People · China
Zhiqiang Niu (牛志强)
3×3 · top 2.0% of 284,439 all-time · competing since March 2019 · 2019NIUZ01
Zhiqiang Niu (牛志强) has been competing for 8 years. His best event is the 3×3: a personal-best single of 7.49, set at Xi'an Open 2026, puts him in the top 2.0% of the 284,439 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 698th in China. Until July 2008, no official 3×3 solve in the world had been that fast. Across 11 competitions since March 2019, he has put 194 official solves on the record across six events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 13% around a typical one; 57% of the 35,811 competitors with ten or more counted rounds hold a tighter spread. His 3×3 best has come down from 8.36 in March 2019 to 7.49, a 10% improvement. Zhiqiang has entered eleven competitions, more competitions than 93% of everyone who has ever competed.
Standing, event by event
vs everyone ever ranked| Event | PB single | PB average | All-time standing | China | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3×3 | 7.49 | 10.65 | top 2.0% | 698 / 28,153 | |
| 4×4 | 40.01 | 44.66 | top 12.1% | 1,309 / 5,926 | |
| 2×2 | 2.96 | 4.66 | top 13.8% | 2,145 / 15,796 | |
| 5×5 | 1:25.86 | 1:38.49 | top 24.0% | 1,134 / 2,816 | |
| 3×3 one-handed | 24.77 | 27.94 | top 33.6% | 3,214 / 5,922 | |
| 6×6 | 3:07.12 | 3:28.80 | early days — 3 solves | 864 / 1,349 |
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
- 3 Mar 2019First competition: Xianyang Open 2019. A 11.26 3×3 single to start from.
- 3 Mar 2019First sub-10 3×3: 8.36 at Xianyang Open 2019.
Competitions
- Xi'an Open 2026 · 22 Aug 2026 — 1 personal best set
- Xi'an Autumn 2025 · 2 Nov 2025 — 1 personal best set
- Xi'an Summer 2025 · 19 Jul 2025
- Xi'an New Year 2025 · 4 Jan 2025
- Xi'an Open 2024 · 3 Aug 2024 — 1 personal best set
- Xi'an Cherry Blossom 2024 · 5 Apr 2024 — 1 personal best set
- Xi'an Cherry Blossom AM 2021 · 11 Apr 2021
- Xi'an 10th Anniversary 2019 · 24 Aug 2019 — 1 personal best set
- Baoji Open 2019 · 11 Aug 2019
- Xi'an Cherry Blossom 2019 · 13 Apr 2019
- Xianyang Open 2019 · 3 Mar 2019 — 1 personal best set
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 32 rounds, finished ahead 16 times
- Pengcheng Wang (王鹏程) — met in 31 rounds, never finished ahead
- Mingsen Han (韩明森) — met in 25 rounds, finished ahead 14 times
Next targets
- A sub-6 3×3 single — 1,376 people have one; it is 1.49 away.
- A sub-40 4×4 single — 10,180 people have one; it is 0.01 away.
Targets move as he improves.