# Kirjava's Cubing History



## Kirjava (Jun 28, 2010)

Not quite sure why I'm doing this.

I remember playing with a cube at two separate times at unspecified points in my childhood. One when I was especially young, and was playing with an 80s cube in the car. That's all I can recall. The other, I was playing with the cube with my brother, and we were racing each other to make a side. 

My parents got me a Pyraminx for Christmas 2004. I had no idea that it existed previously to this, and was fascinated how twistypuzzles similar to the rubiks cube existed. I saw someone solve a cube in 33 seconds on the internet some time after this and was amazed. A few months later (possibly when I had managed to acquire some money from my birthday in march), I went out and bought a cube from a store. (I had destroyed the 80s cube with WD-40. Gotta love my naiveté). I remember buying it from someone I knew, and him giving me a discount. I played with it on and off for a few months, I recall solving it with this the first time (omg im so hardcore), but I couldn't do it on my own yet. This changed when I stumbled across the Petrus method online. I remember going through all the steps and being at about 5 mins the first few times I solved it. At this point I was fully colour neutral.

It was at some point in 2005 where I started lurking in #rubik. Towards the end of 2005, I was at about 50 seconds with Petrus and was starting to get interested in speedcubing. Before this, I was content with being able to do it and wasn't massively interested with the cube (I was 16 and horny). My pb at this point was 44 something seconds. Learning petrus had given me a nice intuitive understanding of the cube, but I had inherited bad habits with this method, that I was too used to to change. I decided to switch methods so I had a clean slate to work from. I toyed with learning L2L4, but documentation was poor. For some reason, the Roux method appealed to me and I switched to it in early 2006. My times went back to about 70 seconds! I wasn't put off though, and 3 (I think) months later I knew full CMLL and was averaging about 20 seconds. However, I was no longer colour neutral and limited to a choice of two blocks. I knew little of how much of an impact I'd have on my own solving style and other cuber's styles in the future. 

For a long time, I greatly disliked solving a 4x4x4 cube. I ignored the reduction method entirely at first, and opted to learn cage because of how bad slice turns were to perform on the cubes of that era (I was using an eastsheen). At first, I was using some beginner cage-like solution. Eventually, I got talking to Per and he was teaching me optimisations and commutators. I was starting to enjoy doing it, but still greatly disliked the centres stage.

Mid-2006, and I'd never been to a comp. However, there was a cubing meetup in London at Paul Nixon's house. I somehow managed to get down there and enjoyed competing and talking with other cubers. At the unofficial competition, I was using the cage method for 4x4x4. Afterwards, I'd decided to switch to reduction because I disliked solving centres so much. I was solving the 3x3x3 phase with what I now call FreeFOP, and had pretty much given up at getting 'serious' about 4x4x4 at that point. However, on the car ride home, I started playing about with the 4x4x4 and trying out different things. I liked the direct solving aspects of cage, but parts of the method had annoying execution. I took my favourite parts from reduction and cage and filled in the blanks to create something I was happy using. I did a writeup of the method and uploaded it when I got home from the meetup. By the time I got to UK Open 2006, I was using K4. The method went through a few redevelopments before I settled on a formula I was content with. The last layer technique I use is something produced from lots of discussions with other direct solvers, maybe this is where my love of discussing various advanced tricks with like minded people comes from. 

I wouldn't say I stopped cubing at this point, but my interest in cubing faded in and out for the next few years. I didn't do anything particularly interesting development wise, aside from some K4 stuff. It was mostly just practise and learning. I read a lot of stuff. Method theory has always fascinated me, as have various algorithms and how they work. I acquired a lot of knowledge that was scattered around. A lot of it doesn't even exist anymore. I still attended comps, but cubing wasn't in focus for a long time. I was at university, and you can guess the rest.

In late 2008, the UK Open boosted my interest again. I started to hang out with Joey from time to time, which is always epic fun. 2009, and I'm starting to get involved more seriously. I changed my cubing style yet again, but this time I was sticking with the same method. I started using four blocks instead of two, and I started using pesudoblocks. (A technique I'd played about with in 2006, but hadn't found usable until this point) I also started changing my bad CMLLs and learning multiple algs for cases, a precursor to KCLL. Mid 2009, and Joey started going to University in the town where I live. We started hanging out nearly every weekend, and cubing lots ^_^. This is about the time when I started posting on speedsolving.com a lot more. Coincidence? For sure! I started going further with Roux development. I was finding <RrMU> based solutions to LSE cases that were faster than their <MU> counterparts, and other optimisations. 2010 and I start learning/using KCLL and the various techniques/algs required to take advantage of it. It's around this time when I learned algs for using FreeFOP efficiently for whatever reason.

For the same reason that I didn't use redux for 4x4x4, I never used Roux for OH. Instead, I opted to use FreeFOP. Actually, this is a lie. The competition before I switched to Roux for OH, I intentionally used a different method for each solve. I think one of them was Waterman XD. Between this competition and the next, I found that using the table to assist in the solve was allowed. I'd wondered if this could be useful in the past, but never bothered with it as it wasn't competition legal. I played with using it a bit, but I never really liked OH - I didn't think it should be an event (still don't). Next competition and I use to table to achieve similar results to how I did using FreeFOP. At some point there was a debate in #rubik about my technique, and I started to seriously practise it and exploit the use of it. (I remember doing 100 something OH solves one day) I adjusted a cube specifically to use for it, and discovered that the technique is /extremely/ useful - my times dropped like crazy. I think Roux is great for OH.

I went to a lot more competitions in 2009 and 2010. This is mostly because there actually were more competitions in the UK these years . Meeting people I've spoken to online after so many years is great. Discussing techniques and generally having fun. I've made lots of friends online and in real life through cubing. I'd like to go to more competitions, hopefully somewhere other than in England next time. 

Feel free to ask me questions. I've missed out a lot of stuff - random inventions (RouxZZ, KCO, 4D, L2Lite, stuff I don't even have names for), meeting up with people, forum drama (loltwisty), trolling and loling (I like that competitions aren't always about cubing. Getting intoxicated in car parks and student accommodation is also important).


TL;DR - I love cubing.


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## joey (Jun 28, 2010)

tl;ar - too long already read


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## koreancuber (Jun 28, 2010)

OT, but 1000th post. congrats


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## riffz (Jun 28, 2010)

boring. jk


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## vcuber13 (Jun 28, 2010)

Whats K4CLL or whatever its called?


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## StachuK1992 (Jun 28, 2010)

I like it.
I wish we did quite a few more SpeedSolving interviews. I'm kind of under the impression that they don't take /tons/ of work, and it's kinda cool to hear about history, etc from various cubers, even if they aren't *all* that famous.


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## Ethan Rosen (Jun 28, 2010)

FIRST


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## vcuber13 (Jun 28, 2010)

Ethan Rosen said:


> FIRST



First what?


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## Mitch15 (Jun 28, 2010)

interesting story for sure


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## Edward (Jun 28, 2010)

This inspires me.


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## miniGOINGS (Jun 28, 2010)

Awesome read. It wasn't mentioned in there, but I would be interested in hearing about Roux2.0.


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## Tim Major (Jun 28, 2010)

Cool read. I love reading these. I seem to find out new things whenever I read these. I think I'd love to read a few others history pages on websites, because it seems like there's so much I didn't know from 2007 and earlier. tbh, I did know a lot about your history 
Lucky you go to hang out with Joey every weekend or two just to cube.
/me goes looking for other cubers' history pages...


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## riffz (Jun 28, 2010)

vcuber13 said:


> Whats K4CLL or whatever its called?





I believe it's influencing the L6E orientation case while performing CMLL. So sometimes simply doing a M' before the CMLL can result in a much better orientation case.


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## Rook (Jun 28, 2010)

Damn, this makes me want to start using Roux again and learn K4.

It's amazing to see the before/after of cubers that inspire me *gushes*


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## miniGOINGS (Jun 28, 2010)

riffz: That's KCLL. K4CLL would be last layer corners for his 4x4 method.


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## joey (Jun 28, 2010)

ZB_FTW!!! said:


> Lucky you go to hang out with Joey every weekend or two just to cube.



Not to *just* cube 

Also, Kirjava LOVES sleeping on my floor. It's so comfy.


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## riffz (Jun 28, 2010)

miniGOINGS said:


> riffz: That's KCLL. K4CLL would be last layer corners for his 4x4 method.



I thought it was a typo.


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## cmhardw (Jun 28, 2010)

Interesting read Kirjava. It's always neat to hear other people's perspective on our shared hobby. Of course, it's also interesting to hear the back story of new methods, like you wrote for K4.

Thanks for the history!
Chris


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## Tim Major (Jun 28, 2010)

joey said:


> ZB_FTW!!! said:
> 
> 
> > Lucky you go to hang out with Joey every weekend or two just to cube.
> ...



Yeah, I know, didn't really mean you just cubed, even though that's exactly what I said


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## DavidWoner (Jun 28, 2010)

Oh Thom... you always know how to make my day just a little bit brighter.


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## 4Chan (Jun 28, 2010)

1K post count exactly too. O:


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## musicninja17 (Jun 28, 2010)

I didn't realize you invented K4. * high fives *


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## Feryll (Jun 28, 2010)

musicninja17 said:


> I didn't realize you invented K4. * high fives *



What'd you think it stood for


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## miniGOINGS (Jun 28, 2010)

Komplete 4wesomeness.


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## dabmasta (Jun 28, 2010)

I joined pretty recently, but I enjoyed this very much! For some reason, I've always seen you as my favorite forum member (no homo). As said before, this is really and inspiration. I think I'm going to learn K4 now. =)


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## Cyrus C. (Jun 28, 2010)

Hmm. I wonder how Petrus would've developed if you had stuck with it...

Interesting read, there should be a sticky thread for stuff like this.


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## musicninja17 (Jun 28, 2010)

i just learned K4 after reading that post xD 

Very, very great explanation on your site, thank you for that.....


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## Boxcarcrzy12 (Jun 28, 2010)

This reminds me of Twitter


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## Samania (Jun 28, 2010)

Cool story bro.


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## Slowpoke (Jun 28, 2010)

Wonderful read. It warms my heart to read posts like this.


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## Dene (Jun 28, 2010)

Way too much nostalgia from Kir. I'm starting to think he's going soft.


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## Cubenovice (Jun 28, 2010)

Very nice read, thanks for sharing.


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## ~Phoenix Death~ (Jun 28, 2010)

Kirjava said:


> (I was 16 and horny)


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## xXzaKerXx (Jun 28, 2010)

~Phoenix Death~ said:


> Kirjava said:
> 
> 
> > (I was 16 and horny)



Hahas  That was my favourite part.


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## g7oa (Jun 29, 2010)

hi,kirjava,do you remember me?i emailed u before.but i think i can't use irc to chat with you in china(because the web).but i think this is a way i can communicate with you.
your artical remind me something Fridrich writen on her website.what surprise me is you are the same age with me
hope you can post more about roux method~there's really few people use roux in china


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## mrCage (Jun 29, 2010)

Hi Thom!!

It's been many years since we had our talks about cage and your new K4 method. I have to disagree with your comment on slow inner layer turns as a reason for doing cage and not reduction. Overall cage uses more slice turns. On V6 and V7 it actually becomes pretty awful. Then again, my V6 is not modified and my V7 is from DealExtreme. To be nonest i do (speed)cubing mostly for the fun of it. Patterns and fewest moves is more rewarding than speedjerking the 3x3x3 Stefan please do an age/speed analysis based on the huge WCA database ...

Per


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## vcuber13 (Jun 29, 2010)

mrCage said:


> Hi Thom!!
> 
> ... Stefan please do an age/speed analysis based on the huge WCA database ...
> 
> Per



I believe there is a small one on the WCA site.


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## waffle=ijm (Jun 29, 2010)

kir <3


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## Gurplex2 (Jun 29, 2010)

Nice autobiography


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## rachmaninovian (Jun 29, 2010)

slice turns are <3
hi five fellow directsolver :3


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## jiggy (Jun 29, 2010)

Very interesting read! My own interest in cubing has started to wane a little bit recently, but I hope that if I stick with it for as long as you have, I can claim half as many contributions to the community as you can.


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## ─━K` (Jun 29, 2010)

It's really a long history ……


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## sequencius (Jun 29, 2010)

Wow your life sucks. 

I'm pretty sure anyone that spends that many years on a cube can be as fast as you.


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## Kirjava (Jun 29, 2010)

mrCage said:


> I have to disagree with your comment on slow inner layer turns as a reason for doing cage and not reduction. Overall cage uses more slice turns.




Hey Per! Long time no speak.

The slice turns I'm talking about are those required at the 3x3x3 part of the redux method if you use roux. Double slices, not inner.


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## Edward (Jun 29, 2010)

xXzaKerXx said:


> ~Phoenix Death~ said:
> 
> 
> > Kirjava said:
> ...


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## uberCuber (Jun 29, 2010)

this made me go learn K4 lol...as for Roux...well..I'll probably start that, after I learn to BLD solve


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## vcuber13 (Jun 29, 2010)

uberCuber said:


> this made me go learn K4 lol...as for Roux...well..I'll probably start that, after I learn to BLD solve



Did you only look into it or are you switching?


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## uberCuber (Jun 29, 2010)

vcuber13 said:


> uberCuber said:
> 
> 
> > this made me go learn K4 lol...as for Roux...well..I'll probably start that, after I learn to BLD solve
> ...



gradually switching as i get better at the 4x4 ELL stuff


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## vcuber13 (Jun 29, 2010)

uberCuber said:


> vcuber13 said:
> 
> 
> > uberCuber said:
> ...



Cool, is there anything you dont understand?


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## uberCuber (Jun 29, 2010)

vcuber13 said:


> uberCuber said:
> 
> 
> > vcuber13 said:
> ...



yes, i dont understand how im going to cram all that 4x4 ELL knowledge into my head without shoving out some ZB stuff lol 

seriously though, I think I understand it well enough, its just a matter of that oh-so-lovely p-word


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## vcuber13 (Jun 29, 2010)

uberCuber said:


> vcuber13 said:
> 
> 
> > uberCuber said:
> ...



You dont need to learn all the algs on kirjavas site, ion fact you dont need to learn any, but you need to know how commutators work.


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## antoineccantin (Sep 13, 2012)

Wanna update?


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## Kirjava (Sep 13, 2012)

oh god this is old

maybe :3


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## uberCuber (Sep 13, 2012)

uberCuber said:


> yes, i dont understand how im going to cram all that 4x4 ELL knowledge into my head without shoving out some ZB stuff lol



lolwtf
TIL that when I first joined this forum, I acted like I knew ZB... -__-


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