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People · India

Nitheesh Kumar Elangovan

3×3 · top 2.2% of 288,433 all-time · competing since November 2016 · 2016ELAN01

Nitheesh Kumar Elangovan has been competing for 10 years. His best event is the 3×3: a personal-best single of 7.63, set at Rockfort City Cubing Challenge 2026, puts him in the top 2.2% of the 288,433 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 201st in India. Until July 2008, no official 3×3 solve in the world had been that fast. Across 35 competitions since November 2016, he has put 595 official solves on the record across ten events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 15% around a typical one; 85% of the 36,406 competitors with ten or more counted rounds hold a tighter spread. His 3×3 best has come down from 17.25 in November 2016 to 7.63, a 56% improvement. Nitheesh has entered 35 competitions, more competitions than 99% of everyone who has ever competed.

3×3
best event — top 2.2% of 288,433 all-time
7.63
signature single · Rockfort City Cubing Challenge 2026
595
official solves on the record
15%
solve-to-solve spread · wider than 85% of the field

Standing, event by event

vs everyone ever ranked
EventPB singlePB averageAll-time standingIndia
3×37.639.27
top 2.2%201 / 20,146
3×3 Fewest Moves23 moves26.67
top 3.0%3 / 612
3×3 one-handed12.1514.70
top 3.2%98 / 4,534
3×3 blindfolded50.871:30.95
top 10.2%34 / 605
2×23.124.86
top 15.7%1,318 / 12,225
4×444.9954.77
top 18.4%519 / 4,220
5×51:51.802:01.74
top 44.0%565 / 1,537
3×3 Multi-Blind4 of 4 cubes · 35:19—
early days — 2 solves66 / 172
4×4 blindfolded9:10.33—
early days — 2 solves29 / 69
Megaminx2:57.47—
early days — 2 solves895 / 1,458

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

Montfort Championship 2016: 17.25Carte Blanche Kube Open 2017: 12.68SRM Cube Open 2017: 13.16SSN Cube Open 2017: 10.27NIT Trichy Open 2017: 10.35Daksh Open Cube 2018: 10.18SSN Cube Open 2018: 12.12Gravitas Cube Open 2018: 10.70Pragyan Cube Open 2019: 9.41C3 Cup Finale 2019: 9.62CMI Tessellate Cube Open 2020: 8.71Cubing Sunday in SSN 2022: 9.74SSN Cube Sunday 2023: 9.38CMI Tessellate Cube Open 2024: 9.59Rajalakshmi Engineering College Cube Open 2024: 8.04Tamil Nadu Cube Challenge 2024: 9.05Kumaraguru Cube Open 2024: 8.05Anna Kalyanam in Jolarpet 2025: 9.21VIT Cube Open 2025: 9.48VR Bengaluru Cube Open B 2025: 9.14Rockfort City Cubing Challenge 2026: 7.63Weekend Cubing Hunt at Coimbatore 2026: 9.86Cubing at Sri Eshwar Coimbatore 2026: 8.47Indian Elite Championship 2026: 9.657.6317.2526 Nov 20162 Oct 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.

Next targets

  • A sub-6 3×3 single — 1,419 people have one; it is 1.63 away.
  • A sub-12 3×3 one-handed single — 2,239 people have one; it is 0.15 away.

Targets move as he improves.