Feb 17, 2008

Speed cubers compete at Stanford

Favorite from the 1980s reappears at competition

By Melanie Carroll / Daily News Staff Writer

What is old is new again when it comes to the cube that clicks as it turns and seems to have addictive powers over those who enjoy solving it in less than a minute -- or in some cases, less than 15 seconds.

Roughly a hundred people, including spectators, flocked to the Stanford campus Saturday for the California Open 2008 Rubik's Cube Tournament.

Leyan Lo, a 22-year old Stanford graduate student in physics, took home two first prizes: the blindfolded competition and the "2x2x2" contest, in which contestants solve a Pocket Cube, which has four small squares on each side, instead of the standard nine.

The key to solving the puzzle while blindfolded is to memorize where everything is on the cube before the blindfold is placed over the eyes, Lo said. That means looking at the cube for 40 to 50 seconds before using a combination of methods to solve the hard plastic puzzle, he said.

"It's a lot of fun to learn," Lo said. "It's a difficult problem."

Lo started cubing four years ago, 30 years after the puzzle was invented by Hungarian architecture professor Erno Rubik.

Forty-seven-year-old Swede Lars Petrus started solving it in 1981. A year later he became the national champion of Sweden and the globe's fourth-fastest in the Rubik's Cube World Championships held in Hungary.

Petrus, who lives in Mountain View and works as a computer programmer for Google, said he's not as fast as today's kids, who he says are smarter and healthier. Still, he competes and spent a perfect sunny Saturday indoors at Kresge Auditorium holding a variety of cubes. The fastest he's solved a cube was in 2006 when it took 13.6 seconds, according to his Web site.

"What else would I do with my life?" Petrus said. "I'm always competing against myself."

Petrus, who is something of a celebrity at cubing events, has a Web site that shows his unique methods for solving the puzzle. The Swedish speed solver attributes the growing popularity of the Rubik's Cube in recent years to the Internet.

Cameron Almasi, 12, of Palo Alto, who solved a puzzle in 25 seconds Saturday, started learning the cube about six months ago after going online to see how others solve it, the boy said.

"The cube is the only thing I like to do. Twenty-four seven," the Terman Middle School student said. "I think I'll do it forever."

The sixth grader didn't win first, second or third place Saturday, but he was competing with older people who have done it for years, some of whom can solve the puzzle in 11.6 seconds like first-place winner Andy Tsao.

Even so, Almasi said people on the streets are sometimes impressed with his skills and a girl at his old school even took notice of him when he showed her his cube skills.

The Palo Alto boy said he aspires to be the world champion one day.

His mother Azita Almasi said the cube is a great motivator when it comes to getting her son to do his homework.

"I tell him, 'No cube unless you do your homework,'" his mother said. "When he's doing his homework I have to collect all the cubes" in the house.



Email Melanie Carroll at mcarroll@dailynewsgroup.com.