1982 World Rubik's Cube Championship

The 1982 World Rubik's Cube Championship was a competition for speedsolving the 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube.

1982 World Rubik's Cube Championship
Minh Thai standing next to the timer after setting his 22.95 world record single.
Tournament information
SportSpeedcubing
LocationBudapest, Hungary
Dates5 June 1982–5 June 1982
Teams19
Final champion
Minh Thai

It was held in Budapest, Hungary, on 5 June 1982.[1] Contestants selected from 19 countries took part.[1] Minh Thai from the United States of America was the winner with a best time of 22.95 after three attempts for each contestant. The top attempt of three was taken as the competitor's score.[2] First prize was a gold-plated Rubik's Cube.[1]

Writing shortly afterwards, David Singmaster who was one of the judges, described the competition as being efficiently organized, although at one point power for the TV and the display timer failed in the middle of a trial.[3] The cubes were selected by Ernő Rubik himself, and according to Singmaster "competitors described them as pretty good".[3] However, writing around 20 years later, Jessica Fridrich who had participated in the contest, criticised the cubes for being "really hard to turn and were not prepared for serious speed cubing".[4]

This competition was the first officially recognised competition of its kind. The next competition was held in 2003 in Canada, with many differences to the competition structure and many other puzzles being added other than the Rubik's Cube.[5] The World Cube Association, founded in 2004, retroactively recognizes the results of the 1982 championship despite substantial differences between the event and modern speedsolving competitions.

Results

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The results were:[3]

Place Name Time Status Country Attempt 1 Attempt 2 Attempt 3
1 Minh Thai 22.95 WR   USA 27.16 22.95 27.97
2 Guus Razoux Schultz 24.32 ER   Netherlands 24.32 31.51 26.51
3 Zoltán Lábas 24.49 NR   Hungary 24.49 27.58 28.21
4 Lars Petrus 24.57 NR   Sweden 35.42 33.11 24.57
5 Ken'ichi Ueno (上野健一) 24.91 AsR   Japan 27.56 27.90 24.91
6 Jérôme Jean-Charles 25.06 NR   France 27.87 31.18 25.06
7 Julian Chilvers 25.95 NR   United Kingdom 30.59 25.95 27.46
8 Duc Trinh 26.63 NR   Canada 37.44 26.63 36.09
9 Giuseppe Romeo 28.11 NR   Italy 34.23 41.75 28.11
10 Jessica Fridrich 29.11 NR   Czech Republic 31.49 29.11 33.20
11 Eduardo Valdivia Chacón 29.62 SAR   Peru 34.91 29.62 30.01
12 Luc Van Laethem 29.73 NR   Belgium 32.92 34.98 29.73
13 József Borsos 30.02 NR   Yugoslavia 36.75 35.33 30.02
14 Ronald Brinkmann 30.59 NR   Germany 34.80 30.59 32.52
15 Jari Sandqvist 31.17 NR   Finland 31.17 DNF* 31.56
16 Manuel Galrinho 37.11 NR   Portugal 40.74 48.67 37.11
17 Piotr Serbeński 37.50 NR   Poland 44.40 37.50 40.86
18 Svilen Tenev 47.29 NR   Bulgaria 51.88 47.29 47.35
19 Josef Trajber 50.16 NR   Austria 50.16 54.93 58.99

WR = World Record

ER = European Record

AsR = Asian Record

SAR = South American Record

NR = National Record

  • Sandqivst's second attempt was disqualified since his cube was broken twice in the same attempt. This was a violation of the competition rules and the attempt was stopped at that point.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Joan Hanauer (26 May 1982). "Cube Contest". United Press International.
  2. ^ "World Rubik's Cube Championship 1982 | World Cube Association". www.worldcubeassociation.org. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
  3. ^ a b c David Singmaster (1982). "Cubic Circular Issues 3 & 4".
  4. ^ a b Jessica Fridrich (2003). "The World Championship, Budapest 1982".
  5. ^ "World Rubik's Games Championship 2003 | World Cube Association". www.worldcubeassociation.org. Retrieved 2016-08-12.