He practiced so long, and worked so hard.” When Daniel Gutierrez beat my state record, I was so happy. But it’s more about competing against yourself. This summer, Krish heads to Nationals in Salt Lake City, to compete against some of the best in the world.īut, Krish insists, all this competition is not about beating others. That got his name on the World Cube Association home page. He set a personal best time there too: 6.73 seconds.

In March, Krish won his first competition, in Poughkeepsie, New York, with an average time of 8.36 seconds. He’s so well known, in fact, that at competitions he gets asked for autographs and selfies. Each cube turns differently, he explains. Krish gets his cubes for free (and displays their logo prominently). He’s sponsored by S peed Cube Shop, an online seller of cubes, timers, lubricants, carrying bags, and anything else a competitive cuber could want.

“Once you understand how a cube works, it’s simple,” he claims.Īs you may have figured, Krish is the real deal. You do not need “genius IQ,” or a mathematical mind. I have a friend who did it in 16.9 seconds.”Ī key characteristic of a good cuber is resilience, Krish says. He also does square 1 (shape-shifting) and megaminx (a dodecahedron). (It’s worth noting - though Krish says it very casually - that he does 3×3 with only one hand - and blindfolded.) That was a “huge milestone.”Ĭompetitions involve many different categories. Krish got his first sub-10 second average. Scores are based on the average time of the middle 3 solves. Computers generate “scrambles.” Each cuber gets 5 different “solves.” The best and worst scores are discarded, because a lucky scramble can allow a contestant to skip a few steps. “I’ve made friends all across the country.” “They’re a great social gathering with like-minded people,” Krish - now a Staples High School sophomore - says. Before year’s end, he placed 2nd at an MIT event.Ģ015 brought Krish’s 1st sub-10 second solve his 1st win, and a trip to the nationals in Portland, Oregon. He began specializing in pyraminx (a tetrahedron puzzle with nearly a million different positions). But Krish had fun, made friends, and loved the cubing community. His time of 17.89 seconds - yes, you read that right - was not good enough to earn honors (you read that right too). His first competition came a few months later, at Yale.

2017 can you buy cube world