People · China
Tong Liu (刘童)
Square-1 · top 5.2% of 25,272 all-time · competing since May 2015 · 2015LIUT01
Tong Liu (刘童) has been competing for 11 years. His best event is the Square-1: a personal-best single of 9.45, set at XPU Open 2017, puts him in the top 5.2% of the 25,272 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 64th in China. Until October 2010, no official Square-1 solve in the world had been that fast. Across 13 competitions since May 2015, he has put 344 official solves on the record across ten events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 12% around a typical one, steadier than 74% of the 35,811 competitors with ten or more counted rounds. His 3×3 best has come down from 12.32 in May 2015 to 9.59, a 22% improvement. Tong has entered 13 competitions, more competitions than 94% of everyone who has ever competed.
Standing, event by event
vs everyone ever ranked| Event | PB single | PB average | All-time standing | China | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square-1 | 9.45 | 12.18 | top 5.2% | 64 / 1,362 | |
| Skewb | 3.11 | 5.02 | top 5.5% | 307 / 5,004 | |
| 3×3 | 9.59 | 11.61 | top 6.3% | 2,457 / 28,153 | |
| 3×3 one-handed | 17.20 | 21.75 | top 13.1% | 1,301 / 5,922 | |
| 4×4 | 42.37 | 45.07 | top 14.9% | 1,613 / 5,926 | |
| Megaminx | 1:14.71 | 1:21.82 | top 18.5% | 556 / 1,678 | |
| 2×2 | 3.37 | 4.74 | top 18.6% | 3,038 / 15,796 | |
| Pyraminx | 6.22 | 9.07 | top 21.6% | 2,476 / 10,224 | |
| 5×5 | 1:49.85 | 1:56.14 | top 42.5% | 1,880 / 2,816 | |
| 3×3 Fewest Moves | 49 moves | — | early days — 2 solves | 892 / 1,058 |
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
Best single per competition, 3×3. Faster is higher — the axis is the right way up.
The story so far
- 14 Oct 2017First sub-10 3×3: 9.59 at XPU Open 2017.
- 13 Aug 2016Six personal bests in one day at Xi'an Open 2016.
- 17 May 2015First competition: Xi'an Summer 2015. A 12.32 3×3 single to start from.
Competitions
- FMC Asia 2025 · 27 Jul 2025
- Chengdu Winter Open 2018 · 24 Nov 2018
- Lanzhou Autumn 2018 · 14 Oct 2018 — 2 personal bests set
- Baoji Open 2018 · 21 Jul 2018 — 1 personal best set
- XPU Open 2017 · 14 Oct 2017 — 2 personal bests set
- China Championship 2017 · 28 Jul 2017 — 2 personal bests set
- Xi'an Cherry Blossom 2017 · 2 Apr 2017 — 2 personal bests set
- Xi'an New Year 2017 · 2 Jan 2017 — 2 personal bests set
- Xi'an Open 2016 · 13 Aug 2016 — 6 personal bests set
- Xi'an Cherry Blossom 2016 · 2 Apr 2016 — 2 personal bests set
- Xi'an New Year 2016 · 2 Jan 2016
- Xi'an Open 2015 · 29 Nov 2015 — 1 personal best set
- Xi'an Summer 2015 · 17 May 2015
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.
- Kaiyang Gao (高凯阳) — met in 54 rounds, finished ahead 46 times
- Zijia Feng (冯子甲) — met in 38 rounds, finished ahead 5 times
- Rui Chen (陈睿) — met in 34 rounds, finished ahead 28 times
Next targets
- A sub-8 Square-1 single — 766 people have one; it is 1.45 away.
- A sub-3 Skewb single — 3,646 people have one; it is 0.11 away.
Targets move as he improves.