An upcoming championship will have participants battle it out to solve the Rubik's cube among other puzzles in New West.
Canadian Speedcubing Championship 2023 will see as many as 320 contestants from 20 countries compete at the Queen's Park Arena — among them will be the current Canadian Rubik’s Cube record holder, Brennan Lin.
The Ontario-based puzzle whizz got the rows of a 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube aligned in just 4.14 seconds — that’s about three seconds less than what it takes to make a first impression.
Lin, the fastest 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube solver in Canada and the 11th best in the world, will strive to keep his record at the championship, which will make its B.C. debut this month between Thursday, July 13 and Sunday, July 16.
The championship, held once every two years since its launch in 2007 (it was called the Canadian Open then), brings together those best-skilled in solving 2x2x2 cubes through to 7x7x7 cubes, pyraminx, megaminx, skewb, square-1, 3x3x3 one-handed, 3x3x3 blind-folded and more under one roof.
The results for each puzzle round is recognized by the World Cube Association (WCA), the global governing body of speedcubing competitions.
The championship, which has previously been held in provinces including Ontario and Alberta, is back after a three-year COVID break, said Alyssa Esparaz from Speedcubing Canada — Canada’s official WCA regional organization, and the organizer of the championship.
B.C., Esparaz said, has been seeing a significant increase in the number of World Cube Association tournaments — as per the data on the WCA website, 2008 saw one speedcubing competition in the province, by 2023, that number grew to a dozen.
"Only six months into the year, it's already been a record-breaking year in British Columbia with 337 people competing in B.C. so far in 2023 (compared to 270 in all of 2022 and 139 in all of 2021), and of course not yet including the numbers that will be added next weekend at Canadian Championship," she added.
Next week's championship is the 11th WCA event in B.C. this year.
And speedcube enthusiasts can look forward to seeing history being made. Will Lin keep his 3x3x3 cube record? Will former 3x3x3 blind-folded event champion Elliott Kobelansky win back the record currently held by the United States?
It might only take a few seconds to find out.
Canadian Championship 2023, will be held between July 13 and 16, at Queen’s Park Arena, 51 Third Ave. To know more about the event — sponsored by online Canadian cube store, CANcube — check out Canadian Championship 2023.
