In a very weird announcement, Stanley Chapel announced that he is personally offering $1000 to the next 3 people to solve a 4x4 blindfolded in under 1 minute at an official competition, he has offered to split it $600 for the first, $300 for the second and $100 for the third.
Stanley Chapel is far out ahead of everyone else at 4x4 blindfolded, last year he achieved a time of 51.96 which is almost 10 seconds faster than Hill Pong Yong Feng from Malaysia who is 2nd in the world. I think Stanley Chapel has noticed that none of the top 5 rankings in 4x4 blindfolded have changed so far this year and wants to try and encourage some competition both to motivate him and to make an interesting show of it.
Hill Pong Yong Feng is 2nd in the world with a single of 1:01 achieved last year, however, he has only competed once so far this year and hasn't even got close. Of course the nature of 4x4 blindfolded is that people have to choose between safety and pushing it as fast as possible, if you go safe then you are more likely to get a success but you will be slower, if you push it then you will probably fail but there is a small chance of a very fast time.
There are probably a few people in the world who have a decent chance of doing it given enough attempts but I am not sure if anyone will do it this year. Stanley Chapel is the only person in the world to one pass memorization in 4x4 blindfolded, everyone else has to do at least some reviewing.
Other possible contenders for the bounty are Manuel Gutman from Argentina, his current PR single is 1:18 and he seems to compete more frequently than Kaijun Lin and Hill Pong Yong Feng, Tommy Cherry may also have a chance as he holds the world record for 3x3 blindfolded and is able to turn very fast while blindfolded, however, I suspect he is more focused on working with Antoine Cantin on Cubing Life Academy at the moment. Daniel Wallin from Sweden may also stand a chance as he is a delegate in Sweden and may be able to just create a lot of competitions giving himself lots of opportunities. Britain's only hope is probably Ryan Eckersley who is currently 11th in the world with a PR single of 1:27, he has said that he is aware of this offer on UK cubing servers and I suspect he will be practicing a lot over the coming months to try and catch up to Stanley.
It truly is an incredible move that Stanley Chapel is so far ahead of everyone and so confident that he is literally bribing people to get closer to his world records, it is a very exciting move that I am sure will draw a lot of attention, while most people will respond like me and say that it is cool, hopefully some will respond with an increased desire to practice 4x4 blindfolded.
