Fountain City Holiday Special 2023

Inside The HUB at Calvary, the winter air gave way to the steady rhythm of puzzle layers clicking into alignment across the competition floor. Forty-seven competitors gathered for a full slate of action in Columbus, Georgia, USA on December 9, 2023. Staged across thirteen separate rounds and six distinct disciplines, the single-day schedule demanded sharp precision from the opening scramble. Every competitor stepped up to the timers under structured cutoffs and multi-round progressions designed to separate consistent execution from single-solve fortune.

The format across the weekend tested pacing across different disciplines, starting with the headline 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube. Across two rounds of play, the 3x3 results rewarded those who could keep their averages intact over five solves. Caleb Chen took the main event title at the Fountain City Holiday Special 2023, putting together a winning average of 7.16 seconds alongside a best single solve of 6.72 seconds. Chen had previously set a 6.42 single and a 7.27 average in the qualification stage to lock in his spot at the front of the pack.

The rest of the 3x3x3 Cube podium required similar composure over the full five-solve format. Nicolás Sánchez secured second place with an average of 7.74 seconds, having earlier registered a 5.73 single and a 7.58 average. Tommy Cherry earned third place on the podium with a 7.93 average, after putting down a blisteringly fast 5.38 single and a 6.46 average in earlier competition. The depth of the field showed through round thresholds, with Justin Barker notching an 8.64 single and 9.10 average, and Kevin Min posting a 7.77 single and 9.35 average.

Multi-round progression also defined the Square-1 event, the only discipline at the tournament featuring three full rounds of head-to-head elimination. Tommy Cherry dominated the bracket, capturing the Square-1 title with a 9.74 average and an 8.17 single. Kevin Min secured second place with a 13.80 average, while Gavin Zielke claimed third place with a 14.44 mark. In the Megaminx division, which filtered twenty-three entrants down to a decisive final round, Cherry won again with an average of 42.69 seconds, holding off Vishwa Sankar at 45.08 and Eddie Smith at 53.27.

The big cube categories required immense physical stamina within their two-round cutoff structures. Vishwa Sankar swept both large puzzles with disciplined performances on the 6x6x6 Cube and 7x7x7 Cube. In the 6x6x6 Cube final, Sankar posted a 1:36.18 winning average and a 1:32.74 single, finishing ahead of Cherry at 1:39.22 and Kevin Min at 1:56.43. Sankar followed that with victory in the 7x7x7 Cube, recording an average of 2:18.95 and a best single of 2:15.92. Kevin Min placed second in 2:58.13, while Raymond Goslow rounded out the podium in 3:07.74.

Beyond the podium finishes, the tournament floor proved to be a platform for significant personal growth across all experience levels. Jacob DeRouen delivered a massive breakthrough, lowering his 3x3x3 Cube personal best to 37.68 seconds, which was 34.2 percent faster than his previous mark of 57.26, while also recording his first ever attempt at Megaminx with a time of 3:36.32. Quintan Anthony Huffman dropped his 3x3x3 Cube best to 10.41 seconds, an improvement of 29.7 percent from 14.80, while taking on six total events, finishing seventh in blindfolded solving with a 4:05.29 initial attempt, and logging a 4:52.75 in his first 7x7x7 Cube try.

Other competitors took on brand new puzzle formats with great results throughout the day. Nathan Sachleben entered five disciplines at the Fountain City Holiday Special 2023, finishing sixth in Square-1 while recording inaugural attempts in the 6x6x6 Cube at 4:45.78, Megaminx at 1:29.55, and the 7x7x7 Cube at 6:57.46. Andrew Lee tackled five events, setting his first Square-1 mark of 36.25, improving his 6x6x6 Cube best by 15.2 percent to 3:15.74, and cutting his Megaminx mark by 6.9 percent to 1:45.63. Dylan Tomko placed sixteenth in 3x3x3 Cube with a personal best of 9.96 seconds, a 20.4 percent cut. Debut appearances brought strong starts as well: Kevin Wang entered his first official tournament and notched an eleventh-place 3x3x3 Cube finish with a 9.08 single, Knox Korver completed an opening 2:33.05 Megaminx solve, and Chirag Sampat posted an opening Square-1 single of 18.78.

The blindfolded contest closed out the specialized events, challenging competitors to execute complex algorithms strictly from memory without seeing the puzzle faces. Tommy Cherry added a third gold medal to his tally, winning the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event with a 13.62 single solve in a field of eleven competitors. Vishwa Sankar took second place on the podium with a successful solve of 1:24.06, while Douglas Chaplow finished third with a mark of 2:01.36.

The single-day speed cubing gathering concluded with eighteen total podium spots claimed across six events, reflecting a productive day of speedcubing in the region. Between the strict multi-phase cutoffs of the big cubes and the high-speed chases in short-format rounds, this cubing competition tested every layer of preparation. As the 2023 season wrapped up its tournament schedule, the Fountain City Holiday Special 2023 stood as a comprehensive test of puzzle skill and round endurance at a memorable WCA competition.