I just saw copy of an email Walter Brown received from Mikko Markkula at FIDE. It says that, retroactive to all tournaments beginning July 1, 2009 or later, time delay is not allowed in any norm events. That means that any tournaments which use the time control of 40/2, SD/1, with a 5-second time delay (with or without the 5-minute deduction), such as the World Open, U.S. Open, etc., etc., etc. will not be able to have those results counted for norms.
Apparently this was passed in Dresden, and the USCF's position was not represented on the FIDE Qualifications Commission at all.
What events / norms / titles did we lose because of the retroactivity to July 1? The retroactivity seems curious; the natural thing to do would be to make it effective going forward but not retroactive.
That is the date that I know that ends the use of non-FIDE standard time controls for norms. Even the G/90 + 30/sec increment which I’ve used over 23 title norm tournaments will become invalid.
The tournament must be played by using one of the following rates of play:
90 minutes with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from first move
(This time control is valid only until 30.6.2010.)
90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move
100 minutes for 40 moves followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from first move
40 moves in 2 hours followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game
40 moves in 2 hours followed by 60 minutes for the rest of the game
40 moves in 2 hours followed by 20 moves in 1 hour followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game
Evidently those are all OK-- except that they are not allowed to have any time delay (i.e., 40/2, SD/1 is OK, but 40/2, SD/1 with 5 second delay is not)!
Unless there is a typo on the FIDE website but I remember seeing this in a couple of other documents as well. I also have never seen delay allowed in any FIDE documents.
I included delay only for completeness, but I’m surprised to see FIDE endorsing time controls with no increment. On the other hand, I suppose FIDE is less concerned with 14H-type situations than USCF, as they give arbiters what I consider an absurd amount of discretion.
The “No Delay Allowed” rule was just confirmed by one of the EB members at this weekend’s meeting.
It’s unclear which is more exasperating:
A popular USCF time control, which had been routinely used in norm tournaments, has been outlawed.
The USCF was not representated at the FIDE Qualifications Commission when this decision was made, and had no input in this decision.
There has been no official communication from the USCF regarding this significant change in policy.
In comparison to an interest group which actually has representation, what do you think the reaction from the Scholastic Council would be if the EB just decreed that Game/30 is only Quick-Rated, and not dual-rated?!
Regarding #3 - I thought it was published on CLO about the changes but I can’t seem to find it now. Also those organizers that run norm tournaments I think would have known about these changes.
Regarding #2 - I don’t think having representation just in Dresden would have made a difference aside from voicing the opinion of the USCF. The ACP, who is dominated by the European chess scene, was a driving force behind the changes. The ACP has been politicking for changes like this for some time now.
However now that we have representation such as Walter on the commission and Ruth as the liaison for international affairs, we’ll have more active voice (both were in Greece this month).
For a second here, lets just say, for auguments sake, that FIDE meant to say starting in 2010, and not back dating the change, which would seem to be a huge nightmare for everybody.
Ok, did FIDE give a reason for the change? Just curious.
I think for lower level play, using delay is still a great option. Even though +5 seconds doesn’t seem like a big amount of time, a delay of 5 seconds does make it easier to schedule rounds when your trying to do a single day event where there are at least 3 or 4 rounds.
I don’t really keep up with FIDE much, since living in rural KY, I’m very far away from the nearest FIDE tournament, and even at that, I’d have to seriously study chess (which I don’t have time to do), to worry about a FIDE title.
I suspect, given the intensity of European competition, that the use of analog clocks in tournaments is much lower than in the United States, especially with players that are rated 2000+ FIDE.
Even in the United States, digital clocks are fast becoming the prefered clock. In another thread, I asked what percentage of games are being played with analog clocks, and a couple TDs that run large tournaments noted only about 25% to 30% of games in non-scholastic tournaments are being played with analog clocks, and thats including play at all levels. I’d think if you cut off games being played by players rated under 2000 USCF, and the percentage of games using digital clocks would be much higher.
Is the Norm at the World Open for Lenderman why his title was not confirmed in October at the 80th FIDE chess congress? Will he be required to achieve a 3rd norm again at some other tournament??
It doesn’t matter if it’s analog or digital, you’re still going to have the same problem at the end of the 2nd time control in terms of smash clock chess. I just don’t get the logic of eliminating delay from 40/2 G/1. It just seems like a way to stick it to US organizers who use this time control.
They lower the floor on FIDE ratings in order to make it easier to get a FIDE rating, but they change the time controls to make it harder to run FIDE rated tournaments. I’m confused!?
They could just skip the preliminary steps and decree that no norms are possible in Swiss tournaments. Or maybe wait until the USCF pays its annual five-figure “membership” dues to FIDE first.
