This must have been discussed here, but I can find nothing about it.
Yesterday we had a game that didn’t start with a delay. TC was G/60; d/10. When players got below 10 minutes, they asked the TD to set the delay.
Neither of us thought either of the players had intentionally not set the clock. It seemed that neither of the players knew how to set the clock at the beginning, and the TD didn’t know how to set it at the time of the request.
The TD chose to not adjust the clock, and didn’t provide a substitute clock. Rather, he ruled that the game must continue without a delay since it was that way from move 1 despite the TD Tip in 16P. His argument was that the TD Tip was not a rule (We agree on this, btw).
Do you know if ILC was in effect for this event? The default is no. Of course, even if it was, ILC would not be in effect with 10 minutes left on the clocks.
I’m not a rules expert so I defer to the TDs in the crowd, but I am not aware of any rule giving the players the right to demand a mid-game change in the clock settings (not that either player did). I think the TD acted appropriately. I leave it to the experts to provide a rule to justify it if the TD had decided to add the delay.
I do wonder if the fact that both players wanted the change influences the correct answer to this question.
Rule 16P gives the director discretion to adjust erroneously set clocks. Either decision is correct: set the delay or leave it alone. I submitted an ADM last year, 15-54, which would add a new rule 16P1 to clarify that if the delay or increment is not set it’s handled in the same fashion as an erroneously set clock. This was referred to the Rules Committee. After discussion a majority of the committee agreed on an amended version of the ADM which will be presented to the delegates at this year’s annual delegates meeting.
If I know how to set the delay on that model of clock, I would set the delay, not because I am required to, but because, within reason, players should expect to depend on the advertised time control.
That said, the ruling is defensible, not for the reason given (we don’t have to maintain the erroneous settings at the start of the game), but because neither player has operated the clock properly.
It is the duty of each player to provide a clock which s/he is capable of operating properly. It is the duty of each player, once it is evident the opponent can’t operate his or her clock properly, to provide an alternate clock and operate it properly. Finally, it is the duty of each player to detect defects on a timely basis. Detecting an inactive delay more than 100 minutes into 120 minutes of combined base time is not timely.
In short, if I knew how to set the delay, I would, but not setting the delay is not incorrect, and I am under no obligation to set the delay. I have no sympathy for players who fail to operate their clocks properly.
No announcement was made regarding 14H. Brings up another interesting question, though. If the TD does not allow the delay to be set, I might rule that an ILC claim would be valid, in the absence of an announcement to the contrary.
How would you justify that? The default is no 14H. I don’t know that the TDs decision not to correct an incorrectly set clock would invalidate the default.
On some clocks, it is difficult to tell if the delay is on or off. Only when the clock goes to minutes and seconds will there be an inkling that something is wrong. That is usually the 20 minute mark on each clock. Since according to the given facts the players did not do anything wrong deliberately and were not able to get a TD to help them set their clock initially, I would cut them some slack. If they had played 30 moves already, I would set the delay and add 5 minutes to each clock. (20 seconds X 30 moves/2) They should then have the same time as the other players. If the circumstances were different, that is, if the clock was deliberately set without delay, then the aggrieved player would get extra time and the offender not. I might also forfeit the player if he is a repeat offender. Other slight changes of facts would lead to different results based on the culpability of the players.
While players are assumed to know how clocks are set, how they work, and how to add time during a game, many do not. Few read the booklet that comes with the clock, if there is a booklet. They may learn a couple of settings and that is it. Mistakes are often made with a newly purchased digital clock. Every clock has its own unique ways to set delay and increment. Players sometimes forget to change the delay setting from a quick chess tournament to a dual rated event. The switch to 10 second delay by some events has caused problems as some players assume that all games are played with a 5 second delay.
Have the changes for the 5th edition been posted yet? I know there are some posted, but Micah has pointed out some errors, and I’m not sure what’s what now.
In the 6th edition, the no ILC rule is listed as a variation.
We’re not using the 5th edition anymore. 6th edition rulebook changes are posted here. As of 1/1/16, as an amendment to rule 14H, ILC claims aren’t allowed by default but are allowed as a variation.
I remember years ago spectating at a tournament where 1 player had a delay clock, but was having trouble setting it. His opponent wanted to use an analog clock, but the delay clock was the preferred clock for the event. One of the TDs for the event dealt with by telling the player who could not set the clock that the TD was going to the back of the room for an analog clock and bringing it back to the game [which had not yet started]. The TD stated that if the player had not set the delay clock by the time the TD returned with the analog clock, that the Analog clock would then be used. The game was played with the delay clock.
lol this would have been an interesting attempted solution. I’ve been updated that the clock the players were using was a borrowed clock, and for some reason, the delay wasn’t capable of being set (a defective clock, think). It was a DGT North American. Not sure why the delay couldn’t be set.
d10 instead of d5 on a G/60 is great. I run a monthly quad tournament and about a year ago we changed the time control from G/45;d5 to G/45;d10 and it has helped mitigate time pressure without expanding the round time much at all or any other real downside.
I don’t think that “quality is ensured” when you can have the pieces are flying everywhere in time pressure due to not having any delay.
That attitude is, in general, way too rigid. In an event where the players furnish the clocks, it is highly likely that when player A provides the clock, player B does not know how to set it, but would have known how to set his own clock had the shoe been on the other foot.
It is also likely that player B, being unfamiliar with player A’s clock brand, might be legitimately unaware of the lack of delay until well into the game.
In this case, though, since neither player furnished a clock even though both players should have, continuing the game with no adjustment and no delay might be (just barely) within the realm of reasonable rulings available to the TD.
Normally (if there is no suspicion of skullduggery), IMHO it would be much better to add the delay after the fact, either with or without any adjustment in the main time.
Throw in the complication of the TD not knowing how to set this particular clock, and you could, I suppose, have a genuine problem. Even then, though, I find it difficult to believe that no reasonable solution would be possible. Surely somebody in the room could be prevailed upon to furnish, and set, another clock and allow it to be substituted.
As you said, some clocks do not show the seconds until under 20 minutes. I’ve seen G/120;d5 cases where the clock was set at 2:00:05;d0, showed 2:00, and the run off of the additional five seconds before showing 1:59 made both players think a delay was on. In such cases with both players thinking the clock had delay, I would not have a problem with adding the delay as long as the game had not yet finished (once a player has flagged the game is over, so pointing out the lack of delay at that point is too late). If the players knew going in that the clock did not have the delay set and were using it any way then I would not touch it.
When adding the delay I would not add any time (as opposed to making a judgement call that every move played really had gone through the entire delay period before being played - I know that I will often play immediate responses, so automatically adding the full delay for every move would be the equivalent of treating the first part of the game as having an increment instead of a delay). If you do add time then you open up the possibility that players that both prefer more time will agree to play the first 30 moves with the delay off and then claim the clock was mis-set and the time needed to be added. When deducting the delay time in minutes from the initial setting was common there were a number of strong players that preferred to play with no delay because the received more time early on and only if the game went 60 moves was there even a chance that the total delay time used would match the starting deducted time.
