[Unofficial] BvG Summer 2014 2x2 and 3x3

[Cubeologist]

Just wanted to share my solves from the BvG youtube competition. As a disclaimer for 2x2, I learned Ortega a week ago for nationals haha. I know this video is over-edited, but I had a good time doing it. Any help other than slow down and look ahead (I am already doing half of my solves without a timer) would be greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoy!

 

[goodatthis]

Copycat... Jkjkjk lol

For 2x2: Make sure you plan all or almost of of your face/layer in inspection. And turn faster for it too, a face/layer should only take 5-7 moves, and should be planned, so there's no reason to 'lookahead' during your layer. I'd also say the same for your cross as well, it looks like you pause near the end of your cross to look for a pair, then finish the cross.

3x3: honestly, you said "besides turning slower and looking ahead" but I feel that that's really the best thing at this point. Try to be looking at the other pieces while you are solving one pair, and know whether you are going to rotate or not. Like you say you are doing slow solves without a timer, but in the words of cyoubx, it's not slow down and find the pieces. An example of this is in the 2nd solve, where you solved a pair, paused, and did an R U' R' insertion for the pair that was right there. If you didn't have a V perm and your F2L was a little smoother, that solve would have been sub 18. Try to fluidly transition from one piece to another, and make sure you are paying extreme attention. I find that I can't lookahead well at night because I can't focus enough. Also, sometimes you may be able to turn at near your same TPS while looking ahead, so try doing that instead of slowing down. It may not always work, but give it a go. Sometimes I can turn at near max TPS and my brain is just firing like crazy and the lookahead is automatic. That doesn't mean I don't have to focus, however. One more thing you need to work on is your cross to F2L transition, and having a cross that you can do nearly automatically really helps. And also cutting down unnecessary rotations will really help, try practicing RUL scrambles and solves to help you get familiar with solving cases without rotations. I think I did an Ao50 with just RUL scrambles where a so,fed the rest of the cross and then just did F2L, and that really helped me avoid rotations. I have a more in depth video on my channel about lookahead if you want to take a look at it by the way.

I hope this helped, and happy solving! I also hope I didn't come across as harsh or anything, I'm just trying to help

 

[Cubeologist]

Copycat... Jkjkjk lol

For 2x2: Make sure you plan all or almost of of your face/layer in inspection. And turn faster for it too, a face/layer should only take 5-7 moves, and should be planned, so there's no reason to 'lookahead' during your layer. I'd also say the same for your cross as well, it looks like you pause near the end of your cross to look for a pair, then finish the cross.

3x3: honestly, you said "besides turning slower and looking ahead" but I feel that that's really the best thing at this point. Try to be looking at the other pieces while you are solving one pair, and know whether you are going to rotate or not. Like you say you are doing slow solves without a timer, but in the words of cyoubx, it's not slow down and find the pieces. An example of this is in the 2nd solve, where you solved a pair, paused, and did an R U' R' insertion for the pair that was right there. If you didn't have a V perm and your F2L was a little smoother, that solve would have been sub 18. Try to fluidly transition from one piece to another, and make sure you are paying extreme attention. I find that I can't lookahead well at night because I can't focus enough. Also, sometimes you may be able to turn at near your same TPS while looking ahead, so try doing that instead of slowing down. It may not always work, but give it a go. Sometimes I can turn at near max TPS and my brain is just firing like crazy and the lookahead is automatic. That doesn't mean I don't have to focus, however. One more thing you need to work on is your cross to F2L transition, and having a cross that you can do nearly automatically really helps. And also cutting down unnecessary rotations will really help, try practicing RUL scrambles and solves to help you get familiar with solving cases without rotations. I think I did an Ao50 with just RUL scrambles where a so,fed the rest of the cross and then just did F2L, and that really helped me avoid rotations. I have a more in depth video on my channel about lookahead if you want to take a look at it by the way.

I hope this helped, and happy solving! I also hope I didn't come across as harsh or anything, I'm just trying to help

This was honestly a great reply. Definitely not harsh in any sense of the word.

As I said in my first post, the 2x2 is a recently learned puzzle to me. Especially as far as the Ortega method is concerned. But for some reason, amid learning those algorithms, I guess it never occurred to me to just mentally prepare for where the bottom bar will end up. That seems like such a simple thing to do, yet it escaped me apparently. I appreciate the suggestion.

And for 3x3, I know that I have no fluidity at all. I have honestly been doing everything I can. I have been doing my cross blindfolded (although I can get the cross completed, I can never seem to get the edges lined up correctly). I have been stopping halfway through every f2l pair to find the other one, and then do the transition as smoothly as possible. I have even started doing f2l pairs with my eyes closed so I will have them in my muscle memory. And I admit that I am getting faster, but just barely. Maybe 1 or 2 seconds have dropped off my average in the last 3 weeks or so. And I am still doing at least 50 timed solves a day after all the slow practice is finished.

But sometimes, just sometimes, everything kicks in and I see the 1st pair before I finish my cross, then the whole f2l flows like a dream, I predict the oll, and I get a Uperm. And those are the times that keep me practicing and trying to get faster.

I will definitely check out your channel and look at your videos for advice. Thank you so much for the constructive feedback.

 

[VeryKewlName]

when you do the adjacent swap on a sinlge layer use R' U R' F2 R F' R' F2 R2 instead of t perm