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And indeed, things were extremely interesting, but probably not for the reasons everyone
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would have liked.
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We'll get back to those reasons later, there's a lot I want to say on that topic, but for
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now: Worlds 2007!
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Much like Worlds 2005, the first talk of Worlds 2007 was less than a month after the previous
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worlds had ended.
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Chris Hardwick posted on the Yahoo!
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Speedsolving group, asking people about their goals for 2007.
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Not too many people were talking about where they wanted it to be, but the few who were
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overwhelmingly preferred somewhere in Europe.
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It makes sense if you think about it; it's a world championship, so it can't be in North
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America all the time, and Europe had a very well-developed cubing scene.
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South America would eventually have a large enough community to justify holding Worlds
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there, as would Asia, but at the time?
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Europe was it.
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I mean, imagine holding it somewhere like Australia, that would be a disaster...
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Anyway.
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In September 2006, Chris made another post on Yahoo!, and all but confirmed the rumours:
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Worlds 2007 would be held in Budapest, Hungary.
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A fitting place, being the birthplace of the cube, and the 25th anniversary of the 1982
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World Championship in Budapest.
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On the 12th of January, 2007, this was officially confirmed: Worlds 2007 would be held over
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October 5th to October 7th, 2007, at the Budapest Congress & World Trade Centre, right next
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to the Novotel Budapest Congress hotel.
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By March 9, registrations had officially opened, and 214 competitors from 32 countries would
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be signed up by the time registration closed - the largest competition in the history of
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the WCA at the time.
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Two newsletters would be sent out, including an interview with the executive manager of
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Rubik's Studio, Janos Kovacs, as well as a competitor pack explaining what was where
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and preparations that needed to be made.
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A minor competition for the Rubik's Revolution was also announced, with a 1000 euro cash
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prize.
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Much like 2005, there was a debate between the WCA and Seven Towns on whether or not
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non-Rubik's brands would be allowed.
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The WCA was pushing to allow them, while Seven Towns was dead against it; however, they suggested
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that no future competitions would have this limitation.
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Various misunderstandings made some people believe that the WCA was actually of the opinion
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that non-Rubik's brand cubes should be banned; however, on the 2nd of May 2007, Ron van Bruchem
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announced the good news.
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Except for 3x3, non-Rubik's brand cubes would be allowed for all events.
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Eastsheen cubes would finally get a turn in the spotlight at a world championship.
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It's unknown if the limitation on 3x3 was removed, however.
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A couple weeks before Worlds, there were threads on the Speedsolving forum about who would
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win.
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A poll went up, and many messages followed, debating who would win.
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One thing was for sure: it would definitely be someone with a top 10 average.
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It didn't seem feasible that anyone else could take the crown.
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The question was... who?
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In the end it wouldn't be any of them for first place, or even second place.
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Third place was won by Mitsuki Gunji, with a 13.05 average.
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Second place was won by Andrew Kang, also with a 13.05 average but with a slightly faster
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single of 10.88.
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The winner?
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Yu Nakajima.
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He came out of nowhere, only having been to one competition ever before where he achieved
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3rd place, and came out on top for the second round and the final, with a 12.46 average.
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Barely anyone knew who he was beforehand, but afterwards?
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He was unstoppable.
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Later on he would get an 8.72 world record single twice in the same competition, as well
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as an 11.28 world record average.
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Is this the end of the Worlds 2007 story?
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Ohhh no.
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There is a *lot* of scandal and intrigue that has not been covered here.
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For this we need to head to some different events.
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Specifically, the blind events.
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Specifically, a particular competitor in the blind events, Mátyás Kuti.
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Kuti was a Hungarian cuber who seemed to be absolutely unstoppable in a tonne of events,
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including blind.
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He came first in a couple of non-blind events at Worlds, as well as three of the blind events:
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3BLD, 4BLD, and MBLD.
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He also podiumed in several other events, and broke world record after world record
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after world record.
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He seemed to be unbelievably good in all events, blind especially.
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Unbelievably good.
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So much so, that some literally didn't believe it, and started poking around at some of Kuti's
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videos.
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After examining closely, they noticed various discrepancies in solves he had done.
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Milan Baticz made a post on the Speedsolving forum, claiming that as he had stopped solving
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for thirty straight seconds while the paper was under him in a particular solve - he had
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never had any significant break before - this was proof that he was cheating.
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This post was met with a lot of skepticism, and most people were on Kuti's side at this
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point.
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After significant gossip, the WCA began their own investigation.
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It was detailed in a report that has never been made public, as Mátyás was underage
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at the time, so as a result, most of the evidence and information was just rumours, and not
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actual fact.
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There was a *lot* of fallout.
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This was the first big scandal in the cubing community, and many people were in shock that
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something like this could happen.
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There was no precedent for a cuber being banned from competing before, and a lot of people
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believed the investigation could have been carried out better as a result.
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Quite a few people expressed feelings that three years was too long, and that it should
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have been a shorter ban or otherwise less severe consequences.
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Others were in disbelief that the cheating even took place, and were outraged at the
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WCA for this, claiming that the investigation was significantly biased - although looking
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at the report in hindsight, it's hard to say, honestly.
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Mátyás' mother actually came onto the WCA forum thread, claiming violations of the UN
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Declaration of Human Rights.
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Honestly, the entire thing was a mess, and a good lesson
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for the WCA in how to deal with an event like this in the future.
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Regardless of the controversies, Worlds 2007 was considered
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by many to be an excellent competition.
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Cubing was growing at a steady pace, and there was no fear that Worlds 2009 would be hindered
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by any serious organisational issues.
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The only question was, where to have it...