Sai Charan Kintali carries so many puzzle cubes with him during the day at Irving Middle School in Springfield, Virginia, he keeps them in a special black case in his backpack.
He started learning to solve the cubes four years ago, and ever since, he’s been working with a coach to improve his speed. He can solve a 3×3 cube in about 10 seconds and a 2×2 in one to two seconds.
The eighth grader has already secured a pair of accolades for his efforts. The America Book of Records honored him for one record, solving 50 different puzzles and shapes in 6 minutes and 50 seconds. He has also been recognized for solving 50 different cubes in 7 minutes and 30 seconds.
He now has his sights on another achievement: Kintali wants his name in the Guinness Book of World Records.
“It’s pretty much just the happiness after solving every cube,” Kintali said of his motivation. “Just increasing your speed makes you feel happy that you’re up at that level compared to a lot of other people.”
The keys, he said, are focusing and memorizing algorithms. He learned 120 algorithms for the 3×3 cube, and it “took a lot of dedication and courage to come up to this point.”
Kintali practices with a personal coach, too, and initially struggled in his pursuit of those records. To start, he goes step by step, to make sure each piece is put in its correct slot. As he got more advanced, he said he learned different types of notations.
He spends a lot of time after school memorizing the algorithms, and because he plays the piano, Kintali said the hand movements come more naturally. Eventually, he said, it became muscle memory.
“I just have the cube in my hand, and whenever I feel bored, I just go and solve,” Kintali said.
His friends often call him “insane” because of how quickly he solves the puzzles, he said, and sometimes his peers can solve one side but then give the cube to him to finish.
The attention to detail that the puzzles require is also helping Kintali focus in class.
“I improved my schoolwork, so I improved my concentration, my listening skills,” he said.
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