I had this incident arise in a one round per week event last weekend. In an advertised G/100 tournament, I informed participants prior to the start of the 2nd round that the G/100 time limit would need to be enforced this week, in order to comply with the venue’s business schedule (the prior week I had allowed G/95 w/5 Sec. delay) as they close at 1:00 PM (sharp).
Near the end of the round, I was approached by one of the contestants who indicated to me that he had 5 min. left on his clock and demanded (by right) to switch to a digital, time delay clock to continue the rest of the game!
I can find no rule other than the one concerning a draw claim due to insufficient losing chances (14H2) in which the T.D. is authorized to allow this change if the draw claim cannot be deemed as either correct nor incorrect (and I think this must be made with TWO minutes on the claimant’s clock).
The claim is clearly incorrect, as only a TD may initiate a change to a digital clock, and that may only occur after a player makes a valid ILC claim (under two minutes on the clock–the claim must be ‘unclear’ and neither blatently correct nor incorrect, and yes, it does count as a draw offer). If you need to cite something, the three ‘TD Tips’ on p.51-52 under 14H2d should suffice. Many TDs do automatically switch over to the delay clock (under the theory that the game can be decided on the board by the players), but no player has the right to demand such a substitution.
Even if the delay clock were somehow allowed, about which I think everyone in this thread is correct so far, the appropriate delay according to 14H2a is zero seconds, since that was what was announced as appropriate delay. Granted, it’s rare to have a tournament these days that doesn’t allow delay, but the rulebook is very clear that if the tournament doesn’t allow delay, then it doesn’t allow delay, period.
I had a similar situation with a venue closing at a certain time sharp. Rather than enforce no delay, I would suggest you seriously consider adding back the delay but perhaps lowering the time control to meet the venue’s closing time AND making sure you always start right on time, deducting from the clock time when people start late.
Ruling on ILC is a real drag. Delay is more satisfactory both for players and the TD. Ruling on ILC may actually be worse time-wise…
You should take into account the time the delay really adds to a game and plan accordingly. A 5-seconds-delay will add to the game a maximum of
10 minutes for 60 moves (5 minutes per player, and this is the estimate of moves used when you subtract 5 minutes from the time control)
15 minutes for 90 moves (when was the last time you had a club last that long? It happens but it’s very rare)
In addition, these maxima assume players use all of their delay, which will probably happen most of time for moves before the time crunch. In time crunch, perhaps less of the delay per move would be used if the players are quick to move, making the time added smaller. More realistically, a G/95 with delay should finish before the G/100 most of the time. Just make sure you are not using Fischer increments instead of delay! And again, that you start right on time.
Yep, all the replies have been dead on correct so far; further, if the player that wants the delay clock makes a 14H claim (thinking he will get his delay clock), the first step is to inform the opponet that a draw offer is being made. That might just backfire on the player wanting the delay clock when the offer is accepted!
It’s not entirely relevant to the question at hand, but this idea of DEMANDING a delay clock bothers me.
Was one available? If so, whose? If it was one of the two players in the game, why wasn’t it used from the start of the game? Such a clock is, after all, considered ‘more standard’.
TDs and organizers should not be EXPECTED to have such equipment available unless supplying such a clock is part of the tournament conditions.
There’s another element here that has been ignored by all but the original poster:
Was the tournament announced as “no delay” at the start of the tournament (and in pre-tournament publicity), or only at the start of round 2? In the latter case, it seems to me the player had the right to demand the 5-second delay at the start of the round (provided he could furnish a delay clock, etc). Apparently the player unwisely chose to postpone (and thus invalidate) his demand until near the end of the game.
Far better, if closing time could be a problem, would be to announce a shorter control to begin with, such as G/90 d/5 (or G/95 in games played without the delay).
