[WR] Rami Sbahi - 0.58 2x2 Single and 1.55 Average

[Antonie faz fan]

If at a World Championship's final 3x3 round Feliks and Mats were handed a different scramble by mistake, one with an obvious 3 move cross and a smooth F2L that led to a PLL skip, would you allow it and say that neither had an advantage solely on the basis that both scrambles were 18 moves away from the solved state? I use them as an example because at their level they're quite likely to come up with equal or at least very similar solutions to the same scramble, so assuming that both would have gotten the PLL skip is not as far fetched as you'd think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFfjzD-MLI

Kudos to Rami for handling this situation so well, I hope the kid that ruined his chances at a WR gets banned for life

uhm no, they were told to have their cross colors on top/ bootom or something like that, so the wouldn't have the same solution ( except if Feliks would do Ggreen/bleu then it would be possible).

 

[theROUXbiksCube]

uhm no, they were told to have their cross colors on top/ bootom or something like that, so the wouldn't have the same solution ( except if Feliks would do Ggreen/bleu then it would be possible).

He's talking about World Championships 2013, i think he put a wrong link

 

[adimare]

uhm no, they were told to have their cross colors on top/ bootom or something like that, so the wouldn't have the same solution ( except if Feliks would do Ggreen/bleu then it would be possible).

Fine, replace Mats in my example with any of the many top cubers out there that are color neutral. Even if it was Mats, I think he solves with blue/green cross so there's still a 1 in 3 chance that he'd be able to start off the solve with the 3 move cross.

 

[Rubiks560]

This situation is super sucky.

Losing out on 2 WRs because of some immature little kid. I would be absolutely furious if this happened to me. Glad you were honest about it.

 

[tseitsei]

If at a World Championship's final 3x3 round Feliks and Mats were handed a different scramble by mistake, one with an obvious 3 move cross and a smooth F2L that led to a PLL skip, would you allow it and say that neither had an advantage solely on the basis that both scrambles were 18 moves away from the solved state? I use them as an example because at their level they're quite likely to come up with equal or at least very similar solutions to the same scramble, so assuming that both would have gotten the PLL skip is not as far fetched as you'd think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFfjzD-MLI

Kudos to Rami for handling this situation so well, I hope the kid that ruined his chances at a WR gets banned for life

Yes it would be kind of unfair to compare those two in that singlw comp. BUT it's completely fair to count it as wr because everyone is getting different scrambles in different comps anyway...

Also they would very probably get different solutions... Just the fact that feliks is cn and mats isn't makes that more probable than getting the same solution...

 

[G2013]

oh.........................

You'll get another sub-0.69 in no time, be sure

 

[JK]

I don't think being shown the scramble affected Rami's time, and I'm not convinced he should lose the WR even if he thinks he should. There is virtually no chance he would have missed that solution even if he hadn't been shown the scramble. He's one of the best in the world at one looking 2x2 solves, and people think there's a chance he wouldn't notice a cancellation into a 3 move EG-2? I think Rami did the right thing by explaining what happened, but I think the advantage he was given was negligible, and he should have the WR.

I definitely agree. Rami deserves the WR for both the single and average. Anyone who knows a little bit 2x2 advanced method would have seen that solution in five seconds. I think WCA should admit this solve.

 

[BboyArchon]

Pretty much every cuber knows about these forums, it's the easiest place to go when you have a problem and usually one of the first things to come up, chances are he doesn't even know he needs to apologise considering that he thought it would be great to show Rami the scramble.

We're talking of a 10 year old child (underage)!

My overall opinion: Just ban the child for XXX months to set a punishment precedent for doing this things and, if the 2x2 times from the Trentin Open 2011 are valid (where most competitors PRACTICED the scramble before doing it), this should also be accepted. Come on, 2 world records lost for a freaking 10 years old kid? This is ridiculous and Rami really doesn't deserve it.

 

[TDM]

if the 2x2 times from the Trentin Open 2011 are valid (where most competitors PRACTICED the scramble before doing it)

Really? Where did you hear this?

 

[BboyArchon]

Really? Where did you hear this?

Just ask anyone who was there

 

[Tim Major]

Just ask anyone who was there

Alright this is a bit ****ed. Any proof or is this just hearsay, because the records would not be allowed if this were the truth

 

[DuffyEdge]

2x2 times from the Trentin Open 2011 are valid (where most competitors PRACTICED the scramble before doing it)

WR for Ollie!

 

[TDM]

WR for Ollie!

And Ben!
(though obviously he wouldn't still have it)

 

[DuffyEdge]

And Ben!
(though obviously he wouldn't still have it)

And Feliks

 

[giorgi]

I don't think they practised but they started filming their solves as they saw somebody do it very quickly (and maybe new it was 4-mover solution)and solution was easy to notice anyway.

 

[BboyArchon]

Well, there's obviously no video proof for this. It can be investigated (deeply and seriously) by the WCA if they consider the need to do so.

 

[Jakube]

Actually Christian Kaserer (the single world record holder) was the first person who got the scramble (source: probably the 2x2 WR record thread, too lazy to look it up). If you look at his video, you can see his baffled face. He thought, that he got a wrongly scrambled cube.

All the other sub-1 solver knew of this short scramble though (obviously).

 

[qqwref]

We're talking of a 10 year old child (underage)!

And Rami is... how old? Being under 18 is not an excuse.

 

[Stefan]

Just ask anyone who was there

So... not you?

 

[deadmanlsh]

I don't think it's necessary to remove the 0.58 single.
As many others have noted, Rami would probably have seen the 4-mover even if he did not have prior knowledge.

The main advantage, if it can be called that, would be a slightly longer inspection time. But, as it is evident from the video, he did not take a substantial amount of time to inspect. Hence it's reasonable to assume that the outcome would have been similar without the external interference as he would have been able to finish inspection even after internalising the external advantage into the inspection time.

Moreover, the WCA board seems to be on the side of the competitors most of the time, so there is no reason to make an exception for this case. I think Rami himself knew that the issue was not completely black or white, hence he decided to take action after finishing the solve, as the solve can still be accepted reasonably.

If the board chooses not to follow dogmatically its own guidelines, as corroborated from previous incidents of this nature, it should at the very least be consistent in its rulings. I know that a lot of thought and consideration is given to each case, but as the case stands right now, it's fair to say that this single is indeed eligible for recognition.