Montreal teen breaks world record for fastest average cubing solve while blindfolded

An 18-year-old Montrealer broke a world record this week, and it only took 15.05 seconds.

That's the average time Elliott Kobelansky took to solve a 3x3 Rubik's cube three times in a row—while blindfolded—at a World Cube Association competition in New Hampshire on Friday.

In the second round, he also broke his own national record for fastest single solve, completing the puzzle in a whirlwind of maneuvers lasting 14.15 seconds.

After coming close to breaking the world record several times, Kobelansky says, "Finally getting it now feels really, really good."

That record was previously held by American Tommy Cherry, one of Kobelansky's best friends.

The record time includes the seconds Kobelansky spends observing the cube before putting on the blindfold.

And there's a lot to do in those few seconds, he says.

"I have a process where I can convert the cube into a string of about 20 letters, give or take two. Based on those 20 letters, I memorize them," he said.

"I put on the blindfold, and then based on those letters, I group them into pairs of two, and each two letters corresponds to a certain set of moves I have to do. Then I go through each of those pairs of letters. At the end, if I did everything correctly—it's solved."

It's a process that took years of practice and dedication to learning advanced math concepts.

Outside of the hobby, the teen says he's interested in pursuing software engineering or computer science.

But in the meantime, he has his sights set on breaking more records.

The cubing world championships are scheduled for August in Seoul.