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> With about 35 CPU-years of idle computer time donated by Google, a team of researchers has essentially solved every position of the Rubik's Cube™,

This is the wrong time to use the adverb "essentially". You either solved every position or you didn't.

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I'd agree with you had they used a weasel-word like "virtually", but "essentially" seems appropriate in this case:

adverb: used to emphasize the basic, fundamental, or intrinsic nature of a person, thing, or situation

If you didn't actually iterate through every position - but rather a subset that provided equivalent coverage by eliminating symmetries - then you have, in essence, solved every position.

Fair enough. I was in a rush so I didn't read the whole page. Considering their approach, essentially is appropriate.

Well they didn't actually "solve" every position, they just found a solution under 20 moves for every position.

They didn't optimally solve every position, but they did solve every position.

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