Solving centers on the Professor

solving the centers

the scramble used is u' B2 u2 B f' D2 u2 l' b' L D' b2 F L2 l' B2 d' R' D2 u B' l2 r2 R f u' U' l2 r' U with green as F and white as U

1. solve a single center

2. solve the opposite center

3. solve another center

4. solve adjacent centers around the cube

solving the first center

connect an inside edge with its matching center

in this particular case a good choice to match up would be the edge on R, by using f'. this matches up the center and first inside edge, the reason this choice is good is because it also pairs up 2 1x2 block on the R face. there are always a ton of ways to start the center, and picking one that you get more for less turns is key. this is how one gets really fast with big cubes, efficiency and multitasking.

build a 1x2 block and put it in place next to our center/edge pair

next all we have to do is put one of the 1x2 blocks where it goes, this will make a 2x2 block. also be sure to look for ways to set up the next 1x2 pair or other things that will help us down the road.

build another 1x2 block and place it on the other side of the center/edge pair, this will give us a 2x3 block. try to find ways to make the final 1x3 easy to assemble. for example, the first move (D) is done to keep the last inside edge on the bottom, and align it to pair with the inside corner coming from the L face when you make the b turn. as well as leaving a nice setup for matching the final inside corner. this may seem like an incredible amount to keep track of at first, but with some practice, this foresight becomes easier.

here we assemble the final portion of our center, a 1x3 block and put it into position notice the 2 moves (1,3) that move our 2x3 so it isn't affected by the construction of the final piece, and to line it up for insertion

opposite center of the first

we have applied a z2 cube rotation from the last position after finishing our first center (finished face on the bottom). the process is very much the same for the next center, except the moves are a little bit more restricted because of the fixed center, this is achieved with simple set up moves and paying attention to ensure that you don't damage the first fixed center.

we are just copying our first step from the first center, with some extra care to restore any damage done to the finished face. this example is using a slightly more advanced technique of breaking the 3 yellow pieces apart, shooting the edge to the top, making room for the 1x2 block, putting it in place, then restoring the bottom center. this leaves us with a nice 2x2 block. having 'favorite patterns' and muscle memorized responses to them will help you get fast. also notice the choice to orient so this step is accomplished with almost exclusively l and U moves, great for speed solving.

here we are moving our 1x2 into place to complete the 2x3 block, once again with a move at the end to restore our first center.

here again we build our last 1x3 group, and make the setup move to place it. notice how we don't line it up with the empty slot on the final center

here we put the final 1x3 into place by knocking out a completed 1x3, rotating 180 and bringing the knocked group back out. this also makes sure we have restored the first center. while this is shown as a F/U alg, likely you'd end up doing a rotation to perform it as an L/U group.

solve another center

now we are going to solve one of the remaining four centers, this can be done easily without destroying the two fixed centers we have, as long as we are sure to not do any deep twists. this is were you should experiment a little and see where you like to have the solved faces, on U and D, or on R and L. this site was done with the solved faces on R and L. with the solved faces on L and R avoid u or d turns; with the solved faces on U and D faces avoid r or l turns (see the notation page for differences in capital and lower case letters).

we are going to follow the same idea as the first two centers, but since everything we need is on the four faces left (U, D, F, B) we can speed up quite a bit, especially for this first face as we have nothing built in the middle strips (l, M, and r) to interfere. here a quick scan of cube shows that green has a lot of work done for us, so it makes the most sense to continue with that face. we have done a z' to move our finished centers to the L/R faces and put the green face on U.

because of our good choice,wheel freedom, and a little bit of look ahead we can get a lot done with a few turns, completing the green center in only 7 turns.

turn 1: line up complete 1x3 to insert 1x3 from B, as well as aligning top right green corner on U to connect with green edge on F
turn 2: match corner on U with edge on F
turn 3-4: bring final corner piece needed to D and reorient for matching up with 1x2 on F.
turn 5: match the 2nd 1x2 block with the first one on U
turn 6-7: reorient and insert last 1x3

solve the adjacent centers around the cube

now we will work our way around the cube and solve the adjacent centers. The reason we do it adjacent instead of opposites is when you're down to two centers left, it's easier if they are adjacent to each other, for solving and recognition purposes. there is no particular order or method to choose the next center, except to try pick the one that looks the easiest. in this case i've chosen orange (not blue because it's opposite of the green side) and applied a cube rotation of x' to bring it to the U face, and y2 to put the solved green center on B face.

at this point we have three centers solved so we should be well on our way to understanding the process to make this happen. the one complete side can make for a teeny bit of hassle but it's easily dealt with using simple set up moves.

turn 1: setup orange edge on F for connection from corner on U face. again, this is very difficult to see as a beginner, but becomes common place as you progress.

turn 2-4: setup 2x2 for connection to the 1x2 on the B face, connect, and then restore to preserve the completed green group on B.

turn 5-7: connect up final 1x3

turn 8-9: move completed 1x3 out of the way so the r wheel can be brought back to keep the relation between the right inside wheel green and orange groups.

Turn 10-12: finish inserting final orange 1x3 and restoring the green center.

solving the final two centers

now we are at our last two centers, this has an x whole cube rotation to bring our final faces to U and F. this isn't very hard, use our principles from before to make good decisions. you have to do a lot more back and forth wiggling. also, many times one color will look very hard to solve, but the other is pretty straight forward, pick the one that makes the easiest path for you mentally. the most frequent ending in this step is to swap a single edge or corner between adjacent centers as show below by themselves. the single corner swap is a double layer sune. it's a good idea to experiment with oll's on the top layer to see what they achieve some have really great uses.

turn 1-4: setup red 2x2 box so it will match with top 2x1. taken into consideration was that the one of the last 2 corners with match with the last edge using this approach

turn 5-8: connect up final 1x3

turn 9-12: move completed 1x3 into place by knocking out a finished 1x3, half turn the center, then restore the one you knocked out, similar to finishing the second center.

here are some special cases that you should look for when solving the centers because of their ease and quickness to fix

swapping a single edge	swapping a single corner

lightning bolt with 1x2 in adjacent face	T-shape

centers progress gauge

master centers	<40 seconds	you have lightning recognition and response to easy patterns, first 2 centers should be under 20 seconds, last 4 under 25. last 2 centers should almost always be completed with a 1x3 block, not piecing out edges or corners
intermediate centers	<75 seconds	You can quickly recognize easy patterns and have the responses committed to memory. slow practice to learn more patterns and trying to reduce move count will make you a master. your time for the first 2 and last 4 centers should be about the same.
beginner centers	75+ seconds	you can assemble the centers, but it is disjointed and chaotic, not a smooth execution. learn a couple of easy patterns and practice spotting them and executing. also work on smoothness over speed, speed will come naturally with improved look ahead and methodology.

on to the edges

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