The standard for tournaments with a time delay is to deduct time from the time delay clock. It is 5 minutes deducted for a G/30 or slower time control, 3 minutes deducted from fast/quick chess events, and 2 minutes deducted in blitz. My first question is will the USCF allow & rate a tournament where the time deducted is less than the usual? Can you do a G/45 tournament with 5 second time delay and a deduction of only 1-3 minutes?
My second [wierder] question is can this process be reversed? Could you do a tournament where no time is deducted from a time delay clock, but time is added to analog clocks? I would expect that it would have to be in the pre-tournament publicity and that a time delay clock is still the preferred clock.
Not true. I remember that Tim Just explained the standard was to deduct no time from the clock; this was printed in Chess Life in a section just (no pun intended) before the TLAs a year or two ago. It should be in the TD Tips section, but I cannot locate this section so it may no longer be available online.
Bob is correct, though deducting time is an acceptable alternate that does not have to be announced in pre-tournament announcements. Many directors feel that since the majority of players are using digital clocks that no time should be deducted. However tournaments with tight schedules make the deduction necessary to keep the round times on schedule.
The amount of time deducted is not cast in stone, so if an organizer wants to decrease the deduction and plan his schedule accordingly that’s permissible. The tournament director should make it quite clear that a different time deduction is being used so that players won’t automatically deduct 5 minutes.
Why add time to an analog clock? Make the time control 5 minutes slower, and then take your 5 minute deduction for digital clocks. I think adding time to an analog clock will just confuse people.
“Has the right to” indicates an option, not a recommendation, nor a standard procedure.
And as the TD tip indicates:
Not only is deducting 5 minutes not standard, it is not recommended (but it is allowed), and as Polly said, it can be used without prior announcement.
I, personally, have found that deducting such time does not appreciably shorten a round (at least with a time control of G/60 or longer). It may be appropriate for G/30 club event, but that is about it.
Larry, why don’t you just read the rulebook before you post statements like this? The standard is not to deduct time:
“Up to” and “option” (emphasis mine, above) make it clear that, in a regular-rated tournament with a 5-second delay, the TD may shorten the main time control by 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 minutes.
In general, a tournament player using a delay clock should not deduct time unless he knows his TD wants it that way.
In my opinion, there is an even better reason not to deduct time than that expressed in the TD Tip. With 60 to 90 percent of tournament games now being played with delay clocks, there is a truth-in-advertising problem if you subtract time. “What? The TLA said game/60, now you’re asking me to set it for game/55?”
I suppose the opposite option, to add time in games not using the delay, would have to be announced in pre-tournament publicity.
Best, though, is just to use game/60 (or whatever the announced control is) for all games, with or without the delay. This rewards, rather than punishes, players who furnish up-to-date equipment.
When I used the term standard I was refering to the standard practice WHEN time is deducted.
So, based on the rule you can deduct less time than the time delay. This rule would also allow a tournament to be run with 10 second delay and 10 minutes deducted from a delay clock. You could even have a 30 second delay with 30 minutes deducted from a delay clock.
Does the USCF have a specific seperate rule for the FIDE increment time usage?
This brings up a question that I hadn’t considered for my tournament this coming weekend. It’s my first with an increment control, and I decided to have it GAME/110 + 10 sec. That’s what the TLA says. How should I set analog clocks, should anyone bring one? I’m thinking to set them to four o’clock to comply with the “two hour” rule. Is there a reason not to do this, or perhaps a better option?
Larry, see ADM 08-30 in the Delegates Call or in my unofficial notes of the Delegates Meeting. (I don’t know if the official minutes have been posted yet.)
David Kuhns has asked that we post the updated rules (which apply to both increment and delay clocks) in an appropriate and visible place on the website, I’m not sure if one has been found or set up yet.
I like Bill Smythe’s logic that you shouldn’t reward players for not supplying the most current equipment by giving them extra time, nor should you punish players who DO supply the most current equipment by subtracting time from them.
I suppose so, but if the delay is greater than 5 seconds, that fact itself should be specifically mentioned in the TLA (and all pre-tournament publicity). Personally, I think it would also be best, in this case, to also announce any deduction specifically in the TLA and pre-tournament publicity.
As I recall, Bill, the changes brought forth by the Rules Committee (and approved by the Delegates) treat any time control with an increment or delay of 15 seconds or less the same as a time control with no increment or delay for the purposes of setting clocks. (There are other rules that do vary between a game that has an increment/delay clock on it and one that has no increment/delay clock on it.)
Larry,
The increment controls are in the delegate’s call and were approved in Dallas.
I have been trying to get them published (along with all the other rules changes) consolidating all the changes in a sequential format by rule number.
Some of these changes have been waiting over a year.
Unfortunately, the person who is supposed to be doing this seems to have more important things to do, though he seems to have time to post on the Forum. Quite some time ago, he promised that publication on line would be “soon”. It has not yet been done.
With repeated requests he now is no longer answering my e-mails on the subject.
David Kuhns
Chair, Rules Committee.
Note: to answer your question, the option for analog clock in an increment control game is as you have suggested by adding up to a minute per second of increment. Like the delay, however, this is an option, not standard (standard is no adjustment).
Actually, there is an intermediate (and this is standard) is to set the delay (for delay capable clocks, but not increment capable) so that delay equals the stated increment.
For analog clocks you could add 10 minutes, as you suggest, but IMHO a smaller addition, such as 5 minutes, would be preferable. With 10 minutes added, players using analog clocks are likely to have more total time than players using the increment. It hardly seems fair to reward players who fail to furnish increment-capable equipment by giving them more time.
With 5 minutes instead of 10, the shoe is on the other foot. Now it is the increment player who is likely to have more total time. With a 10-minute addition, the crossover point is 60 moves. With 5 minutes, it is 30 moves. Most games last more than 30 moves, but fewer than 60.
When the increment or delay becomes larger than 5 seconds, especially when it gets to 30 seconds or so, it no longer seems quite right to simply add (or deduct) no time at all. That’s a bit too much punishment (or reward).
I like the idea of adding (for analog clocks) 30 seconds, rather than the maximum permitted 60 seconds, for each second of increment. Again, that reduces the crossover point from 60 moves to 30 moves. (And don’t add any time at all for a delay, or increment, of 5 seconds or less.)
I also like the idea, in an increment tournament, if a clock is delay-capable but not increment-capable, of simply setting it (for example) for a 30-second delay when the TLA calls for a 30-second increment.