The competition itself took place in the Ontario Science Center in Toronto. The contestants stayed in the nearby hotel Crowne Plaza for a very reasonable rate of $99CAD per night. The championship started on Saturday morning in one large room with four huge cube- stands with timers and displays showing the time. The organizers used the Speedstacking timer. Each solving attempt proceeded in the following way. At each stand there was one member of the judging team assisting with the solve. Let's call him/her the stand judge. The scrambling committee scrambled the cube (each contestant had the same scramble) and the cube was put on the timing pad and covered by the stand judge. Then, the judge uncovered the cube and the contestant could pick up the cube and inspect it for 15 seconds. After that, the cube was placed back on the pad and covered again. Then, the contestant put his/her hands on the two yellow spots on the pad. This set the timer to zero. The stand judge then counted "three, two, one, go" and the contestant lifted the hands from the two yellow spots, which started the timer, picked up the cube and started solving it. When finished, the cube was put back on the pad and the time stopped after putting both hands back on the two yellow spots. The time was always indpendently measured by the stand judge just in case the timing pad failed. In fact, this happened several times (to Dan Knights and David Allen in the qualifications) when the time did not stop when it should have most likely because the contenstants did not put back their hands accurately on the yellow spots.

The 3x3x3 event started on Saturday. All competitors solved the cube three times and the 32 competitors with the best average of three proceeded to the next round. Approximately 35 constants had to finish the qualifying round on Sunday due to delays on Saturday. All 32 contestants then solved the cube three times in the second round. The fastest of the three was then used to choose the fastest 8 who proceeded to the finals. The final, third round consisted of 5 attempts, the worst and best times were eliminated and the middle three times were averaged to determine the winner. The results of the competition, including all other puzzles can be downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet.

During the entire competition the following rules were set regarding the exception situations. The winner of the 3x3x3 competition received a trophy, some memorabilia, and a check for $5000CAD. More details about the championship can be found at the official WC 2003 web site.

The timing pad. The contestants put both of their hands on the two circular yellow spots. Lifting them and putting them back turned the timer on and off. The display on the far right showed the readiness of the timer and the time itself.

The Saturday competition took place in this room. The small podium had four cube stands with four timers. The judging and scrambling committee is behind the podium.

The chief organizer Dan Gosbee. Always alert, right on spot, keeping a keen eye on everybody.

The Fewest Moves Challenge originator Dan Harris and Jess Bonde - the holder of the new World Record of 16.53 achieved in the second qualifying round.

David Allen who lost to Minh Thai in 1982 was looking for a revenge this year. He had a very unique cubing style filled with incredibly fast finger shortcuts powered by both index fingers. I have never seen anybody twisting the cube so fast in a competition. David is using a corners-first system. He seemed to get better with pressure as opposed to most other cubers. David ended up on the 6th place.

Peter Jansen, the master of finger shortcuts and Ton Dennenbroek, the constructor of puzzles that are guaranteed to take your breath away. I came to the championship with a relatively new cube that was still pretty stiff. Ton greased it for me and I have to admit that he had done a great job! Thank you Ton :)

Masayuki Akimoto, the winner of speedsolving 4x4x4 (1:27.06) and 5x5x5 (2:39.62) cubes. Masayuki had developed a pretty unique system for solving the large cubes. And it looks like it is VERY effective, indeed!

Jaap Scherphuis (left) won the Rubik's Magic (3.06 sec), Rubik's Master Magic (8.22 sec), and Rubik's Clock (38.98 sec) competitions.

Doug Li and Lars Vandenbergh. Lars won the Square 1 (41.80 sec) competition with a huge lead. He placed 4th in the 3x3x3 finals.

Wiktoria Zborowska (7 years old) solved the cube for the first time when she was 5y and 360 days old. This is a record that is not likely to be overcome for years! Not fearing the cameras and bright lights, she joined us on the stage.

Wictoria with her (very proud) father Zbigniew Zborowski. Zbigniew is a regular participant in the Fewest Moves Challenge and he is also developing new methods for solving the cube.

Ron van Bruchem is the fastest cuber of all times with his most recent average of 15.4 seconds (as of August 27, 2003). It is too bad the nerves slowed him down during the championship to the 8th place. Ron is by far the most dedicated cuber I have ever known.

David Wesley from Sweden. David placed 3rd in the main speedcubing 3x3x3 event and 2nd in 4x4x4 and 5x5x5.

Dror Vormberg from Israel won the blindfold event. From left: Dror, Jessica, and Yasmara.

Mirek Goljan is the master of solving the 3x3x3 cube in the fewest number of moves without the help of computers. Mirek usually needs a few hours to solve the cube in mid 20's. His shortest solve at the competition had 29 moves, which got him the first prize.

Dan Harris and Mirek Goljan.

The winner of the main 3x3x3 speedsolving event, Dan Knights. Dan is trying to concentrate before his last fifth attempt in the finals.

Dan Knigths.

Jessica and Andy Camann. Andy is one of the fastest cubers in the world, averaging an unofficial 16.3 sec.

At the dinner reception. Chris Hardwick, the winner of the one-handed event, myself, Michiel van Der Blonk and his wife Yasmara, Jasmine with her boyfriend.

Yasmara, Mirek Goljan, Michiel van Der Blonk at the entrance to the Science Center.

Hmm, when was the last time I signed my name so many times in two days. Let me count ... oh, yes, 21 years ... :)

David Barr and Grant Tregay exchanging tips. Grant won the Megaminx discipline with time 2:12.82.

The two-handed master Dan Knights with the one-handed master Chris Hardwick.

Dan Knights, Jessica Fridrich, and Lars Petrus.

If only I could remember how to solve the damned Dogic ...

Jon Morris with Betty.

Lars Vandenbergh and Jaap at the dinner reception.

Mirek Goljan ended up on the 14th place and won his age category (over 40) as well as the Fewest Moves Challenge.

Collecting signatures for memories.

Lars Petrus and Andy Bellenir. Andy won the speedsolve Pyraminx discipline with time 14.09 sec.

Lars Petrus with his wife.

Anders Larsson demonstrating cubing with feet!

The oldest competitor Rune Wesström.

2nd blindfolded: Jim Mattan
Hana Bizek and her 3D cube sculptures.

Jess Bonde and Jessica Fridrich.

By the end of Sunday, everybody was exhausted and a little sad that it is all behind us ...