World Rubik's Games Championship 2003
| World Rubik's Games Championship 2003 | |
|---|---|
| Location: | Toronto, Canada |
| Date(s): | 2003 August 23–24 |
| Preceded by: | WC1982 |
| Succeeded by: | WC2005 |
World Rubik's Games Championship 2003 (usually called World Championship 2003, abbreviated to WC2003) was a speedcubing World Championship held at the Ontario Science Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was the first World Championship since WC1982 and the first World Championship of the modern speedcubing era. Since it took place before the creation of the WCA, it was retroactively declared an official competition.
Background
The previous world championship, WC1982, had occured during the 1980s cube craze. However interest in cubing collapsed with the end of the craze in 1983, and it wasn't until the late 1990s that a new community of cubers arose. Ron van Bruchem, Chris Hardwick, and Ton Dennenbroek attempted to organize a world championship, planned for December 2001 in New York, but they failed "for several reasons".[1] The following year Toronto-based engineer Dan Gosbee stepped in and arranged a new championship, securing crucial support from Seven Towns, the owners of the Rubik's Brand. As the main organizer and head of the Rubik's Championship Committee, Dan Gosbee had the title of "World Championship Chief".[2] The events were organized by the WC2003 Organization Team, headed by Ron van Bruchem.
Rules
Competitors were permitted to use "their own authentic Rubik's brand cubes", but they were "NOT allowed to round corners or sand square edges down". There was a dress code, which permitted, among other things, the wearing of hats. 3x3 cubes were scrambled using 25 move scrambles, and there was the standard 15-second inspection period. The winner of the 3x3 contest won 5000 Canadian dollars, whereas the winners of the other events won $500 to $1000. There were also $1000 prizes for the best 3x3 speedsolver in the categories of 18 yrs & under; 19-39 yrs; and 40-above.
The competition was overseen by the Rubik's Championship Committee, which as well as Dan Gosbee, included representatives from the sponsors Seven Towns, Kroeger Inc., and Hessport Inc./rubiks.com. The RCC members did not act as judges (except as a final authority) but were responsible for choosing the judges.
Winners
- 3x3x3 Cube: Dan Knights
- 4x4x4 Cube: Masayuki Akimoto (秋元正行)
- 5x5x5 Cube: Masayuki Akimoto (秋元正行)
- 3x3x3 Blindfolded: Dror Vomberg
- 3x3x3 Fewest Moves: Mirek Goljan
- 3x3x3 One-Handed: Chris Hardwick
- Megaminx: Grant Tregay
- Pyraminx: Andy Bellenir
- Rubik's Clock: Jaap Scherphuis
- Square-1: Lars Vandenbergh
- 4x4x4 Blindfolded: Dror Vomberg
- Rubik's Magic: Jaap Scherphuis
- Master Magic: Jaap Scherphuis
The championship also featured a Siamese Cube round in which Kenneth Brandon solved the Siamese cube in a "world record" time of 1 minute 10.96 seconds.[3]
Highlights
- Dan Knights won 3x3 speedsolve with an average of 20.00 seconds in the final round.
- Jess Bonde set the 3x3 single world record of 16.53 seconds.
- In all, Minh Thai's 20-year-old world record of 22.95 seconds was broken 99 times, contrary to the former record holder's statement before the competition that breaking his record would be very difficult.
World Records Set
Since this became the first official championship for nearly all the events, world records were set in every discipline:
- 3x3 single of 16.71 by Dan Knights (First Round)
- 3x3 single of 16.53 by Jess Bonde (Second Round)
- 3x3 average of 20.00 by Dan Knights (Final)
- 4x4 single of 1:20.16 by Masayuki Akimoto (First Round)
- 4x4 average of 1:30.57 David Wesley (First Round)
- 5x5 single of 2:19.69 by David Wesley (First Round)
- 5x5 average of 2:50.68 by David Wesley (First Round)
- 5x5 average of 2:50.45 by Masayuki Akimoto (Final)
- 3x3 Blindfolded single of 3:56.00 by Dror Vomberg
- 3x3 Fewest Moves of 29 by Mirek Goljan
- 3x3x3 One-Handed single of 44.98 by Chris Hardwick
- Megaminx single of 2:12.82 by Grant Tregay
- Pyraminx single of 14.09 by Andy Bellenir
- Rubik's Clock single of 38.97 by Jaap Scherphuis
- Square-1 single of 41.80 by Lars Vandenbergh
- 4x4 Blindfolded single of 22:35.00 by Dror Vomberg
- Rubik's Magic single of 3.06 by Jaap Scherphuis
- Master Magic single of 8.22 by Jaap Scherphuis
Media and reports
- Photos and Report by Jacob Rueth
- Photos and Report by Chris Hardwick
- Photos and Report by Ton Dennenbroek
- Photos and Report by Jessica Fridrich
- Photos by Jasmine Lee
- Photos by Andy Camann
- Photos by Ian Winokur
Trivia
- Competitors at WC2003 were asked what their cross color was, even if they were color neutral (e.g. Lars Petrus) or did not use Fridrich (e.g. Lars Petrus). It has been said that the scrambles were hand-picked to avoid easy cross cases.
- Although the WCA Database only shows one round of 3x3 blindfolded, there was in fact an additional preliminary round consisting of 1 attempt. Out of several competitors, only Dror Vomberg and Shotaro Makisumi (respectively first and second in the final round) had a successful solve.
- Dror Vomberg was the only competitor for the 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 blindfolded. However, he did not achieve a finish for the 5x5x5 blindfolded, so no title was earned.
