With superfast twists and quick turns, speedcubing gains a young following

Pune: Dhruv Jagtap’s (11) hands whirl around a Rubik’s Cube faster than the eye can blink. According to World Cube Association’s (WCA) website, this Pune boy has an average score of solving a 2x2x2 cube in 2.3 seconds, a 5x5x5 cube in 1.29 seconds, a 6x6x6 cube in 4.30 seconds, besides achievements in other events.Immad Ajani from Mumbai is of the same age as Dhruv. He is the current Asian record holder in unscrambling a Pyramix Cube, with a single solve time of 1.02 seconds. He broke the record previously held by a Chinese cuber at a competition in Pune last September.In a competition, the organisers place the cubes before participants who can observe them for 15 seconds.Ajani said, “I look at the cube and unscramble the puzzle in my mind. When the clock starts ticking, I can solve it in a jiffy. I want to break the world record.”In the world of speedcubing or speedsolving, people (mostly youngsters) compete to align every single side of a cube in the shortest possible time.Currently, WCA recognizes 17 speedcubing events encompassing a range of puzzles, such as Pyraminx, Megaminx, Skewb, Square-1, and Rubik’s Clock, among others. Additionally, there are specialized formats such as 3x3, 4x4, and 5x5 blindfolded, 3x3 one-handed, 3x3 fewest moves, and 3x3 multi-blind.“Currently, all the national records in cubing are being held by those between 9 and 12 years of age,” Aditya Reddy of Speedcubing Pune said.Invented 50 years ago by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Erno Rubik in 1974, the iconic puzzle saw a revival of sorts during the Covid pandemic-induced lockdown, with many kids gravitating towards it out of sheer boredom.Lockdown PassionBoth Dhruv and Immad took to cubing during the Covid lockdown and learnt to crack the puzzle in record time after watching YouTube videos and practising for hours daily.“Now, we see kids aged 4 to 5 participating in speedcubing competitions,” Mitali Bovde said. She is another member of Speedcubing Pune, who organised a competition under WCA in 2019, along with her friends, when she was in Standard X.At that time, they had just 100 participants and the registrations filled up within 4-5 days, she said. “That is when we realised that cubing has a lot of potential and there are a lot of cubers in Pune. But then Covid happened and everything shut down,” she added.When they organised the competition again in 2023, the response was overwhelming, and the registrations filled up within 12 hours. There were 150 participants and a footfall of 1,000 people, Reddy said.“This prompted us to organise three more competitions last year. Cubing has seen an exponential growth post-lockdown because of the competitions,” he added.He estimates the number of active cubers in Pune to be over 600. “There could be many more cubers who do not actively participate in competitions,” he said.Pune A HotspotOver the years, Pune has become one of the hotspots of cubing along with Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. Cubers come to Pune from Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and other places to participate in various competitions, he added. Bengaluru has the maximum number of blindfold solvers in India, according to Vivek Prasad, founder of Speedcubing, Bengaluru.“We get around 30 such participants in various competitions. Also, we organise the maximum number of competitions. Last year, we organised 10 competitions. This year, we want to scale it up to 30,” he said.Wanted, More GirlsBut despite the recent craze for speedcubing, most organizers said they are not able to attract many participants. “This is because unlike in other games, say chess, where anybody who can move the pieces can participate, in case of cubing, one first needs to know how to solve it. That is the biggest challenge in itself,” he said.Another disquieting aspect of the sport is the gender imbalance. “Interest in speedcubing among girls is very low. When I participated in a speedcubing competition for the first time in 2018, I was perhaps the only girl there. But girl cubers are coming to the sport. In Pune, there are 20 to 25 girl cubers who participate in competitions,” Mitali, who holds the second rank in India in 3 events — 2x2, Megaminx and Pyranminx, said.More than just a toy“Lack of recognition is the bane of the sport despite there being world-class cubers in the country. Many people still think Rubik’s Cube is just a toy,” Prasad said.But not everything is as gloomy as it seems. “Covid pandemic has done a world of good to the sport, ushering in a bunch of kids who are very good at cubing. There is so much competitiveness in the sport now, which has helped in improving India’s cubing standards. Our records are now on a par with the world,” Rahul Venkateshan of Chennai Cubing Club said.