I have been looking thru the early PC chess tournys (1970s/80s) and can’t seem to find what Time Controls they used. If there is anyone in this Forum who may know someone that has this info, I would appreciate it. GM Larry Kaufman was/is a PC chess engine programmer, and he may know, if anyone here can contact him. The website that archives PC tournys is the Chess Programming WIKI; chessprogramming.org/Tourna … nd_Matches .
Thanks!
I was at one of the ACM World Computer Chess Championship events working demo boards in Chicago in the late 60’s or early 70’s, the time control as I recall was something like 40/2 with one or two 15 minute equipment malfunction time outs permitted.
David Levy’s book might have more details.
I saw an ACM tournament in 1978, but don’t recall the time controls or if they had them. The topic of time pressure never came up when I talked with the people running the Duchess program (Duke U). https://wjporter.com/chess_etc/chess.htm#blitz
I kind of lost track of the computer chess events after moving to Nebraska for grad school, but they definitely had time controls, and usually had time outs for equipment/communication failures. 40/2 was a pretty standards ‘serious’ chess time control back then, and that’s what sticks in my mind as what they were using. The ACM event I worked the demo boards at started around 6:30 and finished up after midnight. David Levy kept a running commentary going on the games, including interviews with some of the programmers and some other chess personalities in attendance, it was kind of a tour de force performance on his part.