# Weekly competition 2007-06 (2, 3, 3OH, 4, 5, BF)



## AvGalen (Mar 19, 2007)

I just got back from a great snowboard-vacation, so the scrambles are a little late. Results from last week (and all weeks before) will become available tonight or tomorrow. Don't forget to warm-up before competing and have fun with these weeks scrambles:

2x2x2
1. L2 D2 L' U' B2 D L F' R' B2 U R' U B' R' B L B2 U2 F R F L' D' F
2. D B2 R2 U' R2 D' R2 B' U L2 F2 U' B' D' F R U' L F' L2 F' L U B' R2
3. D2 R F2 U' L' D2 R U' R2 D F L2 F' D' R' B R2 D F R' F2 R U' L2 D2
4. F' U2 B L U' L' B2 U2 L' F' R D R D' F U B R' F L' U' B2 D2 L2 U2
5. D' F' U2 R F' D2 B' U2 R' F D R U' L2 F' U R B D' B R2 B U L U'

3x3x3
1. U' R2 D2 B' F U' R F' L' R2 B F2 R2 F U L2 R' B2 F' D2 U' L' U' B2 F
2. U2 B2 F D' U2 B' F D' B2 L' R B2 D' U' L2 R U2 L R2 B' F2 R' F D2 U2
3. R B F D' L' B F D2 B F D2 U2 L' R' F2 U' L' R D B L2 U2 L B F
4. L2 D' U' B2 R B F' D2 L2 R' F' L R' B2 F D B' U' B2 D L2 R D U' R2
5. D' R U' F2 R U B' F R' D L2 R B' L' R2 D' B2 R D' U R2 D2 U B F2

3x3x3 One Handed
1. R U2 F' D U L2 R' D2 R2 D' U R' B' F2 D U F2 L R' B2 D2 U' B F' R2
2. B' F' L2 R D2 U L2 D L' R2 B' D L R2 U2 R' F L R2 F' U' B2 F2 R' F
3. B L' R F L' R F R' B2 D' U F' L2 D' U2 B2 F2 U B2 F2 L2 R2 B F2 U'
4. B2 F U F' L R U2 B2 L2 B F' L2 R2 F L2 R2 U F U2 B2 L' R' F' L2 R
5. B' F' D' U' B L2 F' D U2 F' L' R' B' F' L R2 D2 U' R2 D U2 B' F D' B

4x4x4
1. r d2 B d' u2 U' l' b L' R' B2 F D' U2 L' F r b f2 d' R2 D d' U2 r' b' F2 L' R2 D' d2 u' b D' U L' r' R' u U2
2. U L' l r2 u b F' D2 u' F d u2 r' b' L' U' l r D' u2 U' F L' l2 f2 F2 r2 R2 f' F d b' f2 u2 l R2 D' r2 u2 l'
3. B2 f' L l' f u L R' D' U2 B' D2 B2 l2 D B R' B' D' d' L2 R2 D2 r2 f2 U' l' r' R' b2 d2 R' U' b2 u2 f F d2 l b
4. R' u' B' d' u2 U' l d' f2 u' r' f' d U' B' D U' f2 F2 D2 U' l r' f l' f2 u2 B2 u' R F2 L2 f2 L d u' l2 r' R' u2
5. U2 F' l F2 r' u L2 r' D' F' L l' r' F' l2 r R' F d2 R F u l d u2 b2 r2 R2 B' b F2 L' l r2 u2 l U B' D' u2

5x5x5
1. F2 r2 B f2 D' U' L' R' F2 L R' B f d' L l' B b' L l2 r' D L2 b u' B b' U2 r D2 R' D2 d u2 U' f2 u r b r' b2 l2 r d l D L u b' d R d u2 U' b2 D2 L2 b d F'
2. l' B' u B b2 f F' R u B' r u2 r' f r2 u2 U r2 b2 F2 l2 u l2 U' f F R2 B2 U2 L' R2 d2 B' f' L2 l r2 D' b L' D d2 u U2 F d2 U' B2 R' F L' l' U2 R d' u' U' l u r
3. D' d2 u U B2 L2 r2 R f D d' u U L l2 r R' d2 B b2 D d u2 F' L2 B' L' u L u' f2 L2 R' d2 B' r b F2 L l2 r2 b f2 U b2 U F' u2 f2 d U' f2 F' L f' F2 D2 u b R
4. D2 b u' B' f' F L' B' U2 L u2 r d' L' l2 d u f2 L' l' u2 U' r2 D2 d' L2 u' b F' d2 u2 U L2 d' R D' b' f' F' D l2 u L D2 l B' U2 l2 r2 R2 u B' u' R' U b f' r2 F L'
5. B2 d2 B R b2 l r R' u2 l' d2 L l' r R' F2 u2 r B' D2 u' U r' D' F2 d B b' f u2 l' r R2 d' F' u2 B' f' D' d U R U' r R d' u L r b' F' d2 b' F2 U' b L' r2 R u'

Blindfolded
2x2x2
1. B D F U2 L' B' R' B2 R' U' F' L F' D' B' U' R D L2 D2 L B2 D L' D
2. U' F' D' F' R U2 B U2 L D' B2 D2 F' R D' R' B2 D L' F2 L2 F2 U2 L' B2
3x3x3
1. D' F U B F2 R' B' F' U' R' F2 D2 U' B F D' U' L2 U2 B L F' D' U2 R'
2. D2 R B F U2 B U2 L' R2 B F' L' R D U F2 R B2 F R F2 U2 B2 F U
4x4x4
1. F2 u2 R B D l' b F' u2 b2 F2 l R2 d L' D' F' R' b' f l' b2 F u' U b' r' d R2 D d' u r B u2 L' u F2 R' b2
2. B2 f2 d r' R F' U f2 l2 r u' F D d2 u U F' d l2 d' U2 r' d2 U2 B' b D2 B R D2 U2 l B2 L' f F l2 R' D' u2
5x5x5
1. R b' L l R' B' r' f2 U2 l b f' L2 r2 R b' F2 L u f' L' B U2 r' B2 b L2 l b L2 l2 r2 R U' B' u' B2 b2 f F' D2 d' u2 B' f2 r2 u2 F' l' b R2 u f L F D d B' R d
2. u2 R2 B u2 U B2 b F' l' B' U r D' U' F' u' r R' D' r' R' d f F R d B' l b D2 L2 B2 F' D2 U L r R2 D2 u' R b r R2 B' d' f D2 u2 f' U' B b2 f' F D2 B2 f2 F D'

Competition starts now and ends sunday/monday nightchange (officialy), but I will only close a competition after the new one is on-line.


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## Erik (Mar 19, 2007)

Erik Akkersdijk

2x2
Avg: 3.97
Times: 3.96, (2.69), 3.65, (4.94), 4.31
2.69 was lucky...

3x3
Avg: 13.24
Times: 13.53, 12.69, (12.22), (14.71), 13.50
Yeah :lol: such easy scrambles should be forbidden...

3x3 OH
Avg: 27.09
Times: 26.43, (29.77), (21.05), 27.97, 26.86
21.05 was a PLL skip.

4x4:
Avg: 1:02.89
Times: 1:02.21, (59.27), (1:17.94), 1:02.44, 1:04.02
time for a 'normal' method average 

5x5:
Avg: 2:37.52
Times: 2:26.18, 2:44.43, (2:59.33), 2:41.96, (2:26.16)
The last 4 solves avGalen style for edges...

Blindfold:
2x2a: 1:01.34
2x2b: 1:02.93

3x3a: DNF
3x3b: 3:38.71
I used M2 method on the first one, but oldschool pochmann on the 2nd cause I didn't want to risk 2 DNFs.

4x4a: this might come when I'm a bit better on the center commutators


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## AvGalen (Mar 19, 2007)

Next week competition will include a special sub-competition: Who will post earlier/faster than Erik


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## Erik (Mar 19, 2007)

hehe B)


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## dbeyer (Mar 19, 2007)

Might I make a quick suggestion? 
Since I get soooo bored during the week. For Big Cubes: Would it be acceptable to make more scrambles than what meet the eye? That is, 
Scrambling in MultiSlice Metric AND Slice Metric.

For the 3x3x3, l is interpreted as (LM), d is read as (DE), this is multi slice scrambling. Would we be able to do all the scrambles in slice and multi slice metric? Scrambling in the different metrics will actually produce unique Scrambles 

If not? What turn metric is used for big cubes? I do slice metric.

2 Scrambles done in both metrics will generate 4 scrambles


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## sgowal (Mar 19, 2007)

Sven Gowal

*2x2*
Average: 8.65 seconds
Times: (9.36) (7.75) 8.97 8.55 8.44

I had very good 2x2 times today. I made my best personal average of 7.51 seconds as well (don't know how it happend).

*3x3*
Average: 21.88 seconds
Times: (19.05) (25.30) 23.75 19.97 21.92

I'm not too happy with that... (I got a little tense -- nearly pop'ed on the last solve)

*3x3 OH*
Average: 1:10.67 minutes  
Times: (49.84) 72.45 60.44 (81.44) 79.12

Good first solve...

*4x4*
Average: 2:02.78 minutes
Times: (111.44) 125.97 123.39 (126.08) 118.97

Maybe I should start practicing the 4x4 (more than 12 solves/week)

(I broke my pyraminx 2 days ago  )


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## AvGalen (Mar 19, 2007)

Erik: Thanks for trying the scrambles with "my" edge pairing technique. You are still very inconsistent with it, but I am glad to see your best time was actually with this method (and I noticed a downward trend in your times, so 1 more scramble would have been almost sub 2!)

Daniel: small letters mean "that slice layer and the attached outer layer". You should post your times with those scrambles. I am not stopping you from scrambling with pure slice moves on small letters. You can even post them here for fun.

Sven: If I remember correctly, those are extremely good times for you on the 2x2x2. Did you learn a new method? And to bad about your Pyraminx. I also broke mine (Belgian Open) and I don't have a spare. Hopefully we can buy new ones at the German Open (if your coming)


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## sgowal (Mar 19, 2007)

Yes, very good times for the 2x2x2 (my old average was 9.20 seconds). I used the same method, although I am seeing maybe more shortcuts than before.

I will already be in Caltech at the time of the German Open. I will order some pyraminxes from Meffert's when I am there.


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## dbeyer (Mar 19, 2007)

Hehe, so the DNF I did w/ pure slice moves doesn't count?


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## ExoCorsair (Mar 20, 2007)

5x5: (4:00.32) 4:04.56 4:06.66 4:06.78 (4:29.84)

Not going to bother with the others this time around...

I like how it's consistent, but it's not one of my better days (also learning how to solve edges as explained at bigcubes.com, which I used for the last solve). My Eastsheen doesn't seem to move as well as it did last week either. :lol:


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## AvGalen (Mar 20, 2007)

Daniel: Indeed, that DNF doesn't count. You should actually be disqualified for posting that "illegal" solve  The reason all "official" scrambles have slice+outer-layer turns (also called wide turns) denoted by small letters is because this is easier for scramblers at competitions (not always speedcubers) and because it was proven that the complexity of the scrambles was at least the same

ExoCorsair: Most cubers focus on the 3x3x3 and are "not going to bother with the others". Do you have a special preference for the 5x5x5?


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## dbeyer (Mar 20, 2007)

Heh, umm taking a look at it ... I think that Erik Scrambles like I do? Yes or no Erik


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## AvGalen (Mar 20, 2007)

He actually might do that, because he can do slice moves very fast. Erik, if you really use slice moves during the scrambling I am now disqualifiing you and declaring myself a faster 5x5x5 solver again


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## ExoCorsair (Mar 20, 2007)

> _Originally posted by AvGalen_@Mar 20 2007, 02:02 PM
> * ExoCorsair: Most cubers focus on the 3x3x3 and are "not going to bother with the others". Do you have a special preference for the 5x5x5? *


 Well, the reason why I am slow on all the cubes is the F2L recognition (ranging from 15-35 seconds alone), which I figure I can practice on the bigger cubes anyway.

Plus, it's the one cube I can still beat all my friends on, and some are starting to catch up. :lol:


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## Erik (Mar 20, 2007)

@avGalen I scramble the 5x5 with slice+outer layer, though I can do slice only pretty fast too  sorry Arnoud


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## dbeyer (Mar 21, 2007)

Haha, convinient eh? Hehe ... Okay then ... I DNFd like all the valid scrambles for big cubes blindfolded here. Cya next week =S I'll do the speed later ...

AVGalen, what's your pairing methods for the cubes? I try different things ... progressive solve rather and 3x3x3 reduction. I do centers pairing and do a 3x3x4 block and finish pairing. 3x3x3 Reduction methods. I saw people commenting that they use your methods, what are they?


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## Mátyás Kuti(shaipo) (Mar 21, 2007)

M?ty?s Kuti

2x2x2:
Times: (3.56) 3.94 (5.67) 4.24 4.84
Average: 4.34

3x3x3:
Times: (14.88) (11.25) 13.59 13.80 13.94
Average: 13.78

3x3x3 one-handed:
Times: 28.73 (22.84) 24.98 23.92 (31.73)
Average: 25.88

4x4x4: 
Times: (1:03.70(O)) 58.88 1:01.38(P) 1:01.25(OP) (58.09(P))
Average: 1:00.5

5x5x5:
Times: 1:51.83 (1:59.75) 1:53.91 1:46.25 (1:43.89)
Average: 1:50.66

2x2x2 blindsolving:
1.)19.42
2.)17.09

3x3x3 blindsolving:
1.) 1:24.11
2.) 1:08.89

4x4x4 blindsolving:
1.) 7:32.99
2.) DNF 

5x5x5 blindsolving:
1.) 26:14.58
2.) 21:09.35

Quite good.


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## Mátyás Kuti(shaipo) (Mar 21, 2007)

AcGalen! When you'll share the results of the last weeks?


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## Lt-UnReaL (Mar 21, 2007)

3x3x3:
(32.73) 42.78 43.22 38.73 (44.44) = 41.58

I had a PLL skip, believe it or not, it was the 43.22. :\

I'm very satisfied with the outcome of this.


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## pjk (Mar 22, 2007)

3x3:
19.81 (18.77) (22.28) 19.58 19.89
Average: 19.76


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## AvGalen (Mar 22, 2007)

Daniel: I will start a new topic in a couple of days with details of my 5x5x5 edge-pairing method. It is basically just 2-at-a-time edge-pairing like on the 4x4x4 with some smart optimizations. The benefits are
1) Very good look-ahead.
2) No cube rotations
3) Only 1 parity-fix needed
4) You only need to find the centers of the edge-pairs (12 pieces), never a top- or bottom-piece of the edge-pair (24 pieces) so you only need to look at half of all pieces.
5) No real slice moves, only "thick" slice moves are used

I am a slow turner, but most of my solves have an edge-pairing time of about 60 seconds. I believe this could be reduced to 45-40 seconds by people that have faster hands and/or more experience than me

About the results from previous competitions: http://z12.invisionfree.com/rubiks/index.p...owtopic=711&hl=

I will have them up by saturday


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## Erik (Mar 22, 2007)

Hey av,
I think I wasn't using your method for the edges after all then. I just paired up half a tredge and 'on the way back' I just put a dirty one in which would led to another half tredge. I know you do this too, but I often do that with one of the wings instead of the center edge, which causes a whole lot of delays cause you have to be carefull not to put in the wrong wing...
Erik


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## AvGalen (Mar 22, 2007)

I already made a video of this edge-pairing method, but there just aren't enough hours in a day for me at the moment. Everyone that is interested, please wait untill this weekend, I will create a topic about it.

Erik, just to be clear: I use a "thick d-move" to pair-up the left-front-down wing to the right-front-center edge, then I replace the right-front-center edge with the center-edge so that after a "thick d'-move" the right-front-center edge matches the right-front-down wing. I hope this was clear enough.


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## Erik (Mar 22, 2007)

doh! So simple, why did I do it so wrong :S
I like the method even more now 
Ooh, and I pair up in the M slice, but you already knew that


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## AvGalen (Mar 22, 2007)

Before I actually learned the 2-at-a-time and 6-at-a-time methods that exists on the internet, I actually figured out a 2-at-a-time method using the M-slice myself. I actually like it better because I could see the left and right side of the cube and because I could pair edges using both sides of the cube (a little hard to explain). I don't know why I switched to the more standard edge-pairing.


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## Arakron (Mar 23, 2007)

Arakron

2x2
13.80
13.58, (11.16), (23.25), 16.59, 11.22
Very good average, both 11's were fairly lucky.

3x3
47.57
(38.50), 49.20, 40.38, (53.80), 53.12
2 days ago this would have beaten my record by a couple seconds, today it's about average. I'm way too happy about that fact to be disappointed about the 2 over-50's.

OH
2:28.50
(2:58.58), 2:30.81, (1:50.08), 2:17.11, 2:37.59
I don't ever practice OH, but I guess practicing normal helps, because if I remember right this is a significant improvement, and 1:50 is definitely my best.

4x4
8:40.35
6:56.30, (16:47.33), (5:56.25), 9:31.56, 9:33.20
Before this, I had solved the 4x4 less than 10 times.. I'm lazy, and the only parity alg I know is the double fix, so I do that if I have an OLL parity, and if there's a PLL parity after that, I break/rebuild dedges until it's gone. This happened on solves 1, 3, 4, and 5. The second solve was a bad solve with both parities. My best time is sub-3, so this is..well, amazingly, slow. My 5x5 average should be a few minutes better than this.
(edit)AvGalen: I know it's stupid (I'm just lazy), and thanks for the tip on the PLL alg. I learned that and took another 3/5 avg, got just over 3 minutes 

5x5
5:14.45
(5:07.45), 5:14.86, (5:30?), 5:13.06, 5:15.70
Was hoping for sub-5, which would also beat my record, but this is very consistent and not far off, which is promising. Beats my old average by 40 seconds or something, too. On the third solve, the phone rang, so I stopped the timer, talked on the phone, but hit the wrong stop button when I was done. Anyway, it was my slowest solve so it didn't matter.


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## AvGalen (Mar 23, 2007)

Arakron: That's just stupid! You took the time to learn the OLL parity fix, but not something as simple as (Rr)2 R'2 U2 (Rr)2 R'2 (Uu)2 (Rr)2 R'2 (Uu)2 U2. This can be remembered as
Slice only r2, U2
Slice only r2, Thick Slice U2
Slice only r2, Slice only U2
How often do you get to shave off minutes of your times with only 6 moves?


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## Erik (Mar 23, 2007)

@ avG. B best time is now 2:03.59 with your edge method :lol:


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## AvGalen (Mar 23, 2007)

Congratulations, too bad you didn't understand before.
What was your fastest time before you started learning this method?

I am expecting at least 1 sub-2 solve at next weeks competition!


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## dChan (Mar 24, 2007)

Some horrible times. My PLL was messed up two/three times because I did a 2-look PLL because I'm slow at doing the G-perms. But I had my fastest time ever for OH.

3x3x3 AVG. 46.7
48.54,45.88, 45.68,(42.15),(49.34)

OH Disqualified?
1:47.28,1;46.44, (1:03.28), (1:57.78), DNF

I messed up on one of the solves so am I disqualified from OH?


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## AvGalen (Mar 24, 2007)

dChan: No, you are not disqualified. All average of 5 solves drop the lowest and highest times. Your DNF counts as your highest time.


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## Hubdra (Mar 24, 2007)

3x3

Avg: 33.41
Times: 36.28, 31.44, (31.00), (42.50), 32.52

An Okay Average, I'm using a new cube, which is faster, but tends to pop more.


3x3OH
Avg:1:28.55

Times: 1:26.11 (1:11.44) 1:16.69 1:42.86 (2:19.25)

Even though this is my fastest average one handed, i felt a little disappointed. I used my old cube on the first time, then switched to my newest cube. On the last solve, I had total amnesia and screwed up last layer completely.


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## KJiptner (Mar 24, 2007)

Kai Jiptner

*3x3x3*
Times: 24.30, 27.70, (23.91), 25.95, (29.42)
Avg: 25.98

Okay. A little bit nervous because I was filming my cubing session. But also I broke my Avg record before.


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## Erik (Mar 24, 2007)

Best time is still 1:57, but I'm sure I'll get used to your way a bit and also beat my current best avg of 2:19 with it.


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## AvGalen (Mar 25, 2007)

Arnaud

2x2x2:
Times: 8.50, 11.69, (13.28), (5.96), 8.95
Average: 9.71
Comment: Difficult scrambles, reasonable average. You beat me Sven! 5.96 was a skip.

3x3x3:
Times: 27.22, 30.44, (27.14), (33.51), 29.04
Average: 28.90
Comment: My 3x3x3 became very bad, so I decided to lube it. You shouldn't do competitions with a just-lubed cube because they are a little sticky on the inside and slippery on the outside. Decent average for me though

3x3x3 One Handed:
Times: 57.21, 53.49, 53.65, (51.85), (1.03.04)
Average: 54.78
Comment: Using a just-lubed-cube is even worse for one-handed. Better than last week, but I can do sub 50 on average. Last solve was all worst cases for the 4 look last layer.

4x4x4:
Times: 1.53.27(O), 1.44.35(O), 1.50.68(O), (1.41.37), (2.06.44)(OP)
Average: 1.49.43
Comment: Using my old East-Sheen, because my Studio keeps popping. I never thought parities had such great influence on my times! Maybe that is because "cutting corners" is not possible on an East-Sheen so my turning speed is lower. sub 1.50, so I am satisfied!

5x5x5:
Times: (2.59.31), 2.46.49, 2.44.76, 2.57.65, (2.33.68)
Average: 2.49.63
Comment: This is by far my favorite cube! My first sub 2.50 average and all solves were below 3 minutes! The last solve had a PLL-skip, but it doesn't influence my average so I think I am ready for Dutch Open 2006 now  (There was a very strict time-limit of 2.50 then)

Overal: Very satisfied, especially with the big cubes. The results from this week and all weeks before will be up tomorrow night.


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