Please Be Loud in Tashkent 2023

Inside the competition hall at the Tashkent Financial Institute, tables were filled with an expansive collection of geometric shapes and mechanical puzzles. Over two days from June 3 to June 4, the venue became a vibrant hub of activity as 81 competitors gathered to take on a sprawling schedule of events. Instead of focusing merely on one standard discipline, the program spanned ten distinct puzzle types, testing competitors on everything from multi-layered big cubes to irregular polyhedrons and mechanical dials. The dynamic atmosphere in Tashkent, Uzbekistan set the stage for an intense weekend of competitive speed cubing in 2023.

The official program of Please Be Loud in Tashkent 2023 featured 17 rounds across these ten formats, giving the assembled field a full test of versatility. Competitors adjusted their approach constantly, moving from the rapid turns of compact cubes to the complex algorithms required by larger hardware. Across the weekend, 79 solvers tackled the traditional Rubik's Cube, but the schedule made equal room for the five-layered 5x5x5 Cube, the dodecahedral Megaminx, and the shifting axes of Square-1. This breadth gave the cubing competition a rich character that highlighted multiple disciplines of modern puzzle handling.

Andrey Che delivered an exceptional run across the widest range of events, capturing seven individual titles. In the larger cubes, Che claimed the 4x4x4 Cube victory with a winning average of 29.81 and a best single of 25.27, ahead of Diasbek Zhuraev who finished second with 34.10 and Anatolii Turenko who took third with 34.23. Che also topped the 5x5x5 Cube standings with a 54.69 average and a single of 53.86, where Zhuraev took second place with 1:02.16 and Damir Zhanataev took third with 1:15.33. His control across distinct puzzle architectures established a dominant standard throughout the weekend.

Che continued to gather gold medals as the puzzles changed shape entirely. In Megaminx, he secured first place with an average of 46.34 and a 45.32 single, while also dominating Square-1 with a 13.24 average and a best single of 8.89. His versatility extended into specialty mechanics, winning Clock with a 7.71 average, where Bekzodjon Yusupov was second in 8.25 and Kamronbek Bolikulov was third in 8.89. In Pyraminx, Che took the top podium step with a 3.71 average ahead of Nazir Xodiyev in 4.58 and Umidjon Zafarov in 4.75. He added the 3x3x3 One-Handed crown with a 10.15 average, while Turenko placed second with 13.17 and Zhanataev took third with 13.77.

The classic three-layered Rubik's Cube brought some of the most fiercely contested action of the entire meet. In the 3x3x3 Cube final, Chyngyz Sultanbekov of Kyrgyzstan captured victory with a stellar winning average of 7.00 and a top single of 6.18, leading the official 3x3 results. Anatolii Turenko finished right behind in second place with an average of 7.13, while Andrey Che claimed third place with 7.33. Sultanbekov also took top honors in the 2x2x2 Cube, posting an average of 2.34 and a rapid 1.15 single to best Turenko with 3.02 and Che with 3.06. In the Skewb final, Usmon Rustamov won the title for the host country with a 5.01 average, edging out Che with 5.52 and Sohiba Abdumalikova with 5.94.

Beyond the title fights, Please Be Loud in Tashkent 2023 offered a platform for substantial personal progress across various brackets. Khojiakbar Rustamjanov registered a massive improvement in Pyraminx, lowering his personal best single to 8.62, which was 52.7 percent faster than his prior mark of 18.22, alongside a first Clock attempt of 28.84. Danil Belyakov cut his Skewb best in half to 9.35, representing a 50.1 percent leap from 18.72, and logged his first official 5x5x5 Cube attempt at 3:18.35. Azizbek Tursunov entered ten events, achieving a 4x4x4 Cube personal best of 1:16.50 that was 47.7 percent faster than his previous 2:26.15, while also recording a first Square-1 attempt of 59.70. Shohrux Ibragimov dropped his 3x3x3 Cube mark to 20.54, an improvement of 47.2 percent over 38.87, and completed his first 4x4x4 Cube solve in 1:57.60.

Other competitors took full advantage of the broad schedule to test themselves in unfamiliar categories. Fayozbek Erkinov entered ten events and dropped his Megaminx best to 1:22.40, a 47 percent improvement from 2:35.58, while also submitting a first Square-1 solve of 1:11.59. Muhammadali Erkinjonov improved his Pyraminx single by 45.1 percent to 6.48 and posted a first 5x5x5 Cube attempt of 2:55.16. Olimbek Usmonov took part in their first WCA competition, taking on seven events with first-ever marks of 33.76 in the 3x3x3 Cube, 2:29.47 in the 4x4x4 Cube, and 15.94 in Skewb. Azizbek Majidov also made a WCA competition debut across four events, finishing with a 59.99 first attempt in the 4x4x4 Cube and a 16th-place finish in 5x5x5 Cube.

The overall medal breakdown reflected regional competition across Central Asia and beyond, with Russian competitors collecting 14 podium places, Uzbekistan earning 9, Kazakhstan securing 5, and Kyrgyzstan taking 2. The sheer variety of events provided every participant a distinct challenge across the two days of competition. Please Be Loud in Tashkent 2023 closed out its final round with an emphatic demonstration of the wide range of disciplines that define contemporary speedcubing.