MPEI Open All-Russian Speed Cubing Championship 2019

From the 22nd of November to the 24th of November, 2019, a MPEI Open 2019 All-Russian Speed Cubing Championship was held at MPEI Community Centre.

This year, there is celebrated its 10th anniversary. For many years the championship has been maintaining the status of the traditional and the largest one in the number of participants in the CIS countries.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vice-Rector on International Relations Alexander Tarasov congratulated all speed cubers and guests on this event and handed MPEI Certificates of Merit for work with gifted youngsters and a great contribution to the development of mental sports to the long-term partners of the MPEI Open Championship and the founders of the speed cubing movement in Russia. Among them there were Rubik's company, the Hungarian Cultural Center in Moscow, the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization "Information Center for the Nuclear Industry" of the "Rosatom" State Corporation.

Andrei Kondrat - the chief organizer of the MPEI Open Championship, the assistant to the first Vice-Rector - summed up the results of the competition and he showed the participants and guests the final video clip where MPEI-TV was given an interview by the founder of the speed cubing movement in Russia Leonid Timonin, the winner of the Amazing People project (Russia -1 TV Channel) and the participant of the MPEI Open 2012–2019 Championships, Roman Strakhov, as well as the inventor of the Rubik's Cube, Professor Ernő Rubik, who visited National Research University “Moscow Power Engineering Institute” in advance of the anniversary competition.

The MPEI Open 2019 Championship is the highlight of the year for puzzle enthusiasts across the country. At MPEI Community Centre there were gathered more than 350 participants, 300 guests and spectators. Every year Russian and world stars of speed cubing come to the competition.

In 2019, participants from more than 30 regions of Russia and 10 countries of the world contended for the grand prize - a trip to Budapest, the birthplace of the inventor of the Rubik's Cube.

The competition was held in 18 official and 5 unofficial disciplines. The youngest participant was only 5 years old, and the oldest participant was 78 years old. They all competed on equal terms.

The results of all participants are published in the international database of the World Cube Association (WCA).

In total, over three competitive days, there were set up 7 national records of Russia, Armenia and the Ukraine in various disciplines, as well as a European record for the Rubik's Clock solution (4.99 seconds). This record was set up by a schoolboy from Electrostal (Moscow region) Dmitry Gundin.

Students from National Research University "Moscow Power Engineering Institute" also performed well and they hit the podium in 4 disciplines:

Sergey Shitov (ER-3-17 group) won the 3rd place in solving the 5x5x5 Rubik's cube (the result is 1 minute 1 second) and 6x6x6 Rubik's cube (the result is 1 minute 53 seconds);

Vladimir Okenchits (ER-2-18 group) won the 3rd place in solving the 5x5x5 Rubik's cube blindfolded (the result is 16 minutes 44 seconds);

Rustam Valeev (A-16-18 group) won the 2nd place in the multi-solving the 3x3x3 Rubik's cube (the result is 18 cubes of 23 in 57 minutes 20 seconds).

All winners and prize winners of the Championship received intellectual prizes from Rubik's company. In addition, laureates in the "solving the Rubik's Cube blindfolded" discipline were awarded special SIM cards with a reduced rate from the Virgin-connect company. Every year Russian and world stars of speed cubing come to the competition. For 10 years, it has been visited by former world record-holders Erik Akkersdijk, Mats Valk (Netherlands), Petr Michal Padlevsky (Poland), Ivan Vinnik (Ukraine), Gint Alexander Dreimanis (Latvia).

The three leaders in the “Rubik's cube solving” main nomination received cups and certificates signed by the inventor Ernő Rubik in holograph. The winner, a student from St. Petersburg University Dmitry Dobryakov, having set a Russian record in the final of the competition in average time of solving, will visit Budapest - the capital of Hungary.

The Championship received wide coverage in the federal media. As a result, the report was shown on the 1st channel.

Photoreport by the author Nikolay Filippov.

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