World champion says Rubik’s Cube and violin go hand in hand

A University of Michigan student is one of the world's foremost "speedcubers," a person capable of quickly solving a Rubik's Cube. He also is an accomplished violinist.

Stanley Chapel says the two fields go hand in hand.

Not only does Chapel say he has equal interest in both, but the 21-year-old says the violin has aided in his speedcubing success.

"Repetition, breaking things down into their smallest fundamental elements, all of these different things that we use to improve at an instrument, and being able to take these into the world of cubing has certainly been a huge help to my progression," said Chapel, a junior majoring in violin performance at the university's school of music, theater and dance.

Chapel, who grew up in Ann Arbor not far from the Michigan campus, solved his first 3x3 Rubik's Cube as a 14-year-old. Five weeks later, Chapel entered his first competition, solving the cube in an average of 22 seconds.

Fast-forward a year to 2017 in Paris, with Chapel placing fifth in both the 4x4 blindfolded and 5x5 blindfolded categories at the World Cube Association World Championship.

At the 2019 world championship in Melbourne, Australia, the recent high school graduate won both events.

Factoring in the time it takes for him to review the cube before placing the blindfold over his eyes, Chapel can solve one in around 17 seconds.

"The deeper I go into the realm of cubing technique, the more I find interest in pushing the boundaries of what's possible there," he said.

Chapel has certain inherent abilities: He is capable of remembering and applying thousands of algorithms to solve a Rubik's Cube and performing one of Johann Sebastian Bach's violin sonatas from memory.

But he also spends hours...

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