ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A University of Michigan student is one of the world’s leading “speedcubers,” a person able to quickly solve a Rubik’s Cube. He is also an accomplished violinist.
According to Stanley Chapel, the two fields go hand in hand.
Not only does Chapel say he’s equally interested in both, but the 21-year-old says the violin has contributed to his speedcubing success.
“Repetition, breaking things down into their smallest basic elements, all these different things that we use to improve an instrument and being able to bring that into the world of dice has certainly been a huge help in my progression,” he said Chapel, a junior violin major at the university’s College of Music, Drama and Dance.
Chapel, who grew up in Ann Arbor, just off the Michigan campus, solved his first 3×3 Rubik’s Cube when he was 14. 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, where Chapel placed fifth in both the blindfolded 4×4 and blindfolded 5×5 categories at the World Cube Association World Championship.
At the 2019 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, the recent high school graduate won both events.
Factoring in the time it takes him to check the cube before placing the blindfold over his eyes, Chapel can solve one in about 17 seconds.
“The deeper I delve into the field of cubing technique, the more I become interested in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible there,” he said.
Chapel has certain innate abilities: he is able to memorize and apply thousands of algorithms to solve a Rubik’s Cube and memorize one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s violin sonatas.
But he also spends hours and hours honing his craft, including regular hand stretches that help Chapel avoid the kind of aches and pains that come with frequently and frantically turning the sides of the cube.
Chapel says years of playing the violin also helped him “already develop very, very fine motor control.”
Later this year, Chapel intends to defend his world titles in South Korea. With the 2021 event canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chapel is the reigning champion in both heading into the 2023 Seoul event.
However, once he graduates from school, Chapel is unsure how speedcubing fits into his future plans.
“I think it’s cool to know that no one is capable of that,” he said. “But at the same time, when I do a little reality check on myself, it’s like, ‘How important is that anyway?'”
“It won’t pay the bills when I’m older,” Chapel said, laughing.
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