A time control with a small amount of delay or increment is generally played with no delay or increment if the clock doesn’t support delay or increment (i.e. G/90,d5 is played at G/90,d0 if you are using an analog clock). However, for a time control with a longer amount of delay or increment such as G/90 + 30, using G/90,d0 for analog clocks would change the time control too much. I know two tournaments that were played with a time control of G/90 + 30. One of the tournaments had analog clocks play at G/110 and the other tournament had them play at G/120. Does the USCF have rules or recommendations as to what time control should be used for analog clocks (or digital clocks without delay or increment) for a tournament using a time control with a longer amount of increment or delay?
One tournament director provided the appropriate clocks for every game in the tournament as well as the boards and sets. It was really a spectator’s paradise and the players were all on an equal footing insofar as equipment was concerned. If tournaments are going to be run on ever-changing time control rules perhaps the directors of these events should be required to provide the proper equipment. I bet if this were the case, the time controls would stop changing so frequently. An analog clock in an increment tournament? I’m sure in the strictest sense this could not be FIDE rated as all games have to have the same standards. And if USCF plans to ape FIDE, I suspect the same deal will apply with them.
While it is nott a rule, the TD Tips in 5F2 suggest 1 minute of adjustment for each second of increment.
Simply get a digital clock with both increment and delay as you would a standard set and board.
Personally, I think 1 minute for each second of increment is way too much.
Half a minute for each second is more like it. A quarter of a minute might be even better. That way, players will be encouraged to furnish proper equipment.
Bill Smythe
Contrary to what Mr. Just suggested above, I announce how analog clocks will be treated in all of my increment events. Sometimes I disallow them entirely. I think that it is very unfair for a player to come to a tournament, even with no or non-standard equipment, and not know what time control he’ll have to play.
Alex Relyea
I did not suggest anything. I simply am reporting what is in a TD Tip (which I did not author).
Zero adjustment to the base time is best practice. Delay capable clocks have been standard equipment for more than two decades. The only appropriate accommodation for the owner of an analog clock is to advise said owner to buy a new clock.
I pretty much agree with this, with the sentiment that it’s too bad that we have to make people part with equipment they already own and have played with for a century.
I really hate not being able to use my Jerger in tournaments.
Is it possible in delay tournaments to pause the clock for the appropriate amount of time before completely pressing the clock? The motion would be something like stop the clock wait the delay time. Then finish depressing to restart the clock? This may be tedious but I think it would be a way to resurrect the analog clocks in the twenty-first century. I have a few analog clocks I might be able to sell if this method of timekeeping is allowed.
I have to admit those old Jerger wood clocks were BUILT! I know someone who has had his since the early 60’s and it still functions perfectly. How many things does anyone have that are over 50 years old and still work perfectly?
However, the whole reason the default condition in the rules specifies that clocks that don’t have increment or delay capabilities get NO adjustment for increment or delay is to encourage those players to move up to clocks that do have those features. Organizers who ‘accommodate’ users of delay/increment unaware clocks by giving them extra time (with proper advance notice) are really not doing those players any favors in the long run.
I can already hear the complaints where somebody says “I paused for the full five seconds before finishing the push to start my opponents clock but he was only waiting two seconds and that is why I flagged”.
If it is an analog clock that has a clock punch counter (there were some) then people making their moves within the “delay” time would be providing one more reason for why the clock punch counter wouldn’t match the number of moves.
These old clocks, Jerger’s, Insa’s, Coldfield’s, can still do the job of timing in most events. Players have difficulty giving up a clock they spent a considerable amount of money on at the time in order to purchase a high quality device. At one time, these devices were the pinnacle of clocks. The Insa and the Coldfield had features showing the amount of seconds left in the last two minutes of the time control. The wooden Jerger and the Insa had a classy look and feel, had clock faces easy to read, and were easy to set. For players who play in only one tournament a year or a couple of games in a League, it is more than a little off putting to demand that they never be allowed to use their clocks. When no other clock is available, these clocks will more than do in a pinch.
It is not necessary to make any time adjustment. Players who use these clocks don’t really care about that. They just want to play. In fact, without time adjustment, their games finish earlier than those using clocks with delay or increment. As a TD, this speeds up the tournament and lets me pair earlier. At our chess league, I give instructions every round on how to set up both digital and the analog timers. A number of players still use them. A number of players, especially high rated players, do not come to events with a clock. They end up using an analog clock in their games. No harm is done.
It is not appropriate for a TD to be dismissive of a player with an analog clock, insult him, or tell him to go buy a digital. The player knows that digitals are the standard and that their clock may not be used if a digital is available. If you do not like to see analog clocks, then provide digital clocks and standard sets and boards. That will provide the uniformity you require and avoid the necessity to go to the Rulebook when players make claims.
No one is telling these players they may not use an analog clock. The players are being told that if the opponent supplies a delay- or increment-capable clock, such a clock is standard equipment for the delay or increment time control. The player with the standard clock has the right to demand the use of the standard clock. If neither player cares enough about the increment or delay to bother to obtain standard equipment, then they can play using just the base time in the control. The players only hurt themselves by doing so.
I have seen TDs be rude to players with analog clocks. They were dismissive and abrupt, treating the players as inferiors. That was not necessary. It reflects badly on the USCF.
With the changed status and mission of the USCF, we may have more players come back after a long hiatus. We will also see more new players. Each group may be bringing old equipment that they use to use or were handed down to them as gifts to introduce them to chess. This should be borne in mind when we as TDs treat with players. They just want to play chess. Their aspiration is fun, not to be professionals. The poor attitude of some of the TDs, the jokes about the players, insults, and belittling of players does little to promote the game in America. Players hear the jokes and the complaints about players asking questions over and over again or not paying attention to the signs. They see the rolled eyes by the TDs and feel unwelcome in tournament play. A number of players have complained to me about being treated poorly in tournaments. When I hear the TD names, I cringe. The changes in technology are not universal. Players are still adapting. Tournament chess is very stressful, not just for new players but for everyone. When they ask you when the next round is, tell them, and do it cheerfully for this may be the first time this player may be in a tournament. Don’t just say, “Can’t you read?”
This would be impractical. You’d have to have some way to time how long to wait before finishing pressing the button, so the sequence would be something like (1) make your move on the board, (2) start the delay timer, (3) pause the clock, (4) when the delay timer goes off finish pressing your clock. This will be distracting and will reduce the quality of play.
Hope is not lost, though, for analog fans–at least those with electric analog clocks, like the Diamond Quartz Analog Chess Clock sold through the USCF store. I’ve been planning as one of my winter projects to convert one of those into a delay clock, just because it would be a fun project.
Conceptually, it is actually pretty simple. I haven’t taken one apart yet, but it almost certainly simply has the buttons in series with the power connection to the two clock movements. To add a five second delay, we need to retarget those switches to be inputs to a delay circuit which when turned on waits five seconds and then switches power on to the movement. I’m also thinking of adding 5 LEDs that would all light when someone presses a button, and then go off one by one to count down the delay.
I’m hoping to end up with something that will be reasonably cheap and easy for anyone to build if they have simple soldering skills and can use simple hand tools like a drill. I’ll make full instructions available on the web when I’m done.
For purely mechanical clocks, it would be much more difficult. The only approach I’ve got there would be some kind of attachment that goes on top of the clock and covers both buttons. On top of the attachment there would be two electrical buttons (either mechanical switches or touch pads–think of the two different styles of Chronos buttons for examples of what I’m talking about). Inside the attachment would be some kind of motorized dohickey (probably a servo meant for model airplanes or something like that) that actually handles pressing the mechanical clock buttons.
That would be kind of ugly looking, I think, and not really satisfactory.
Why?
Seriously, I’m an engineering geek, and I appreciate a good hack just as much as the next geek. But, seriously, why?
A DGT North American clock can be had for $40.
I once did something like this when I was TDing a tournament in the very early days of delay clocks. In a game with an analog clock, one player made a 14H claim. The position was reasonable for a clock substitution, but nobody had a delay clock (I hadn’t even bought mine yet then). So I asked both players to neutralize the clock (stop both clocks) after each move, then I would finish pressing the clock five seconds later.
That was a schlocky solution, but it seemed best at the time. I would never do anything like that today. Nor, of course, would I need to.
Doing this in order to resurrect analog clocks is a perfectly terrible idea. Maybe you can sell your clocks to a museum.
Bill Smythe
Balderdash. I have no sympathy for a player who insists on using equipment that has not been standard for two full decades.