UCSD Big and Blind 2025

Inside the competition venue at UC San Diego, an atmosphere of intense concentration filled the room as rows of timers blinked across the tables. Competitors sat hunched over large multi-layered puzzles or slipped blindfolds over their eyes, relying on memory and practiced finger patterns to solve their cubes. The single-day gathering brought together 28 competitors to take on a demanding schedule centered on large mechanisms and complex blindfolded disciplines.

Held on January 19, 2025, UCSD Big and Blind 2025 delivered an impressive showcase of speedcubing skill in San Diego, California, USA. The event attracted dedicated puzzle solvers looking to test their limits on the classic Rubik's Cube variants across 7 official events and 8 rounds of intense play. With an emphasis on big cubes and memory challenges, this WCA competition put stamina and technical mastery squarely under the spotlight.

A major theme across the tournament was the rapid improvement of emerging solvers who attacked complex events with confidence. In the blindfolded disciplines, Jimbo Cai of Canada registered a quick single of 18.79 seconds during the 3x3x3 Blindfolded rounds, while Alvin Liu turned in a single of 25.93 seconds. Nate Minkevich recorded a 55.99 single, Ryan Fong posted a 58.42 single and a 1:06.17 average, and Michael Young secured a single time of 1:54.15 in the same event.

Beyond the established podium contenders, the weekend belonged to hard-working solvers making dramatic leaps on the stopwatch. Aayush Sahu took on 6 events, posting a personal best of 1:47.47 in 3x3x3 Blindfolded that was 34.6 percent faster than his prior mark, improving his 7x7x7 Cube personal best to 3:40.73 by 4 percent, and finishing his first ever attempt at 3x3x3 Multi-Blind with 7 out of 10 points in 51:02. Adit Shah also made his first ever attempt at 3x3x3 Blindfolded, logging 2:12.95, while slashing his 5x5x5 Cube personal best down by 33.3 percent to 1:42.01. Dylan Trueblood entered 6 events, achieving 4th place in 4x4x4 Blindfolded with a personal best of 9:19.17 that was 30.5 percent faster, trimming his 5x5x5 Cube best by 5.1 percent to 1:59.43, and posting a 3x3x3 Multi-Blind personal best of 9 out of 11 in 52:52. Claire Zhang entered 2 events and completed her first ever attempt at 3x3x3 Multi-Blind with 5 out of 7 cubes solved in 56:37, finishing 10th.

The progress continued with Jason Chang, who tackled 4 events and placed 4th in the 7x7x7 Cube while lowering his 3x3x3 Blindfolded personal best by 19.3 percent to 6:39.26. Manning Karahashi entered 3 events and achieved personal bests across the board, dropping his 7x7x7 Cube time by 23.8 percent to 3:54.33, his 6x6x6 Cube time by 14.9 percent to 2:26.23 to take 7th place, and his 5x5x5 Cube time by 10.4 percent to 1:21.49. Nate Minkevich advanced his 6x6x6 Cube personal best by 12.2 percent to 3:24.63 across 6 events, August Barnard trimmed his 5x5x5 Cube mark by 5.2 percent to 1:41.90, and Alberto Pérez López took the floor for his very first WCA competition in a great display of speed cubing spirit.

At the sharp end of the blindfolded categories, Graham Siggins put on a clinic throughout UCSD Big and Blind 2025. Siggins secured top honours in the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event with a winning average of 24.43 seconds and a best single of 21.38, having also logged a 21.04 single in the preliminary phase. Jimbo Cai took 2nd place on the podium with a 26.90 average, while Alvin Liu locked up 3rd with 36.20. In the 4x4x4 Blindfolded discipline, Siggins won with a 2:05.71 single, followed by Liu in 2nd at 3:56.20 and Kate Grahame in 3rd at 6:02.01.

Siggins also dominated the remaining memory challenges, claiming 1st place in 5x5x5 Blindfolded with a 5:47.12 single ahead of Liu at 15:21.00 and Cai at 18:14.00. In 3x3x3 Multi-Blind, Siggins successfully resolved 54 out of 64 cubes in an exact hour of 1:00:00 to take 1st place, while Liu took 2nd with 15 out of 16 in 52:09 and Cai rounded out the top three with 16 out of 21 in 58:10.

The big cube divisions were ruled by Kate Grahame, who swept all three standard events. Grahame captured the 5x5x5 Cube title with a 51.42 average and a best single of 46.54, leading Emily Nguyen with 1:04.51 and Dylan Govic with 1:16.99. In the 6x6x6 Cube, Grahame topped the field with a 1:28.47 average and 1:22.50 single, while Nguyen placed 2nd with 2:05.98 and Andy French secured 3rd in 2:09.85.

Grahame completed her treble in the 7x7x7 Cube, posting a winning average of 2:07.49 and a fastest single of 2:03.68, ahead of Alex Lehman with 3:35.87 and Siggins with 3:36.07. From the specialized blindfold disciplines to standard 3x3 results and large hardware, this cubing competition in San Diego set a high standard for competitors heading into the rest of the 2025 season.