Fewest Moves Challenge (FMC): A Beginner's Guide

What is fewest moves?

In normal 3x3 events, the fastest solver wins. In FMC, the person who writes down the shortest solution wins, even if it took them a whole hour to think of it.

You do not need fast hands. What matters is spotting pieces that already sit close together, trying lots of ideas, and writing things down carefully. That is why FMC suits people who love thinking more than racing the clock.

According to the Speedsolving Wiki, fewest moves contests probably go back to the 1980s, and they became popular thanks to a weekly online competition that started in 2003.

The WCA rules for FMC

The rules are in Article E of the WCA Regulations. The main points:

• 60 minutes (E2b). The judge tells you when 5 minutes are left and calls "STOP" when time is up. You can hand in early.
• What you can bring (E3): paper and a solution sheet given out by the judge, the scramble picture, pens, up to three 3x3 cubes of your own, and your own stickers. Correction fluid, tape and erasers are allowed too.
• Write your solution in standard notation (E2c4): only the 3x3 notation from Regulation 12a, which means face turns (R, U', F2...), wide turns (Rw...) and whole-cube rotations (x, y, z). Unclear writing, or writing the short name of an algorithm, gets a DNF.
• 80 moves at most (E2d1), counting whole-cube rotations. More than 80 moves is a DNF.
• No working it out from the scramble (E2e). For example, a solution that starts with 4 or more moves exactly matching the start of the reversed scramble gets a DNF. The judge can ask you to explain what each move does; if you cannot, that is a DNF too.

Your solution is correct if this works: take a solved cube, do the scramble, then do your solution, and the cube is back to solved (E2c).

An FMC round is usually a mean of 3 or best of 1 or 2 (Regulation 9b4). Everyone uses the same scrambles. If you have never been to a WCA competition, read WCA Rubik's Cube competitions first.

How are moves counted?

Your result is the number of moves, counted by Regulation 12a5:

• Each face turn or wide turn counts as 1 move, including half turns like U2.
• Turning the whole cube (x, y, z) counts as 0 moves.

For example, R U2 R' F is 4 moves, even though U2 is a half turn:

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

Note: whole-cube rotations do not make your result longer, but they still count towards the 80-move limit (Regulation 12a6). If notation is new to you, see Rubik's Cube notation for beginners.

Fewest moves records

According to WCA data:

• Single: 16 moves, by Sebastiano Tronto (Italy), set in 2019.
• Mean of 3: 19.00 moves, by Brian Johnson (USA), set in 2026.

Records have come down over the years. According to the Speedsolving Wiki, the first WCA FMC record in 2003 was 29 moves. Your first solve might be twice that long, and that is completely normal.

Technique 1: blockbuilding

Solving layer by layer uses lots of moves, because every step has to keep the finished part in place. In FMC, solvers use blockbuilding: find a few pieces sitting near each other, join them into a small block, then grow it bit by bit.

A common order:

1. A 2x2x2 block (one corner and the three edges around it).
2. Grow it into a 2x2x3 block.
3. Solve most of the first two layers, then deal with what is left.

If you already know the Petrus method or Roux, this way of thinking will feel familiar.

In the example below, just 4 moves R2 D F' D2 take one corner and three scattered edges (left picture) and build them into a 2x2x2 block at the bottom-front-right corner (right picture). The grey pieces are ones you do not need to worry about yet.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

Blockbuilding tips:

• The block does not need to be in its final place straight away. It can sit anywhere, as long as its pieces fit together.
• Try all 8 corners where a 2x2x2 block could go. The easiest block is rarely the first one you spot.
• Write down every idea you try, even the not-so-good ones. Sometimes going back to an old idea gives a short solution.

Technique 2: NISS, solving on the inverse scramble

NISS (Normal Inverse Scramble Switch) was invented by Guus Razoux Schultz in 2009, according to the Speedsolving Wiki. The idea: as well as the normally scrambled cube, you can also solve on the inverse scramble. A block that is hard on the normal scramble can often be very easy on the inverse.

You write the inverse scramble the same way you undo a list of moves: go from the end back to the start and reverse each move (R becomes R', R' becomes R, R2 stays the same).

Example

Scramble:

D' L2 U2 L2 U2 F' B2 U2 F B2 D F' L' D2 B2 L' D F L' U'

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

The left picture is the cube after scrambling. We had a computer try every option: on this cube, there is no 2x2x2 block you can build in 5 moves or fewer.

Now take a solved cube and do the inverse scramble:

U L F' D' L B2 D2 L F D' B2 F' U2 B2 F U2 L2 U2 L2 D

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

On this cube, the 4 moves R2 D F' D2 build a 2x2x2 block at the bottom-front-right corner. That is exactly the example from the blockbuilding section above.

Turning the moves into a real solution

Moves you find on the inverse scramble cannot be done straight away on the real cube. The rule:

• Reverse them: R2 D F' D2 becomes D2 F D' R2.
• This reversed sequence goes at the end of the real solution.

To find the start of the solution, you use a trick called premoves: take a solved cube, do D2 F D' R2 first, then do the scramble. The 2x2x2 block is already there:

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

From this cube, carry on solving as normal (grow the block, solve the rest). When you are done, write the solution as: the moves you just found, then add D2 F D' R2 at the end. That solution works on the original scramble.

Strong solvers switch back and forth between the normal and inverse scramble many times in one solve, whenever they get stuck.

Technique 3: skeletons and insertions

When you have solved almost everything, there are often a few pieces left over, for example three corners. That nearly finished solution is called a skeleton. Instead of adding a long algorithm at the end, FMC solvers insert a short algorithm into the middle of the skeleton.

The most common thing to insert is a commutator: it cycles three pieces without touching any others. According to the Speedsolving Wiki, a commutator for three corners is usually about 8 moves long. For example:

D' R U R' D R U' R'

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

These eight moves only cycle three corners (see the picture), and every other piece stays put. So you can place it anywhere in the skeleton, as long as at that exact point the three corners you need to fix are in these three spots and need cycling in the same direction as the algorithm (if it is the other direction, use the inverse algorithm).

The win comes from cancelling moves. Say your skeleton has the part F D, and you insert the algorithm right after the D. The D in the skeleton and the D' at the start of the algorithm cancel each other out:

• Before: F D, then D' R U R' D R U' R' (10 moves).
• After joining them: F R U R' D R U' R' (8 moves).

Both versions change the cube in exactly the same way, but the second one is 2 moves shorter:

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

FMC solvers try inserting at every point in the skeleton and pick the spot that cancels the most moves.

How to get started with fewest moves

1. Practise blockbuilding first. Take any scramble and find the shortest 2x2x2 block you can, with no time limit. First goal: under 8 moves.
2. Do one full solve in 60 minutes. Use every method you know, including familiar algorithms for the end. A correct 50-move solution is still better than a wrong one.
3. Always write it down. Write each step on paper with its move count. Check your solution on the scrambled cube before handing it in.
4. Get the hang of NISS once blockbuilding feels comfortable.
5. Get to know commutators for three corners and three edges, then practise inserting them.
6. Compare with others. The Speedsolving Wiki suggests looking at example solutions from the weekly online FMC competitions, where everyone solves the same scramble. Seeing how others solved the same cube is a really quick way to improve.

To scramble your cube the proper way for practice, read How to scramble a Rubik's Cube the WCA way.

Sources

• WCA Regulations (Article E: Fewest Moves Solving; Regulation 12a: Notation)
• WCA API: current records
• NISS – Speedsolving.com Wiki
• Fewest Moves Challenge – Speedsolving.com Wiki
• Insertion – Speedsolving.com Wiki