Would have to use rule 1B2, if the player did not understand the major variation – its not the problem of the director. Have and will not have non-standard time delay for any rated game.
Actually, in my opinion it should be just the opposite.
Deducting main time to compensate for the delay is a bad idea in a regular-rated event, but there’s a lot to be said for it in quick and blitz.
On the other hand, there’s no need to take off a full 3 minutes (quick) or 2 minutes (blitz). For quick, in my opinion taking off 2 minutes when there is a 3-second delay is about right. And in blitz, taking off 1 minute when there is a 2-second delay seems about right.
As for the loophole that Doug wants to drive a truck through, I think the deduction (in minutes) should not be allowed to exceed either the standard delay or the actual delay (in seconds), WHICHEVER IS LESS. If, for example, an organizer wanted to run a regular-rated event with a 12-second delay, the main time deducted could still not exceed 5 minutes.
Bill Smythe
Hope the loophole is closed … but you got to point out the loophole so the powers that be can close it.
The only “rule” (and possibly should be posted somewhere on the USCF web site) concerning minimum ratable times.
Last year (or was it the year before?) g/5 became the fastest allowable rated game (lowered from g/10) under the “quick chess” rating system. This occurred after the current edition of the rulebook was completed.
During a ratings (or was it rules?) workshop and delegates meeting, It was clarified that to be ratable the primary control must be g/5 at a minimum, regardless of the amout of delay allowable. G/3 D/2 is NOT the same as G/5, and is not ratable under the quick chess system.
Standard ratings are not an issue at G/60 as the dual system takes care of that.
Undecided, by the Rules or Ratings Committee, is the question of the G/30 end. A strict interpretation of the rule in the rulebook would allow G/25, D/5. However, I would certainly not allow anything faster (i.e. G/20 D/10 would not be ratable under the standard rating system). I will poll both committees on a more general interpretation.
My opinion is that to be rated in the standard system G/30 must be the minimum allowable time, regardless of the delay time, (to be consistent with the interperetation of the quick shess minimum) but that is my opinion and interpretation of the intent of the rule. I will poll the rules committee for their opinion (or should this be taken up by the ratings committee?)
Remember, the deduction of the primary time by the amount of the delay is an option only. It is found that little, if anything is really gained by doing so. We want to encourage the use of delay in events with SD, and deducting time does not do that. More and more events now do not deduct this time. I personally do not, and I do not recommend it.
Thus, my opinion is that the fastest ratable game (to effect your regular rating) is G/30 D/x where standard is x=5 sec. This is only my opinion.
The fastest ratable game (to effect your quick chess rating) IS G/5 as the primary control, regardless of the delay allowed.
Nolan, how do we treat this when a rating report is submitted?
YES!!! 
YES!!!
The reason I do not support the G/25 (t/d 5), as the flag can fall before the 60th move. If the flag falls before the 60th move, the chess player would use less than 30 minutes. If the chess player use less than 30 minutes, in should not be regular rated.
As has been pointed out before, Bill Goichberg made the decision early in his tenure as ED (in December 2003 or January 2004 as I recall) to permit the rating of events at G/5 through G/9 under the quick rating system.
The Delegates did not question or overturn that decision in Florida, so I guess that means they ratified it.
The validation program checks the time control field to see if the time control looks like a sudden death primary time control. (It looks for things like ‘SD/x’, ‘Game/x’, etc.)
If that field appears to contain a sudden death primary tome control it checks the number it finds, (eg, the ‘x’ in the above examples.).
If the number is between 5 and 29 the event must be quick rated. If the number is between 30 and 60 the event must be dual rated. If the number is greater than 60, or if the time control does not look like a sudden death primary time control, the event must be regular rated.
The instructions for filling out that field specifically states that G/28 + 2 seconds is the same as Game/30, because that is what the USCF office understood the interpretation to be. (I think there is an updated clock rules pamphlet being prepared that discusses this issue.)
Hopefully the rules committee will clarify this situation for the mollification of the rulebook lawyers out there.
BTW, there may come a time when we have to standardize the coding of the time control field further because of how we have to report FIDE rated events. We may also have to require color information for FIDE rated events, because the latest FIDE reporting format, which the USCF has to start using no later than July 2006, includes a field to report color. I don’t know if FIDE plans to enforce the reporting of that information or what they intend to do with it.
The following rule change would get my vote:
(1) The organizer may NOT deduct time from the announced time control in games using the delay.
(2) Instead, the organizer MAY add time to clocks not using the delay. The addition, in minutes, must be not more than the smaller of the actual delay or the standard delay, in seconds. Standard delay is defined as 5 seconds regular, 3 seconds quick, or 2 seconds blitz. Actual delay is the delay announced in pre-tournament publicity. If there is no mention of delay in pre-tournament publicity, the actual delay defaults to the standard delay.
(3) The announced time control must be at least 30 minutes regular, 10-29 minutes quick, 3-9 minutes blitz. (This has nothing to do with the RATING of events. 30 to 60 minutes could still be dual-rated, and blitz could still be quick-rated.)
Bill Smythe
If I have a G/29, and someone has a analog clock or want to use non-time delay. If the person with a time delay clock set the clock at G/29 (t/d 3), are you sure the director under your rules can grant the 3 minutes to the analog or non-time delay clock. Just find a G/32 is quick rated only 
Under my proposal, if the ANNOUNCED time control is G/29, the event would be quick-rated. If the TD adds 3 minutes to some games (because of the lack of delay), the event would still be quick-rated.
Bill Smythe