I have signed up to play in the Continental Chess Association’s NY State Championship for the Labor Day Weekend. I have made this an annual event and it has been a great tournament. BUT, after registering I noticed the time control has dropped down to the very fast time control of 40/80 rather than its old format of 40/100 or 40/110 prior to that. I must say this is very disappointing as CCA was about the last place it seemed I could find that had a decent classical time control. Sad to say this may be the last time I attend this tournament. I find chess tournaments even at the GM level seem to have devolved to fast-twitch video games. Guess everyone is in a big hurry these days - too bad.
Does it have increment vs delay?
It is SD/30 + 10. In the past it has been SD/30 d10. I’m not sure what the “+10” means - is that where you get 10 seconds added each time you make a move?
Yes
SD/30 + 10 is slightly slower than SD/30 d10, because increment (cumulative addback) is slightly slower than delay (non-cumulative addback).
The increment applies to both time controls. If the game lasts 60 moves, with 40/80 + 10, SD/30 +10 your total time (per player) is 130 minutes, i.e. 2 hours 10 minutes.
Bill Smythe
Thank you everyone. Well then - maybe not so bad. Though unfortunately my chess clock doesn’t do increments, only delays. Hopefully there is an alternate time control for “delay” clocks.
Though 40/80 is still a lot faster than the 40/100 it used to be 
The 40/80 time control is actually 40/80, SD/30, +30, with a 30 second increment starting at move 1.
First, thank for pointing this out. There is an error in our mailing and on the website. We will fix the website and send an email to our mailing list. The error is a cut and paste. In past years we used a 10 second delay. Due to new FIDE rules (for norm events - I realize this is not a norm event), the new standard is 30 second increment. The cut and paste error was that we said this year would be a 10 second increment when it really is 30 seconds. A 10 second increment would be a faster time control.
The good news is that the TLA is correct new.uschess.org/143rd-annual-ne … ampionship even though the mailing and website are in error.
A 40/80, SD/30, inc 30 time control is identical (and may actually be slower for practical purposes) than 40/100, SD/30, d/10. Under the rules, there is no such thing as time pressure in a 30 second increment game because you get 30 seconds added to your time every move (from move 1). There can be time pressure in a 10 second delay game.
When computing total reflection time, the rule is to base it on a hypothetical 60 move game. The two time controls have identical reflection time of 2 hours and 20 minutes for each player or a 4 hour and 40 minute game. That is certainly a slow game (maybe not as slow as the “old” 40/2, 20/1 etc, but it is a slow game by today’s standards.) Please note that if a game is longer than 60 moves, the 40/80 inc time control is guaranteed to be slower than the 40/100 d/10 time control.
Here is the computation for the 60 move hypothetical game: 40/100, SD/30 d/10 = 100 min + 30 min + 10 min for each player = 140 min or 2 hours and 20 minutes per player for a 4 hour 40 minute game. 40/80, SD/30 + 30 = 80 min + 30 min + 30 min or 2 hours and 20 minutes per player for a 4 hour 40 minute game.
IMHO 40/80 + 30 is actually slower than 40/100 d/10 for several reasons: 1) you get 30 seconds for each move even if you used less than 30 seconds whereas 10 second delay does not add time and if you move instantly (or in less than 10 seconds), you do not get the advantage of the full 10 seconds and 2) when you are really in time pressure, the 30 seconds can increase your time (delay will never increase time) and 3) you are guaranteed at least 30 seconds in increment but the delay option only gives you 10 seconds.
I hope that helps and we will fix our error. Thanks for pointing that out.
Dave Hater
Continental Chess Association
If your clock is a long Chronos, it probably has increment, but it’s called “progressive”. Try some of the higher CH-Pn modes, such as CH-P6 or CH-P7.
If your clock is any DGT model, I’m sure it has increment, but they might not use the word “increment” in the manual. It could be called “bonus” or “Fischer” instead.
If your clock really doesn’t do increment, you can use the corresponding delay mode instead. For example instead of 40/80 SD/30; inc/30 you could set it for 40/80 SD/30; d/30. That will actually cheat you out of a little time compared to increment, so if you have to do this you should first explain it to your opponent and give him the right to furnish his own (increment) clock instead.
Incidentally, please note that the stated increment or delay applies to both time controls. That’s why I use a semicolon between the main time and increment time. When an organizer just writes something like 40/80 SD/30 inc/30 it may not be clear whether the increment applies to both controls or only to the second control. Please, organizers, use a strong separator (semicolon) between main time and increment time, and a weaker separator (comma or just a space) between the first and second controls, so that your intent is clear.
Bill Smythe
I see the time control has been modified to 40/80, SD/30 +30. Still leaves me with an incapable clock though.
Clocks that are reasonable that handle delay and increment are available for under $20. If you want a few more features, under $35. The amortized cost of a clock upgrade is very small indeed.
Due to the aforementioned FIDE explanation, and the large number of players now used to increment only from playing online, you should expect to see more increment events, given that the US is the only “delay-heavy-use” country.
For the tournament under discussion, though, the clock must be able to handle increment and two time controls. I’m not sure any of the under $20 clocks can do that, although most could probably handle increment with just one control.
Bill Smythe
Compared to the cost of entering most CCA events, including in most cases travel, hotel rooms and food, a $50 clock is a small expense, and unlike the others, it is available for future events.
Which clock do you have? If your clock doesn’t do increment, simply buy one that does! Increment is here to stay.
+1
I can’t think of any clock under $20 that can handle multiple time controls with increment (without manually resetting the clock after the first time control) either. The PS-1688/Xflyee clock is very good and you can get it for less than $30 on Amazon.
At this late date I’ll have to hope the vendor there has an increment clock.
Am I the only one befuddled by Mr. Toifel’s persistent refusal to share exactly what type of clock he owns?
Alex Relyea
No.
Bill Smythe
For this tournament your clock not only should do increment, but it should also do increment with two time controls.
I hope the vendor there knows the difference, and knows which clocks are which.
Bill Smythe
No