would have liked.

We'll get back to those reasons later, there's a lot I want to say on that topic, but for

now: Worlds 2007!

Much like Worlds 2005, the first talk of Worlds 2007 was less than a month after the previous

worlds had ended.

Chris Hardwick posted on the Yahoo!

Speedsolving group, asking people about their goals for 2007.

Not too many people were talking about where they wanted it to be, but the few who were

overwhelmingly preferred somewhere in Europe.

It makes sense if you think about it; it's a world championship, so it can't be in North

America all the time, and Europe had a very well-developed cubing scene.

South America would eventually have a large enough community to justify holding Worlds

there, as would Asia, but at the time?

Europe was it.

I mean, imagine holding it somewhere like Australia, that would be a disaster...

Anyway.

In September 2006, Chris made another post on Yahoo!, and all but confirmed the rumours:

Worlds 2007 would be held in Budapest, Hungary.

A fitting place, being the birthplace of the cube, and the 25th anniversary of the 1982

World Championship in Budapest.

On the 12th of January, 2007, this was officially confirmed: Worlds 2007 would be held over

October 5th to October 7th, 2007, at the Budapest Congress & World Trade Centre, right next

to the Novotel Budapest Congress hotel.

By March 9, registrations had officially opened, and 214 competitors from 32 countries would

be signed up by the time registration closed - the largest competition in the history of

the WCA at the time.

Two newsletters would be sent out, including an interview with the executive manager of

Rubik's Studio, Janos Kovacs, as well as a competitor pack explaining what was where

and preparations that needed to be made.

A minor competition for the Rubik's Revolution was also announced, with a 1000 euro cash

prize.

Much like 2005, there was a debate between the WCA and Seven Towns on whether or not

non-Rubik's brands would be allowed.

The WCA was pushing to allow them, while Seven Towns was dead against it; however, they suggested

that no future competitions would have this limitation.

Various misunderstandings made some people believe that the WCA was actually of the opinion

that non-Rubik's brand cubes should be banned; however, on the 2nd of May 2007, Ron van Bruchem

announced the good news.

Except for 3x3, non-Rubik's brand cubes would be allowed for all events.

Eastsheen cubes would finally get a turn in the spotlight at a world championship.

It's unknown if the limitation on 3x3 was removed, however.

A couple weeks before Worlds, there were threads on the Speedsolving forum about who would

win.

A poll went up, and many messages followed, debating who would win.

One thing was for sure: it would definitely be someone with a top 10 average.

It didn't seem feasible that anyone else could take the crown.

The question was... who?

In the end it wouldn't be any of them for first place, or even second place.

Third place was won by Mitsuki Gunji, with a 13.05 average.

Second place was won by Andrew Kang, also with a 13.05 average but with a slightly faster

single of 10.88.

The winner?

Yu Nakajima.

He came out of nowhere, only having been to one competition ever before where he achieved

3rd place, and came out on top for the second round and the final, with a 12.46 average.

Barely anyone knew who he was beforehand, but afterwards?

He was unstoppable.

Later on he would get an 8.72 world record single twice in the same competition, as well

as an 11.28 world record average.

Is this the end of the Worlds 2007 story?

Ohhh no.

There is a *lot* of scandal and intrigue that has not been covered here.

For this we need to head to some different events.

Specifically, the blind events.

Specifically, a particular competitor in the blind events, Mátyás Kuti.

Kuti was a Hungarian cuber who seemed to be absolutely unstoppable in a tonne of events,

including blind.

He came first in a couple of non-blind events at Worlds, as well as three of the blind events:

3BLD, 4BLD, and MBLD.

He also podiumed in several other events, and broke world record after world record

after world record.

He seemed to be unbelievably good in all events, blind especially.

Unbelievably good.

So much so, that some literally didn't believe it, and started poking around at some of Kuti's

videos.

After examining closely, they noticed various discrepancies in solves he had done.

Milan Baticz made a post on the Speedsolving forum, claiming that as he had stopped solving

for thirty straight seconds while the paper was under him in a particular solve - he had

never had any significant break before - this was proof that he was cheating.

This post was met with a lot of skepticism, and most people were on Kuti's side at this

point.

After significant gossip, the WCA began their own investigation.

It was detailed in a report that has never been made public, as Mátyás was underage

at the time, so as a result, most of the evidence and information was just rumours, and not

actual fact.

There was a *lot* of fallout.

This was the first big scandal in the cubing community, and many people were in shock that

something like this could happen.

There was no precedent for a cuber being banned from competing before, and a lot of people

believed the investigation could have been carried out better as a result.

Quite a few people expressed feelings that three years was too long, and that it should

have been a shorter ban or otherwise less severe consequences.

Others were in disbelief that the cheating even took place, and were outraged at the

WCA for this, claiming that the investigation was significantly biased - although looking

at the report in hindsight, it's hard to say, honestly.

Mátyás' mother actually came onto the WCA forum thread, claiming violations of the UN

Declaration of Human Rights.

Honestly, the entire thing was a mess, and a good lesson

for the WCA in how to deal with an event like this in the future.

Regardless of the controversies, Worlds 2007 was considered

by many to be an excellent competition.

Cubing was growing at a steady pace, and there was no fear that Worlds 2009 would be hindered

by any serious organisational issues.

The only question was, where to have it...