The reason is standardization of player experience. It’s the norm in most of the world for very good reason (identical conditions, ease op operation, economies of scale.
If a player asked to use a non-provided clock or scoresheet in Europe, s/he would be looked at as if s/he had three heads.
No.
The DGT NA is a quiet clock. It is quieter than other DGT clocks. The Excalibur GameTimer I and II clocks make a much louder clicking sound when you press the little “mushroom” buttons. Chronos clocks with black buttons are noisier because of the habit of players double clicking the buttons because sometimes the clock doesn’t register a clock press. The Saitek Pro is relatively quiet, even in time pressure. You can tell that the button has been pressed properly because of the lights on the buttons, too. I have heard no one complain of noise from the older, gray Saitek with the silver buttons. While the touch sensor on the Chronos is quiet, it does not necessarily register a clock press. I see players thumping the buttons which is noisier than the quiet “thunk” of the DGT NA. As a TD, I usually tell people not to bang the clocks or the pieces in announcements before the first round, and during rounds if they get out of hand.
As an organizer, if I am providing all of the equipment, I expect it to be used. The clocks are preset. The pieces and boards are all the same, conforming to all of the rules for equipment size and quality. This provides identical conditions for all players. When I played in Canada, the organizer had a couple of boxes of Saiteks which were set each round by the TD to make sure that all of the timers were set properly. That was a good idea, as players bring all sort of clocks which may or may not be set correctly. The TD would not allow any other clock to be used. I have seen people set their Chronos and “forget” to set delay. Chronos clocks also have the bad habit of crashing during a game. If the organizer wants all clocks to be the same, he has good reason. If you do not like the reason, do not play. When you organize your own tournament you may specify your own rules for equipment usages, up to and including DGT sensory boards, digital notation devices, and any designated digital clock. You can even provide Jacques chess sets, especially the really pricy ones. Those who do provide equipment are generally unimpressed with complaints. It ain’t a power thing; it is about providing identical conditions for amateurs that are the same as those given to professionals. Most players are appreciative that someone has thought so well of them to provide such a chess experience.
I have been using a Chronos for almost 20 years, and so has my spouse. We have owned five different Chronos clocks (one stolen, two upgrades). We have never had our Chronos crash during a game. We have never seen someone else’s Chronos crash. Have other people experienced this, other than the poster above?
Is it me, or is $295 a massive premium to pay for a chess clock so it turns your DGT chess board into a electronic playing chess board? I mean, one can already plug a DGT board into a computer and play with any chess program that supports a DGT board.
uscfsales.com/chess-clocks/ … clock.html
I’ve seen various clocks (including Chronos) freeze or crash, generally due to battery issues. There are a number of clocks (including the Chronos Blitz) where pausing the clock by pressing the middle button and then pressing the middle button again (trying to get into edit mode) ends up resetting the clock.
That can happen with any clock. People set the DGT with an extra five seconds instead of a five second delay and see the colon flash five times before changing the minute, thinking it is delay and not the extra five seconds. The Excalibur/GameTimer not only needs the delay set, it also has an additional option where it needs to be turned on. I’ve seen various clocks set for increment instead of delay. Using the organizers clocks avoids all of those errors (most really are errors rather than anything intentional).
I looked further into that chess clock. On the DGT website, it’s listed solely as a way to turn your DGT board into a stand alone chess computer. I think maybe the USCF should move that clock to Chess Computer section.
The market for that $300 DGT clock must be minuscule.
I’ve been using one of the original Chronos clocks ever since it first came out. I don’t remember how many years that is, but at least 10. I have had it “crash” during a game exactly once, and that was because the battery life expired – after several years of use, during which it never occurred to me to replace the battery. I don’t see this as a product defect, although it would be nice if it gave you a warning when the battery was low. In any event, I made sure to replace the batteries in my Chronos before this year’s US Open.
Does no one remember the Hawaii US Open?
I remember it well, I still have the clock I bought at the end of the tournament. It don’t think it does increment mode, though, and I’m not sure how many other time controls currently in vogue it supports, either.
I certainly remember that, but I don’t remember anything about clocks there. Refresh my memory?
do you remember that the TD staff thought it was so difficult to advance from the 1st time control to the second that they instead had a supply of duplicate clocks, which they pre-set while watching games approaching move 40 and SWAPPED CLOCKS rather than trying to reset them?
At least the clocks continued to work throughout the event. The same could not be said for the pairing program that was used at the START of the event. Hint: the event finished under the control of a competing pairing program.
This was rivaled only by the time that the
I don’t think any of my games made it to the first time control. I did not have a good event.
Ooh, this is juicy. What clock brand was this?
Ooh, this is juicy. What pairing program was this?
Ooh, this is juicy. Would you care to finish the sentence?
Bill Smythe
Sorry - yesterday was a big travel day.
… Organizer lost the pairing cards for the Blitz
The Hawaii event was utter crap. The rule reasonably presumes the organizer will provide equipment that is not utter crap. The DGT NA is not utter crap.
Wow, I’m surprised by all this. I (and my family) had a blast at that tournament. But, I suppose it depends on your perspective.
We had a great time in Hawaii, too, but I didn’t play well, and most of what I remember about the games is these young kids nominally rated 200 points below me ROLLING THEIR EYES every time I moved before they crushed me like a grape. I wound up withdrawing before the last round so we could spend more time sightseeing.
I also spent a lot of time with Mike Cavallo (then the ED) and Ernie Schlich talking about how to start capturing snapshots of the membership database so we could start building up some historical data.
In addition to the logistics issues Ken Sloan describes (and seems to have a correct opinion about), Hawaii was legendarily unprofitable. Note it’s not been repeated.