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The Middle Three
People → China → Ming Chai (柴明)

People · China

Ming Chai (柴明)

Clock · top 5.6% of 32,048 all-time · competing since October 2022 · 2022CHAI09

Ming Chai (柴明) has been competing for 4 years. His best event is the Clock: a personal-best single of 5.46, set at Cincinnati Open 2025, puts him in the top 5.6% of the 32,048 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 106th in China. Until December 2011, no official Clock solve in the world had been that fast. Across 61 competitions since October 2022, he has put 1,459 official solves on the record across eight events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 20% around a typical one; 99% of the 35,811 competitors with ten or more counted rounds hold a tighter spread. His 3×3 best has come down from 46.11 in October 2022 to 14.60, a 68% improvement. Ming has entered 61 competitions, more competitions than 99% of everyone who has ever competed.

Clock
best event — top 5.6% of 32,048 all-time
5.46
signature single · Cincinnati Open 2025
1,459
official solves on the record
20%
solve-to-solve spread · wider than 99% of the field

Standing, event by event

vs everyone ever ranked
EventPB singlePB averageAll-time standingChina
Clock5.466.53
top 5.6%106 / 1,843
Pyraminx4.057.04
top 7.9%937 / 10,224
2×22.745.58
top 11.4%1,748 / 15,796
Skewb4.718.88
top 16.0%988 / 5,004
3×314.6017.81
top 23.1%8,799 / 28,153
4×458.031:01.75
top 34.3%3,411 / 5,926
Megaminx2:17.49—
top 55.1%1,389 / 1,678
5×52:16.292:33.47
top 58.9%2,337 / 2,816

Percentile against all competitors ever ranked in each event, a fairer measure than raw rank, because the pools differ by a factor of ten.

The line so far

Naticube 2022: 46.11New York New Year 2023: 42.91Pioneer Valley Cubing A 2023: 24.80PBs in Palisades 2023: 27.10Cubehenge 2023: 26.63CubingUSA New England Championship 2023: 28.50Pillar of Fire Colorado 2023: 25.40Concordia Turning Fall 2023: 26.79New York New Year 2024: 23.34Connecticut Winter 2024: 26.54Fall River Cubikon 2024: 24.30Cardinal Cube Day 2024: 20.95Ridgefield Spring 2024: 22.66New Jersey Championship 2024: 22.76Salem Cubikon 2024: 22.19Pennsylvania Championship 2024: 25.11Gouverneur 2024: 20.13Saratoga Springs Summer 2024: 17.22Rubik's WCA North American Championship 2024: 20.57Missouri Championship 2024: 23.49CubingUSA New England Championship 2024: 19.50M Moves in Middlebury 2024: 26.72Amherst Fall 2024: 20.87Wakefield Winter 2024: 18.62New New York New Year 2024: 19.95A Tuesday in Ashfield 2024: 17.22Cubing at the Course CT 2025: 16.83Fall River Cubikon 2025: 22.86Fitchburg Fingertricks 2025: 20.74PBs in Palisades Winter 2025: 16.44Great Peconic Bay 2025: 21.14Front Royal Spring 2025: 20.93The Battle of Lexington Semiquincentennial 2025: 18.41Connecticut Spring 2025: 21.41Saint John's Warm Up 2025: 18.98Yunnan Open 2025: 18.27Rubik's WCA World Championship 2025: 16.20Mystic Cubikon 2025: 21.27Connecticut Championship 2025: 17.16CubingUSA New England Championship 2025: 19.17Cincinnati Open 2025: 18.20CubingUSA Mid-Atlantic Championship 2025: 16.63Cubing in Westerly RI 2025: 17.79New Hampshire Championship 2025: 19.07New York New Year 2025: 15.23Westport Icebreaker 2026: 16.67Wide Moves & Waterslides CT 2026: 16.84Berkshires Cube Day at BART 2026: 16.06UMBC Winter 2026: 18.56PBs in Palisades Open 2026: 19.24Empire State ALL11-Stars 2026: 19.02Cube Against Cancer Boston 2026: 17.18Grand Central Cubing WV 2026: 14.60WPI Spring 2026: 17.47Cubing in Westerly RI 2026: 15.78Rubik's WCA North American Championship 2026: 17.80Hawaii Championship 2026: 15.65Mid-Atlantic Warm-Up 2026: 17.07Mid-Atlantic Speedcubing Championship 2026: 18.20Brookline Favorites IV 2026: 18.6514.6046.1129 Oct 202229 Aug 2026

Best single per competition, 3×3. Faster is higher — the axis is the right way up.

The story so far

Competitions

Reading this page: a single is one solve's time · an average is the middle three of five solves, best and worst discarded · a PB is a personal best · a DNF (did not finish) is an attempt with no valid result: a popped piece, an unsolved face, an over-limit memorisation · top X% compares against everyone ever ranked in that event, which is fairer than raw rank because event pools differ tenfold.

The circuit

The people whose scorecards keep turning up next to his.

  • Curtis Chai — met in 315 rounds, finished ahead 4 times
  • Ethan Zhuang — met in 182 rounds, finished ahead 5 times
  • Clem Tucker — met in 129 rounds, finished ahead 6 times

Next targets

  • A sub-5 Clock single — 1,421 people have one; it is 0.46 away.
  • A sub-4 Pyraminx single — 9,892 people have one; it is 0.05 away.

Targets move as he improves.