CHENNAI: Akash Rupela has a set of restless fingers — they quiver till they find a Rubik’s cube to devour. The IIT Delhi’s mathematics and computing student holds the national record for solving a Rubik’s cube in 6.91 seconds.
What Akash does is called speed-cubing, or in common terms, turning the cube so fast that you can only see a blur of colours and fingers and solving it in a matter of seconds. In fact, the cube is ‘broken in’ with constant practice and lubricated so that it’s easier to turn. Finger tricks are also employed — the basic premise is that the sides of a cube can be flicked and turned by using just one finger.
“My average time is 10 seconds. You can practice and bring down your solving speed, but after a point, it gets much tougher,” he says, talking to City Express on the sidelines of Shaastra’s Cube Open. Chennai lad Kesava Kirupa Dinakaran, who holds the Guinness World Record for most cubes solved in one hour (293), concurs. “Breaking that 10-second barrier is really tough,” says the Class 11 student.
These youngsters solving the cube are self-taught — well, nearly anyway. Their teacher and guide — YouTube and online tutorials. “My brother bought me my first Rubik’s cube about four years ago from a stationery shop. Since then, I’ve been solving using online resources,” says Akash, who cubes for two-three hours each day.
For Kesava, it was a friend who bought him his first cube when he was in Class 7. “Initially, I would practice a lot. Now, I practice for about 30 minutes each day,” he says.
For eight-year-old Naman Jain, it seems like Bengaluru traffic has proved to be a blessing in disguise. “We practice on the bus back home,” says the 4th grader, who can crack a cube in 52 seconds. He too uses online resources and speaks passionately about how he gets together with his friends to cube with six layers of colours.
“There are 78 algorithms to solve the last layer,” explains Akash, who keeps turning a cube in his hand even as he speaks. For cubers who want to crank it up a notch, there is even one-handed cubing and blind-folded cubing, says Pavan, one of the organisers of Shaastra’s Cube Open. “Before being blindfolded, we memorise the pattern and which colour is where. Then we solve accordingly,” he says. “For me, it’s not about the competition or anything. Solving a cube was one among the “100 things I want to do before I die’ list,” laughs Chandrika from Chennai, a 54-year-old who also learnt from the Internet.
“It’s 100 per cent a mind-based game. A lot of kids have a Rubik’s cube at home, but not many know how to solve one. Now I’ve been teaching kids in my tuition class,” she smiles. With a team of nine youngsters, whose ages average 18, breaking the Guinness World Record (pending verification) for most number of cubes solved in one hour (1,860), at Shaastra, the patterns are clear. Speed Cubing is all about a bunch of youngsters learning from the internet, who can’t wait to get their hands on a cube. Of course, people like Chandrika are still young at heart!