40/120, SD/30 d5
Now I know it is 40 moves in 2 hours for the first time control. What I do not know is the delay of 5 seconds, is that for both the first and Sudden Death time controls or just the SD time control? That is how the tournament is advertised.
The above quoted time control, unless otherwise specified by the organizer, is typically meant for the delay to be applied from move 1, for the duration of the game.
There are tournaments where additional per-move time is granted after the primary time control. Such tournaments usually involve increment (and are quite rare in the US).
They should clarify it as many tournaments are advertised 40/90 d5 SD 30 d5 showing that in both time controls the delay of 5 seconds is added. To me 40/120 DD 30 d5 only shows where the delay applies to the Sudden Death control time limit.
Also I do have the new rule book coming from Amazon on August 5th, the soonest it is available in hard copy. Haven’t been active in the chess world for quite some time and want to start playing at this old age to keep my brain in top shape. Why they had 2 months between the ebook and printed book I have no idea unless this is a common practice. I dislike ebooks as I like my printed library.
Since I have never seen a tournament where delay applied only to one time control period, to me showing d5 twice only adds confusion. For increment, I would agree, since increment itself is rare in the US. Has anyone ever seen an event where delay was only used in the secondary time control?
I’ve seen some FIDE events in which increment didn’t start until a secondary time control.
The USCF STANDARD is that any delay or increment should be in effect from move 1 on and should be the same in all time control periods.
In fact, the module for validating time controls will currently ONLY accept time controls formatted that way.
Semantically, I prefer to place a semicolon when there is a logical break, such as multiple time controls followed by the increment/delay for all those time controls, so I would personally enter this time control as 40/120,SD/30;d5.
I hope the day never comes when we start seeing USCF rated events where the increment/delay is not constant throughout the game, but if we do, we will probably require those time controls to be entered something like this:
40/120,d0;SD/30,d5
That way, the semicolon represents a full break between the first and second time control, both of which are complete since they contain both the time control and the increment/delay…
Where life could get messy is if someone uses a time control like 30/30,d0;SD/30,d6. Is that a regular-only time control or not? (My sentiments are that it is not, since the total time per player will be less than 66 minutes. Not MUCH less than 66 minutes, but enough.)
If the delay applied only to the 2nd control, it would be written something like 40/120 d0, SD/30 d5.
If the delay appears only at the end, it is assumed to apply to all controls.
Listing it as “40/120, SD/30 d5” is, however, confusing. Grammatically, a comma should be regarded as a stronger separator than a space. (And a semicolon, if used, should be regarded as a stronger separator still.) The listing shown above makes it look as though the d5 is more closely connected to the SD/30 than the SD/30 is to the 40/120, perhaps leading the reader to the incorrect impression that the d5 applies only to the final control.
Much better would be “40/120 SD/30, d5”. Or perhaps “40/120, SD/30; d5”. The d5 should appear more strongly separated from the SD/30 than the SD/30 is from the 40/120.
Take that in your pipe and smoke it, all ye writers of TLAs, and all ye who tell everybody else how to write TLAs.
Bill Smythe
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Yes.
And yes.
And yes.
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Thank You all for answering. I am an old guy returning after 40 some years and saw tournaments advertised both ways so that led to this question. It is quite clear now.
This oldster now bought a DGT N/A clock and getting familiar with it and has a new rule book on order that is supposed to be delivered on Aug 5th which is the first date the printed copy can be released. Still doesn’t make sense to me why the eBook came out almost 2 months ago and you have to wait for the printed copy so long. I guess that is the lead time although I would think both would get released at the same time.
At this age I appreciate chess more and see there are many more tools for the aspiring player with all the chess software. No longer do players have to depend solely on books.
Thanks once again, Mike from Wisconsin
Welcome back!!!
DGT N/A is a great clock.
On the release date difference…in some ways the ebook and print book WAS released at the same time. Publishers have learned that if they send a book to the printer before the ebook is available, it’s a big risk that the book is “leaked” before its time (…printers would NEVER do that right? 
). I suspect the Kindle version was released the day the book was sent to the printer.
When you say leaked to you mean uploaded to a site which is bordering on Illegal? I am surprised so many downloads are available for free for chess books. What gives in this world? No one respects copyrights? I keep seeing links to downloads on other sites that I never thought would exist. If I wrote a chess book and 6 months later someone has it on their web site I would be very angry and seek legal action. I guess having eBooks facilitates this in a way that it is already in electronic form.