pglewis
Veteran
And what a bizarre solve for my second fastest solve ever. 4-move xcross that I don't see and immediately clobber and a green/orange pair that keeps magically connecting.
Older cubers discussions
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Sergey
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Some sort of karma... that solve was supposed to be fast in anyway.
Tom Joad
Regular
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Haha, indeed.
Sergey
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Could you please clarify to me what English-speaking cubers implies by term 'parity'? Equality or the parity from the mathematical point of view (meaning odd or even numbers)? Thanks.
The mathematics one, but we also use the word "parity" as a short-hand for referring to any situation with odd parity (e.g. when there is an odd permutation of pieces, or when there is an odd number of flipped pieces).Could you please clarify to me what English-speaking cubers implies by term 'parity'? Equality or the parity from the mathematical point of view (meaning odd or even numbers)? Thanks.
(Some people also use "parity" to refer to any situation with a non-obvious solution, regardless of whether it relates to evenness/oddness, which infuriates me a lot.)
DLeiber
Member
Being a new member here and among the oldest (it seems, at 64), I found this info indeed interesting. Are seniors allowed to compete at any WCA competition or are there only special ones with certain event groups for us oldsters?
One Wheel
Legend
WCA explicitly allows anyone (with the exception of people who have been banned, presumably for cheating) to compete at any competition. They do keep record of the birthdates of competitors, but that information is not publicly available, and as far as I know it is not currently used.
DLeiber
Member
Thank you. So there aren't specifically events for the older crowd, it's just that competitors can be sorted into age groups by certain insiders because they know all the birthdates, I guess.
One Wheel
Legend
In theory, yes. In practice when I have organized competitions I could see the birthdates of everyone who registered, but I didn’t use them for anything. Groups were sorted according to previous official times, with the goal of each group finishing around the same time so that the next group could get underway. On second thought I may have moved a couple of people on the basis of age, just so all the older cubers wouldn’t all be in the same group, and could potentially help scramble and judge.
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The way the age group sorting has been done has been voluntary. The WCA treats birthdate information as confidential information and does not display it on the official website. But a number of us "oldies" have revealed our ages intentionally to allow the lists to be made. The lists are partial, but in some cases surprisingly close to complete for a voluntary opt-in.
Logiqx
Veteran
Just for clarity, I don't have insider access to DOB information. The WCA implemented a regulation in 2012 which prohibits them sharing it without consent.
2012
2013 onwards
To get the senior rankings to where they are now has taken a number of years collecting DOB information from people on this forum and Facebook.
DLeiber
Member
Thanks for the additional background info.
DLeiber
Member
Thanks for the extra info as well as all the work put in through the years to compile the lists.
Logiqx
Veteran
FYI - I've added links to Speedsolving profiles from the competitor lists:
https://logiqx.github.io/wca-ipy/
Is there anybody on this thread who has either been missed or due to turn 40 in the near future?
I can add people to the list early and the code will start to include their results once they turn 40.
https://logiqx.github.io/wca-ipy/
Is there anybody on this thread who has either been missed or due to turn 40 in the near future?
I can add people to the list early and the code will start to include their results once they turn 40.
openseas
Veteran
Less than 12 hours after an international flight (about 20 hrs long), I had no expectations what so ever when I opened the cube cover for my first attempt for 4BLD. The scramble was easy (17 t-center target or so) - but since it's been a while last time I tried 4BLD, didn't rush and reviewed couple of more times. When I thought I finished, turned out - didn't do the parity for corner. I usually swap UL-UB for 3BLD so - parity is not something I'm used to do. I should have done the same thing but apparently forgot. But other than that, everything else was ok with 9 min flat. Next scramble, I tried to do UL/UB swap for 4BLD (lessons learned!) but somehow I kept making errors, when finished wing memo, already clocked 4 min. It was cumulative time limit for both 4BLD and 5BLD, so, I stopped to save energy and time. 3rd scramble was normal and tried UL-UB swap again: this time, didn't make error, not so great time but managed to solve it.
So, I felt, execution was kind of ok, probably memo is rusty. I moved to 5BLD, did all I missed in the previous 4BLD, UL-UB Swap, couple of reviews to make sure not to suffer from recalling issue - made it with 21:37. 1min37s short to be qualified for US Nats. sigh... But I know my success rate, first attempt success was more than enough for a day. So, DNS'd the rest two.
Next up, MBLD. I needed 7 points to be qualified. I had many 10~11 cube attempts last year but all failed, not due to the time but due to execution and recalling error. Since I felt ok with my execution, I went with 12. Finished memo with triple review about 42min. Started execution, finished ~57min. 1 mixed, 3 cubes with 1 corner twist, 8 out of 12. Another sigh...
3BLD 1st round. Overall attempt felt a little bit slow and even not sure my recall was correct but ended up with first ever mo3. Mo3 1:07 is close to my global, so no complaints about the time but didn't have single sub 1, slight disappointment. When I posted on FB, @Logiqx pointed out that that mo3 is #4 in the senior ranking which means it's kinda "NAR" for Senior
3BLD final was just so so, only 1 success. The 2nd attempt, one corner pair execution was wrong, 3rd missed one flip. But at least it was not a triple DNF.
Overall, 14 cubes solved in a day (including MBLD) which is my PB. Didn't have any triple DNF, it was a PB, too.
Plus, Tim wasn't able to compete today and Jeff missed big BLD due to his SAT test, couple of other fast guys DNF'd all attempts which made me Southern Champions for 4BLD and 5BLD ( Stanley is from another region - so doens't count as a Champion). So, after all, one Senior NAR, two Championship title, quite fruitful day
So, I felt, execution was kind of ok, probably memo is rusty. I moved to 5BLD, did all I missed in the previous 4BLD, UL-UB Swap, couple of reviews to make sure not to suffer from recalling issue - made it with 21:37. 1min37s short to be qualified for US Nats. sigh... But I know my success rate, first attempt success was more than enough for a day. So, DNS'd the rest two.
Next up, MBLD. I needed 7 points to be qualified. I had many 10~11 cube attempts last year but all failed, not due to the time but due to execution and recalling error. Since I felt ok with my execution, I went with 12. Finished memo with triple review about 42min. Started execution, finished ~57min. 1 mixed, 3 cubes with 1 corner twist, 8 out of 12. Another sigh...
3BLD 1st round. Overall attempt felt a little bit slow and even not sure my recall was correct but ended up with first ever mo3. Mo3 1:07 is close to my global, so no complaints about the time but didn't have single sub 1, slight disappointment. When I posted on FB, @Logiqx pointed out that that mo3 is #4 in the senior ranking which means it's kinda "NAR" for Senior
3BLD final was just so so, only 1 success. The 2nd attempt, one corner pair execution was wrong, 3rd missed one flip. But at least it was not a triple DNF.
Overall, 14 cubes solved in a day (including MBLD) which is my PB. Didn't have any triple DNF, it was a PB, too.
Plus, Tim wasn't able to compete today and Jeff missed big BLD due to his SAT test, couple of other fast guys DNF'd all attempts which made me Southern Champions for 4BLD and 5BLD
( Stanley is from another region - so doens't count as a Champion). So, after all, one Senior NAR, two Championship title, quite fruitful day 
mark49152
Premium Member
@openseas - nice to read a thorough report, and congrats on the results!
Regarding UB-UL swap for BigBLD, I considered this and decided not to do it, for now.
For 3BLD, after various discussions I was convinced it's probably worth it (at our level). I started doing it earlier this year, and I don't think it has any adverse impact on my times or accuracy, now.
For BigBLD, I think not (at our level). I timed the cost of fixing parity for both events, and for me it's 3.4 secs 4BLD and 7.5 secs 5BLD. That's much less significant as a proportion of solve time, compared to 3BLD, at the 5/12 mins I average today. Also, there is almost certainly a cost to the extra thinking to swap wings, until years of practice make it unthinking, and there will always be an additional risk of errors through making the solving process slightly more complex.
My plan is to forget about the swap for now, until such time as I'm fast enough at 5BLD that it looks like the easiest way to get that 7.5 second improvement, and my accuracy is good enough that I can afford a temporary hit. When I switch for 5BLD I'll do it for 4bld too, for consistency.
Regarding UB-UL swap for BigBLD, I considered this and decided not to do it, for now.
For 3BLD, after various discussions I was convinced it's probably worth it (at our level). I started doing it earlier this year, and I don't think it has any adverse impact on my times or accuracy, now.
For BigBLD, I think not (at our level). I timed the cost of fixing parity for both events, and for me it's 3.4 secs 4BLD and 7.5 secs 5BLD. That's much less significant as a proportion of solve time, compared to 3BLD, at the 5/12 mins I average today. Also, there is almost certainly a cost to the extra thinking to swap wings, until years of practice make it unthinking, and there will always be an additional risk of errors through making the solving process slightly more complex.
My plan is to forget about the swap for now, until such time as I'm fast enough at 5BLD that it looks like the easiest way to get that 7.5 second improvement, and my accuracy is good enough that I can afford a temporary hit. When I switch for 5BLD I'll do it for 4bld too, for consistency.
h2f
Premium Member
I tried 5bld on official competition. It ended with 2 DNFs on very safe attempts. Instead I did 16.09 ao5 in 3x3x3 with 2 PLL skips.
Logiqx
Veteran
Nice. I had 2 PLL skips in one round during one of my first competitions.
I did about 100 solves last year (3x3x3, 4x4x4, OH) and didn't have a single skip. haha
mark49152
Premium Member
That's the trouble with 5BLD. It's frustrating.
There is no UK NR for 5BLD mean - maybe I should try for it
h2f
Premium Member
That's the trouble with 5BLD. It's frustrating.
There is no UK NR for 5BLD mean - maybe I should try for it
Yes you should. I think Im gonna back to pracitce it. Maybe next time.
