Wakefield Autumn 2023

One hundred and seventy competitors gathered inside Unity Hall as the two-day gathering got underway on October 7, 2023. Staged in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, the tournament delivered high-stakes action across 10 distinct events and 18 rounds of play. Fans in attendance watched a packed schedule unfold as top domestic talent defended home turf against an accomplished international contingent across two days of intense speedcubing.

The domestic charge was spearheaded by Daniel Partridge, who delivered an overwhelming masterclass across the big cubes. Partridge claimed a triple victory over the weekend, sweeping the 5x5x5 Cube with a 55.44 average, the 6x6x6 Cube in 1:42.60, and the 7x7x7 Cube with a mark of 2:34.07. His single solves were equally dominant, registering 51.06 on 5x5x5, 1:37.75 on 6x6x6, and 2:23.36 on 7x7x7. To cap off a remarkable weekend, Partridge also stepped onto the podium in 3x3x3 Blindfolded, securing third place with a time of 34.42.

Shorter formats also saw British competitors control the podium steps in front of the local crowd. In the 2x2x2 Cube final, Luke Burns captured the gold medal with a blistering average of 1.27, backed up by a best single solve of 0.70 across the two rounds. Nicky Sim took second place with a 1.62 average, while Dan Turner rounded out an all-British podium in third with 2.02. The lightning-fast 2x2x2 rounds drew 125 entrants and provided some of the quickest turnarounds of the entire cubing competition.

The main event brought the house to its feet as 164 entrants lined up for the classic Rubik's Cube. After four grueling stages, the 3x3 results crowned Norway's Herman Westerlund Kalland as champion with a winning average of 7.19 and a best single solve of 6.82. France's Elian Beguec secured the runner-up spot averaging 7.77, while Caleb Wolf Dunn held firm for the home crowd to take third place on a 7.87 average. Kalland had earlier challenged Partridge in the 5x5x5 Cube, finishing second with a 58.17 mark.

Away from the top steps, several competitors marked significant milestones and breakthroughs on the official floor. Milo Crifó Garton posted an enormous leap forward in the 2x2x2 Cube, setting a new personal best of 6.71 to shave 56 percent off his prior benchmark, alongside a 3x3x3 personal best of 24.33. Oliver Goodson similarly halved his 2x2x2 personal best down to 6.11, an improvement of 51.4 percent. Seamus Murphy tackled five events and cut his Clock best down by 45.4 percent to 13.49 while taking on his first ever Megaminx attempt with a time of 2:32.52. Harrison Cowie completed all 10 disciplines on the schedule, logging his first ever 3x3x3 Blindfolded solve in 4:03.23 and improving his Megaminx mark by 30.8 percent to 1:53.44.

The depth of progress continued across the lineup throughout the weekend. Gordon Cheung shaved 52.7 percent off his 3x3x3 Blindfolded personal best down to 1:53.22 to finish ninth overall, while also recording his first ever attempt in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves with 58. Jessica Dover entered seven categories and logged her first attempts in the 6x6x6 Cube with 3:40.03, the 7x7x7 Cube with 5:20.36, and Clock with 7.69 to finish 17th. Oliver Benington made official debut attempts in Clock with 40.44, Square-1 in 25.26, and 7x7x7 Cube in 6:13.07. Ollie Turner took on all 10 events, logging a debut 6x6x6 time of 5:15.33 and cutting his Square-1 mark by 16.7 percent to 18.21.

Specialist categories added further drama across the weekend at Wakefield Autumn 2023. In 3x3x3 Blindfolded, where competitors must complete the puzzle entirely from memory, Ben Stokes earned top honours with a winning average of 22.17 and a single of 19.50. China's Mengfei Shen took silver in 28.15, ahead of Partridge in third. Stokes also took second place in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves with a count of 29, trailing winner Yunhao Lou, who claimed gold with a single solve of 27 moves, while Oliver Wheat took third with 30.

Yunhao Lou added a second gold medal of the weekend in Clock, putting together a winning average of 4.34 with a single of 4.07 across two rounds. Sam Shaw pushed hard for the local supporters to claim second place in 4.44, followed by Kris Lim in third at 4.74. In Megaminx, Aidan Grainger proved untouchable, producing a winning average of 33.95 and a low single of 27.81 to lead the 68-competitor field over two rounds. Square-1 saw Elian Beguec secure top spot with a 10.04 average and an 8.51 single.

By the time the final awards were distributed, competitors representing the United Kingdom had collected 19 total podium finishes, while France claimed five, and Norway and China earned three each. The spirited atmosphere inside Unity Hall showed the enduring vitality of speed cubing in Yorkshire as Wakefield Autumn 2023 drew to a close. With dozens of individual personal bests recorded, this memorable WCA competition set a high benchmark for the upcoming tournament season across the region.