. His site also needs to be mentioned.
Ron van Bruchem, The Netherlands. Co-founder and board member of the World Cube Association. He started www.speedcubing.com one of the most important sites in the speedcubing history. He's known for his "slow hands"-technique and for setting a new world record in 2007 with 9.55. He's the most prominent organiser of competitions ever. When talking about Ron we have to mention Ton, a good friend of Ron and co-organiser of a lot of competitions.
Stefan Pochmann, (Germany). Inventor of a lot of methods, mainly blindfolded methods. His first blindfolded method, now known as Old Pochmann, and later the M2/R2 method. He was the first to solve the 5x5 blindfolded in competition and thus won the Euro 2004. In addition to this he's had the world records in Megaminx, Clock, Magic and Master Magic. In the beginning of 2009 he got a 3x3 single time of 9.56.
Chris Hardwick, USA. Is one of the few who has participated in all four world championships since 2003. He was the first to solve the 3x3 one-handed sub-30 (25.95), and the the 4x4 sub-60 (55.38), in competition. Nowadays he's one of the most prominent blindfolded solvers, having improved the WRs several times for 4x4BLD and 5x5BLD. Is currently the world record holder for 5x5BLD with the time 15:22. Chris and Daniel Beyer came up with the blindfolded method named Beyer-Hardwick which aims at near optimal move count.
Shotaro 'Macky' Makisumi, Japan. He was the best 3x3 solver back in 2004-2005 improving both the single and average world records several times. He also held several world records in 2x2, 3x3 one-handed and 3x3 blindfolded. Macky, together with Lucas Garron, invented an alternative method for solving the last F2L pair and OLL called MGLS. He also has a great site with a lot of great tutorials and other resources.
Mátyás Kuti, Hungary. World record holder for the 2x2, 4x4, 5x5, Magic, Master Magic, Clock and Square-1. A great all round cuber. His biggest achievements came in the blindfolded events, having had the WR in 3x3BLD, 4x4BLD, 5x5BLD and multi. It was later proven that he cheated on a number of solves by peeking under the blindfold. He's now been stripped of all his results and records in the blindfolded category and suspended from competitions for 2/3 years depending on his will to co-operate with the WCA. He is still practising at home and might make a come back in febuary 2010.
Erik Akkersdijk, The Netherlands. Amazing all round cuber with world records in 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 2x2 and megaminx. He's got the current 3x3 single WR with 7.08 set in 2008, he also had the world record in 2007 with 9.77. In the beginning of 2009 he got the average WR with 11.11. In parts of 2008 and 2009 he held the 2x2, 3x3. 4x4 and 5x5 singles world record at the same time. He's had 19 world records in 4x4 together with 5x5. He's got a new site called Erik's Flying Colours along with an old one.
Tyson Mao, USA. Co-founder and board-member of the World Cube Association. He set a new 3x3 blindfolded world record by being the first under 2 minutes with 1:58.32 back in 2005. He's made several TV-appearances, Tonight Show and Beauty and the Geek to name a few.
Yu 'Gungz' Jeong-Min, South Korea. Improved Anssi's WR for 3x3 average significantly and was the first to average both sub-13 and sub-12, with the result 11.76. He held this WR for more than a year before it was beaten by Edouard Chambon. Gungz had to stop competing when starting his military service and just recently got back into competing.
Anssi Vanhala, Finland. Broke Mackys 3x3 average WR twice at SveKub 2006 and became the first to average sub-14 with a result of 13.22. Anssi suffered some injuries to his wrist due to the toll of cubing and had to slow down. He started practicing feetsolving and holds the current WR for both single and average with 36.72 and 42.08 respectively.
Lars Vandenbergh, Belgium. One of the few that has participated in all four world championships since 2003. He's held several world records for 4x4, 5x5 and Square-1. He was the European champion in 2004 and placed fourth at the WC03. He is one out of three cubers to defend his world champion title when he in 2005 won the Square-1 event for the second consecutive time.
Zbigniew Zborowski, Poland. Has been involved in the development of the advanced speed solving methods ZB and ZZ. He got the WR in fewest moves with 28 turns in 2006 and kept it for almost two years before it was beaten by Guus Razoux Schultz. He also had the fastest single time for 3x3 at the European Championship in Amsterdam in 2004 with the result 14.40.
Dan Knights, USA. World Champion in 2003 with a world record average of 20.00 in the finals and a world record single of 16.71 in the first round.
Ryan Patricio, USA. One of the most prominent one-handed solvers and has set a total of ten WRs in 3x3OH. In 2007 he defended his world champion title from 2005 which makes him, together with Vandenbergh and Máté Horváth (Master Magic 2007 2009) the third cuber to do so.
Minh Thai, USA - Won the first World Championship, held in Hungary '82, with a best time of 22.95 seconds.
Jaap Scherphuis, the Netherlands - His web page is an almost never ending source of information, containing statistics and solutions for most puzzles.
Yu Nakajima, Japan. Won the World Championship in Budapest in 2007, which was only his 2nd competition ever. He's held several world records: 3x3OH single, and both single and average time for 3x3 and 7x7.Is also successful in several other events.
Edouard 'Doudou' Chambon, France. One of the most dominant 3x3 cubers, known for his slow turning style (usually called Chambon style). Second place in 3x3 at the World Championship 2005, second place in 2x2 at the world Championship 2009 and European Champion 2008 in 2x2. In the beginning of 2007 he broke the 3x3 single world record with a time of 10.36, and one year later broke it again, with 9.18. This was beaten by fellow French cuber Thibaut Jacquinot with a time of 9.86, by Erik Akkersdijk with 9.77, then by Ron van Bruchem with 9.55 before taking it back. When doing so, the time of 9.18 was also a part of his new average world record of 11.48. He is the second cuber to set both single and average world records in the same round. Macky had done this twice before. Chambon also broke the 2x2 average WR 3 times 3.74, 3.43 and 3.28.
Jean Pons, France. World champion of 2005 and first to get a sub12 in competition.
So after reading all this I advice you to do some youtube searches to see some historical solves. Like Mackys 12.11.
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