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Interview with Arnaud van Galen

pjk

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Mar 13, 2006
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WCA
2007KELL02
SS Competition Results
October 17, 2008 : Interview with Speedsolving.com member Arnaud van Galen : Currently (at the time of this interview) has competed in 14 WCA-recognized events and is ranked top 100 in the world in many of them. He is ranked 63rd in the world for 5x5x5 Average (2:08.29), 18th in the world for 3x3x3 Fewest Moves (33), and has attended 27 competitions in the last 2 years.

Location:
I love to travel, but my house is very close to Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

interview-arnaud.jpg


Occupation:
I am a software engineer / programmer.

What is your favorite event, why?
I really can't decide between 5x5x5 and Fewest Moves. The reason I like both is the same though: using intuition (instead of algorithms) to solve a puzzle is much more fun.

What made you become interested in solving puzzles?
I was there in the early 80's during the first cube craze. I have always loved using my mind to solve problems and 3x3x3, Magic(s), Clock, Pyraminx, Babylon Tower, Nintendo Barrel and many others were good reasons to spend my birthday money on.

What, in your opinion, is your biggest "cubing" accomplishment?
I love teaching others how to solve a puzzle. Explaining something that seems complicated and making it look easy until they "get it" is something I love to do. I think the best I have done in that department are the 5x5x5 tutorials (video and text) I made. It is such a weird experience when you go to a tournament in "Spain" and meet someone from "Italy" that learned my method.

What are your other hobbies?
Meeting people, exchanging experiences, traveling.

What is/are your pet peeve(s)?
Complaining, rudeness and not celebrating life.

What will the future of cubing be like and how would you like cubing to progress?
I think cubing has pretty much gone where it will go. There is a constant intake of beginners, people improve to incredible levels and some leave cubing after a while. Competitions will get organized more and more and also better and better, but finding sponsorship will sometimes be hard. The level will eventually become so high that world record's will finally become almost unbreakable and that newcomers don't have a chance against people with years of practice.
 
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