An event in the municipality of Aveiro and the Porto Metropolitan Area will take place at the António Costeira Municipal Pavilion, organized by the Portuguese Speedcubing Association, co-founded by local youngster Pedro Azevedo. In July, Azevedo was the only Portuguese participant in the world championship of the sport held in Seattle, USA, placing in the Top 100 in the Megaminx category (a dodecahedron) and Top 200 in the 2×2 cubes (two pieces per face) and Skewb (pieces sliding on a diagonal axis).
Amid a growing number of competitions involving cubes created by Hungarian Erno Rubik and other puzzles stemming from his invention, Pedro Azevedo aims to make the third ‘speedcubing’ event he organizes in Oliveira de Azeméis “memorable.” He announces competitions in 10 official categories, with results counting towards the World Cube Association (WCA) rankings, as well as an unofficial one.
In the official categories, performances will be assessed in handling 2×2, 3×3, 4×4, and 5×5 cubes, followed by one-handed 3×3 events, along with Megaminx, Skewb, Pyramix (pyramid-shaped), Clock (a disc with nine clocks per face to be synchronized), and Square-1 (a cube with irregular edge pieces to form a final cube shape).
Additionally, the so-called ‘2-Man Mini Guildford’ will take place unofficially, where teams of two participants will attempt to complete all the previous 10 Open categories in the shortest time possible.
Participants expected in Azeméis range from ages 9 to 56, including ‘cubers’ such as Afonso Machado, a Portuguese 3×3 record holder, and Tiago Morais, who ranks first nationally in several categories, as well as Briton Luan Phillipe, ranked 20th in his country for single-handedly manipulating 2×2 and 3×3 cubes.
“For some participants, it will be their first competition, while for others it’s the 77th, but I am pleased to see people traveling from other countries to participate, and the goal is for everyone to enjoy,” says Pedro Azevedo to Lusa.
The co-founder of the Portuguese Speedcubing Association believes that this year’s event will see an overall quality improvement, particularly due to support from sponsors who “helped improve the competitor’s experience,” and he hopes that the event’s atmosphere similarly reflects positively in participants’ times.
“I hope that everyone finishes the competition satisfied, both with social interactions and good results,” concludes the ‘cuber’, whose official personal record is solving a 3×3 cube in 6.53 seconds.
