Stanley Chapel Breaks 2-Minute Barrier in 5x5 Blindfolded
Stanley Chapel has surpassed his own world record for 5x5 blindfolded by completing a solve in under two minutes. This marks a significant milestone, as the two-minute barrier in 5x5 blindfolded is considered a major limit in the event.
This achievement highlights Stanley's unique place in the speedcubing community. He remains the only person to have completed a 4x4 blindfolded solve in under one minute and a 5x5 blindfolded solve in under two minutes.
The record was set during a streamed competition connected to the upcoming documentary Blindfolded Ambition. Notably, Stanley spent about 46 seconds on memorization — a remarkably short time given the event’s complexity.
Stanley is known for his approach of not reviewing his memorization, relying on one-pass memorization techniques for large blindfolded events. After the solve, he confirmed that the scramble was correct and shared insights into his very aggressive memorization strategy. He described the accomplishment as something overdue, despite his calm, uncelebratory reaction during the event.
Following the solve, Stanley discussed some of his optimizations in detail. One idea was the possibility of intentionally skipping the last move of certain multi-blind algorithms to save time by having all cubes plus two moves ahead. However, he ultimately considered this approach unlikely to be practical.