For some, solving a Rubik's Cube is a hobby, but for Medhansh Seth, solving this game of twists and turns means a lot more than just a pastime.

The game of colours and patterns brings out the confident self in the 17-year-old from Noida.

Medhansh was introduced to cubing when he was just nine and has never looked back since.

"My mother wanted me to do well in all activities. She put me in every type of class she could find, and I probably went through 25-30 classes of skating and basketball. But one class that really stood out for me was the Rubik's Cube session," says the class XII student.

"And what I noticed was that it was one thing that I didn't want to quit in a month. And I slowly started racing with other kids in my class and it just became a big passion of mine."

Over the years, Medhansh has earned over 150 podium finishes, even becoming a four-time consecutive Delhi State Champion. He had also tried his luck in the Guinness World Records and an India Book of Records events.

The art of speedcubing

While it was his mother who nudged him into taking baby steps into the world of Rubik's Cube, it was fellow teenage prodigy Leo Borromeo from the Philippines who inspired Medhansh to be a master at it.

"He was around my age when I saw his videos on YouTube for the first time. He was much faster than I was at the time. This motivated me so much that it was something I really wanted to achieve."

"And I always wanted to meet him. But the opportunity never came," says Medhansh.

Speed cubing is essentially what its name suggests: solving the Rubik's Cube as quickly as possible. This niche part of the game has been gaining traction in India as well.

The speedcubing competition here is governed by the World Cube Association (WCA) with the help of judges, scramblers (computer programs that produce unique sets of moves for a Rubik's Cube, ensuring that all competitors start with fair and unpredictable cube configurations) and runners (volunteers who deliver scrambled cubes to competitors). The players are only allowed to inspect the cube for a maximum of 15 seconds before trying to solve it.

Medhansh started focusing on it in 2016. He clinched a bronze medal three years later when he took part in his first competition (in New Delhi) in the speedcubing category.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The best thing that lockdown could ever give me was my 13-14 hour sessions of just cubing. This came to the point where my parents were concerned that I might get addicted to it," he chuckles.

"But I think that helped me drop from [solving the cube] in 30 seconds to 10 seconds."

Thanks to his speedcubing skills, Medhansh's spatial reasoning - ability to visualise and understand objects in two or three dimensions - was 100 percentile in an aptitude test conducted by his school.

Just like Medhansh, Ammar Shahid, a 21-year-old law student from Uttar Pradesh, developed his love for Rubik's Cube over time.

Ammar Shahid. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

"At one point in time, everyone in my school had it (Rubik's Cube). There were only a handful of people who actually knew how to solve it, and I loved how they did it within 1.5 minutes. I was surprised by their quick fingers and the admiration they were getting from our classmates and seniors. So, I bought a cube from the local shop and started learning from YouTube."

With perseverance, Ammar, who first dabbled in the game in 2015, began understanding the complexities involved in solving the cube.

"It took me a month to learn Rubik's Cube, but I kept improving through YouTube videos," recalls Ammar.

"When we learn to solve the cube, it's just pattern recognition and learning a set of moves. When we eventually get a hang of these, we create our own sets of moves to solve a pattern."

Another aspect which has helped Ammar to solve the cube efficiently was learning the technique of "look-ahead". This is when the player doesn't look at the pieces they are solving but identifies the pieces they are about to solve.

"I built this skill through slow solving of the cube so that my eyes could track the position of pieces when solving an algorithm. Most importantly, practice matters, but in the areas where one is inefficient," the law student explains.

However, competing was a far-fetched dream for Ammar as they were being organised only in places like Delhi and Bengaluru.

"After two years, I could solve it in under 15 seconds and that was when I decided to participate in my first competition in Delhi," he says.

Mastering speedcubing took Ammar around two years.

"The definition of 'mastering it' can be different for different people. Nowadays, it's so evolved that solving it even under 10 seconds is a little too common. I got under 10 seconds in four years. So, I guess you can even say it took me four," says Ammar.

The national Rubik's Cube competitor has secured two silvers and two bronze medals in tournaments conducted by the WCA.

Cubing on global stage

It would be a fair comment to say that the game of chess and Rubik's Cube are similar in more ways than one. Both require a certain level of strategic thinking, pattern recognition, and the ability to visualise solutions. However, the kind of exposure and popularity the best chess players and the best Rubik's Cube players get is nowhere comparable.

"This can be explained by the fact that Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 as a children's toy. It only gained popularity as a full-fledged sport in the early 2010s. Whereas chess became a worldwide sport during the Cold War. American and Soviet players battled for supremacy on the chess board. Hence, a lot of media coverage," Ammar explains.

"I think the main factor in this is that cubing is beneficial for children and they can dominate it. So, what we see is that in India, cubing is dominated by 18-year-olds and 20-year-olds. However, on the world stage, it is dominated by eight to 10-year-olds. Once all the world champions grow up and get a job, they cannot financially support themselves by just participating in cubing competitions," Medhansh explains.

"The best thing we can do is highlight the benefits of solving Rubik's Cube."

Medhansh also explains why adding age brackets to the competition conducted by the WCA is a necessary step.

"If a 14-year-old is better than a six-year-old, he will get the trophy. This can cause a lack of motivation among children. This is what I've noticed."

On the other hand, Ammar opines that the Indian champions have a cloudy future.

"For Indians, it still serves as a good hobby. Opportunities to compete and excel are ever-increasing, but the sport is still limited to very few participants as compared to other sports.

"Eventually, for any sport to flourish, it has to be converted into a marketable business with an audience willing to watch the best athletes competing at the highest level," he adds.

Coaching scenario

Preeti Raja, a Chennai-based coach, has been teaching Rubik's Cube at her coaching centre since 2016.

She teaches over 35 different types of three-dimensional puzzles from various forms of Rubik's Cubes, such as megaminx, skewb, pyraminx, speedcubing techniques and also blindfold techniques.

Preeti Raja teaches over 35 different types of three-dimensional puzzles. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

What began as offline, face-to-face sessions later expanded to include online classes during and after the pandemic.

"Teaching Rubik's Cube online does come with its own set of challenges. One major issue is that the screen often shows a mirrored image to the students, which can cause confusion. To overcome this, I use two cameras -- one from the laptop and another mounted above my hands -- so that students get a clear and accurate view of the cube without any distortion," she explains.

Medhansh, too, has stepped into the role of a coach quite effectively through his online company AceCubing.

"The best thing I can do for my young students is to give them online courses. But I make sure that I combine all the different types of methods that are there to give them the best experience and exposure," he adds.

Medhansh has stepped into the role of a coach through his online company AceCubing. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Catch a glimpse of Medhansh Seth solving Rubik's Cubes.

Twist, Turn and Solve: Inside India's speedcubing community