World Rubik's Cube Championship 2011

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World Rubik's Cube
Championship 2011
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Date(s): 2011 October 14–16
Preceded by: WC2009
Succeeded by: WC2013

World Rubik's Cube Championship 2011 (usually called World Championship 2011, abbreviated to WC2011) was a speedcubing World Championship held at the Baiyoke Sky hotel in Bangkok, Thailand on Oct 14-16, 2011. It was the first time the world championship had occurred outside of Europe or North America. Michał Pleskowicz won the 3x3 speedsolve with an average of 8.65 seconds. Rowe Hessler finished second (9.56) and Feliks Zemdegs finished third (9.58).

Competition

The tournament took place at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel in Bangkok; with 88 floors it was Thailand's tallest hotel. A year earlier the first ever Asian Championship had taken place at the hotel. Main stage for WC2011 was on the 17th Floor of the hotel, with side events taking place on the 19th Floor. A total of 332 competitors were registered for the tournament, of which 130 were from Thailand.[1]

Unlike the previous two world championships, there was no qualification rounds on the Friday for late entrants. The competition kicked-off on Friday morning with the final of the 3x3 Multi-Blindfold event, together with the first rounds of events such as 6x6 and 7x7 cubes. The finals of the 4x4 Blindfold and 5x5 Blindfold were on Friday afternoon. Saturday saw an Opening ceremony (at 9:40 am) and, as well as many first rounds, there were also the finals of the Fewest Moves and the With Feet events. Sunday saw the remaining semi-finals and finals take place. The final event was the 3x3 speedsolve conducted between 6:45pm and 7:45pm. This was followed by a "Traditional Thai show", and then the Winner's Ceremony and After Party.[2]

The winner of the 3x3 speedsolve won €5500 with winners of other events winning €550 to €1100. The winners of 6x6 and 7x7 events as well Megaminx, Pyraminx, Clock, Square 1, and Magic events only won trophies, meaning even fewer events had cash prizes than WC2009. There was however a Lucky Draw with a top prize of €800.[3]

Events

3x3 Speedsolve

Through 2010 and 2011, Feliks Zemdegs had been considered the favorite by far to win. Although Feliks outperformed other competitors as expected in all other rounds, the final round saw a major upset, with Michał Pleskowicz placing first with a PB official average of 8.65, Rowe Hessler second with 9.56, and Feliks a close third at 9.58. videos reconstructions

5x5 Speedsolve

Drawing by Rowe Hessler before FMC at MIT Fall 2011 of Dan Cohen losing the 5x5 single world record at WC 2011

5x5 was expected from the outset to be highly competitive, with Yu Nakajima's comeback, and recent average world record holders Dan Cohen (defending champion) and Kevin Hays competing against Feliks. Feliks set the tone event with a world record single in the first round, the first ever sub-1 single at 59.27. This was followed in the second round by WR-NAR-AsR top 3 in the second round by Feliks (1:04.08), Dan (1:08.12), and Nakajima (1:08.17), closely followed by Kevin (1:08.72).

After another sub-1 (59.59) and a new world record single of 58.41 by Feliks on the first two solves, Nakajima broke the AsR single on the fourth solve at 58.53, the first sub-1 AsR. Not to be outdone, Dan breaks Feliks's record with 57.44 on the last solve. With all pressure on him, Feliks then yet again improved the world record single with 56.22 (video), demoting Dan's single to a NAR, and ending with a 59.44 world record average, the first official sub-1 average only weeks after his unofficial sub-1 average video. Although Dan and Nakajima both had a better average in the second round, the sub-1 single and world record battle, so soon after the first ever official sub-1 single, has led a number of cubers to declare the final round the most epic round in the history of competitive cubing. Full results.

Winners

World Records Set

  • 3x3 One-handed average of 13.57 by Michał Pleskowicz (First Round)
  • 4x4 average of 35.33 by Feliks Zemdegs (Giovanni Contardi was also under the old WR time: 35.51) (Semi Final)
  • 4x4 average of 35.22 by Feliks Zemdegs (Final)
  • 5x5 single of 59.27 by Feliks Zemdegs (First Round)
  • 5x5 single of 58.41 by Feliks Zemdegs (Final)
  • 5x5 single of 57.44 by Dan Cohen (Final)
  • 5x5 single of 56.22 by Feliks Zemdegs (Final)
  • 5x5 average of 1:04.08 by Feliks Zemdegs (Semi Final)
  • 5x5 average of 59.94 by Feliks Zemdegs (Final)
  • Multi-BLD 19/19 by Marcell Endrey (Final)
  • Rubik's Clock Single of 5.83 by Javier Tirado Ortiz (Final)

Mosaic building

As at WC2009 there was an unofficial Mosaic Building competition. The contest took place on Saturday, and groups with a maximum of 3 competitors had one hour to build a mosaic using 250 Rubik's Cubes. 28 teams took part in the competition.[4]

Trivia

  • Many competitors were advised to be vaccinated before their trip to Thailand.
  • In the weekend before the competition, Thailand experienced its worst flood in 50 years, which killed at least 350 and affected nearly 2.5 million residents. There was, however, no effect on the competition.
  • Arnaud van Galen acted as the lead MC. This concluded his 1.5-year trip in Asia. [5]
  • Competitors wore pink shirts to support Thailand's ruler who had fallen ill. [6]
  • 275 competitors participated in the first round of 3x3 speedsolve, less than the number in World Championship 2009.
  • Muhammad Jihan Khalilurrahman won the lucky draw for the second time in a row (after the Asian Championship 2010).
  • Itsaya Jaruwattanakun was the youngest competitor with an age of only 4 years. She is the daughter of a Thai delegate (Chatchawan Jaruwattanakun)

Media

Photos

Videos

External Links

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