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Move for this phase:
T-1 F1 T1 L-1 T1 L1 T-1 F2
(see How to solve a Rubik's Cube for a description of the move notation)
What this move does:
Hold the cube with the solved face away from you. This move swaps the position of the bottom front corners.
How to use it:
The objective, in this phase, is to get the 4 corners on the face opposite the solved side in the correct position. We're not worrying about orientation yet. Assuming that in Phase 1 you solved the white side, you would be working on the yellow side. Hold the cube with the yellow side facing you and the green side up. The left side is orange, the right side is red, and the bottom is blue.
Still with me? This all sounds very complicated, unless you have a Rubik's cube in your hand or very, very good spatial reasoning skills.
Okay, anyway. There are 4 corners on the yellow side - the red-green-yellow corner, the green-orange-yellow corner, the orange-blue-yellow corner, and the blue-red-yellow corner.
Spiffy ASCII example:
green side
____________
/ / / /| r
o / Y / / R / | e
r / / / / | d
a |^^^|^^^|^^^| Y/|
n O | B | | G | / | s
g |___|___|___|/ | i
e | | | | /| d
| | Y | | / | e
s |___|___|___|/ |
i | | | | B/
d G | Y | | R | /
e |___|___|___|/
O Y
blue side
The yellow side is, of course, facing you. Look at all 4 corners, and compare the colors on the corners to the faces they're touching. The top right block (red-green-yellow) and
bottom right block (red-blue-yellow) are in the right position. The bottom-left is in the wrong position ; it's the green-orange-yellow block, but it's on the corner of the orange and blue sides. So in this case, you just hold the cube red side up, perform the move listed above, and you are done with phase 2.
Basically, what you want to do is look carefully at the corners. If you can find 2 adjacent corners that have the same color on them (like red, in the example), rotate the front until they're facing the proper side (right, in this case). If they are in the right position, hold the cube with the two good cubes on the top front edge, and do the move described above. The other two corners should be in the right position now.
Or you can just swap them basically at random until you find 2 corners in the right position - if the other two are in the right position too, you're done. if not, perform the corner-swapping move and you're done.
Move on to Phase 3 or
go back to How to solve a Rubik's Cube
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