World No. 1 Yiheng Wang meets world No. 2 Xuanyi Geng in New York for the Monkey League Season 6 championship.
In China, Bofan Zhang leads a Nanning Open field with six sub-5.5 solvers listed on the 3x3 psych sheet.
Back in the United States, Northwest Championship 2026 and Rocky Mountain Championship 2026 will crown regional champions.
Welcome back to the Speedcuber’s Digest Weekend Preview, where we look ahead at the potential storylines going into the weekend.
Yiheng Wang and Xuanyi Geng Meet for the Monkey League Title
The Monkey League Season 6 Final brings together the two fastest 3x3 average solvers in the world.
Yiheng Wang enters with his 3.51 world record average, while Xuanyi Geng sits directly behind him at 3.67.
That makes Sunday’s match a meeting between world No. 1 and world No. 2 by official 3x3 average.
Monkey League normally allows competitors to race each other remotely. The Season 6 championship will be different.
Yiheng and Xuanyi will compete in person at Avenues the World School in New York City on Sunday, August 23.
The final will use a best-of-nine-set format, meaning the first competitor to win five sets takes the Season 6 title. That creates a much longer match than a normal WCA average and gives both cubers plenty of time to adjust to the other’s pace.
Yiheng reached the championship by defeating Zhaokun Li 4-1 in the semifinal. He posted set medians of 3.62, 3.54, 5.06, 4.80 and 3.48 during the match.
Now he gets Xuanyi.
The doors open at 2:00 p.m. and the event is scheduled to end at 6:00 p.m. A livestream is also expected on the Monkey League YouTube channel, where previous matches have been broadcast.
For two cubers this close in raw speed, the final is about more who is faster on this particular day, and who feels the nerves the most.
Both have already shown they are capable of world-record-level speed. A best-of-nine-set match gives us a chance to see who can deliver when the pressure builds, respond when a set goes against them, and finish when the championship is on the line.
Bofan Zhang Leads Six Sub-5.5 Solvers in Nanning
Nanning Open 2026 takes place August 23 in Nanning, China, with another deep Chinese 3x3 field.
Bofan Zhang leads the 3x3 psych sheet with a 4.38 average, currently fifth in the world.
Bofan has already come extremely close to an even bigger result this summer.
Last month, he stopped the timer at 2.72 seconds, but his cube was one move away from solved. The resulting +2 penalty turned the solve into an official 4.72.
He will have more opportunities in Nanning, but this is far from a one-person field.
Yi Shen enters with a 4.51 average, followed by Yunzhi Lian at 4.89, Lingkun Jiang at 5.04, Ziyu Ye at 5.26 and Kaichen Huang at 5.36.
That gives Nanning six potential competitors with official averages below 5.5 seconds.
Max Siauw and Sameer Aggarwal Lead the Northwest
Northwest Championship 2026 runs August 21-23 in Salem, Oregon.
Max Siauw enters at the top of the current 3x3 psych sheet with a 5.49 average, barely ahead of Sameer Aggarwal at 5.56.
The matchup has some history.
At the previous Northwest Championship in 2024, Matty Hiroto Inaba won the overall 3x3 event with a 5.36 average.
But Matty was not eligible for the Northwest regional title.
Max finished second overall with a 6.33 average, making him the highest-placing eligible competitor and the Northwest champion. Sameer finished directly behind him at 6.55.
Two years later, Max and Sameer are again the top two eligible names on the psych sheet, only now their official averages are separated by just 0.07 seconds.
There is depth behind them as well. Ezra Fish and Anishk Arora are both listed at 6.54, followed by William Greninger at 6.61 and Ron G. Arama at 6.64.
Jeremy Bulambot Looks to Defend His Rocky Mountain Title
Rocky Mountain Championship 2026 takes place August 21-23 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.
Ryan Pilat is the fastest competitor on the 3x3 psych sheet with a 5.44 average.
But Ryan is from Texas, which means he can win the competition overall without becoming Rocky Mountain champion.
The regional title is limited to competitors who live in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah or Wyoming.
That distinction mattered last year.
Dylan Miller won Rocky Mountain Championship 2025 overall with a 6.44 average, but he was not eligible for the regional championship. Jeremy Bulambot, who lives in Arizona, finished second overall at 6.81 and became the Rocky Mountain champion.
Jeremy returns this year with an even faster 6.01 personal-best average and has already won Arizona Championship 2026.
Ryan will be the favorite to win the competition overall, but the race for the actual Rocky Mountain title could look very different.
Jeremy has already shown he can win this championship under pressure. With Ryan ineligible for the regional title, Jeremy enters Denver with a real chance to defend it.
From a world No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in New York to deep 3x3 fields in China and two regional championships in the United States, there will be plenty to follow this weekend.