according to 1.1 the time control for most Open sections, each side will have to have at least 2 hours to complete 60 moves (or the game).
so in this case a time control of 30/90 G/60 would meet that criteria.
However, 1.3 states that "Where a certain number of moves is specified in the first time control, it shall be 40 moves. Players benefit from uniformity here."
so now a time control of 30/90 G/60 would NOT rated by FIDE ??
This is a good question. I have a hard time keeping up with what is FIDE ratable, but I know that earlier this year (March), I played in a tournament that had a time control of 35/105, SD/1 that was FIDE rated. Things may have changed since then though.
Instead of an unacceptable 30/90 G/60, it looks like you could go with an acceptable 40/75 G/60. After all, isn’t chess more worthy of being FIDE-rated played at 1.875 minutes per move in the first time control rather than at 3 minutes per move?
With everybody under 2200 then it looks like 40/60 (1.5 minutes per move), G/30 would be okay while 30/90, G/60 is not.
FIDE’s rule doesn’t seem so unreasonable to me. Players can get used to the first time control being at move 40, and the only variation being how long they have to get there. Move 40 in a chess game has a certain feeling to it which is different from move 30, or move 50.
For example, I used to play a lot of 50 / 2 which is almost always in the endgame, if the game lasts that long. It was a fairly reasonable strategy to use almost all the time on the first 40 moves, because the game might well be over by then. With 30 / 90 it’s most likely the game will not be over at the first time control.
If the organizer wants a really fast tournament he was going to do a fast time control anyway rather than 30/90.
30/90, G/1 has been really popular around here because it allows players to commute from an or more hour away and still have enough time to eat, shower and sleep. In 40/2, G/1 the rounds are typically 10-4 and 4:30 to 10:30, meaning you could get home at 11:30 or later after a long game and then have to leave by 9:00 the next morning.
Anyways, I think 40/2, G/30 will replace 30/90, G/60. I personally don’t care, but I can see easily players in time pressure barely make it to move 40, then take a 10 minutes break (bathroom, water, maybe a small snack) and suddenly 5 moves later they’re in sudden death time pressure. It still beats the 30 second increment that FIDE prefers, where a game easily may continue in suspended animation for an hour or two with one or both players stuck with a minute or two plus the increment.
FIDE has adopted quite a few insane rules during the past year or so, but this one doesn’t seem so bad. At the very least, 40 should be the maximum number of moves in a non-SD first control.
I have seen players lose on time because they were accustomed to 40 moves, and it slipped their minds that the control this time was 45 moves.
FIDE seems to have multiple, possibly inconsistent, objectives. On the one hand, it is restricting what time controls can be used for FIDE rated events, especially norm-generating ones. On the other hand, it is expanding the minimum FIDE rating, down to 1200 this year and down to 1000 in 2010 or 2011, which some have claimed is an attempt to replace national ratings systems.
It seems likely that the number of FIDE rated events in the USA is likely to go DOWN rather than UP as a result of the restrictions on time controls. In fact, I think it is likely that the only FIDE rated USCF national events in a few years will be the US Championships.