Six-year-old Chinese prodigy shatters Rubik’s Cube world record twice

6-year-old Chinese speedcuber Lian Yunzhi from Chengdu broke the women's 3x3 Rubik's Cube average world record twice in three days at World Cube Association certified competitions in Wuhan and Guangzhou.

She achieved averages of 4.52 seconds and 4.27 seconds, making her the first female speedcuber to average under 4.5 seconds.

She was introduced to cubing through an extracurricular class, her mother eventually shifted focus to cubing as an activity to nurture comprehensive abilities. Liam has mastered over 1,300 solving algorithms and practices daily for 2 to 3 hours with her parents.

According to the World Cube Association, she participated in 33 competitions across China and has 569 official solves. Her single record for a 3x3x3 cube is 3.54 seconds, and 2.15 seconds for a 2x2x2 cube.

"Solving a Rubik's Cube improves focus, memory, logical thinking, spatial awareness, and helps develop a healthy mindset toward winning and losing," Lin said.

"It's not just about blindly memorizing formulas, but using logical reasoning to find optimal solutions," she added.

Before this, the record belonged to Qixian Cao. Having picked up the cube at just three years old, he achieved an average time of 5.97 seconds in 2023 at the age of six.