The statement “Standard blitz uses no delay or increment (see chapter 11).” should be reworded since it makes it seem like no delay or increment is recommended in blitz but rule 5E recommends 2 seconds of increment or delay in blitz. Also, time controls with a ten second delay are becoming popular enough that the statement “Standard delay is 5 seconds (regular or dual)” should be reworded and some time controls with a ten second delay, such as 40/120 SD/30 d/10, G/90 d/10, and G/60 d/10 to name some, should be added to the list of standard time controls.
I wonder if all of the “standard” increment and delays mentioned should be deleted since rule 5E states different recommendations on the amount of increment or delay to use and having different “standards” and recommendations causes confusion. If the “standard” increment and delays mentioned are to remain, it would be good to state what the “standard” increment is for quick chess to make the listing complete.
Time controls with a ten-second delay are becoming quite popular due to CCA’s use of them.
TD tips are not rules. They are explanations that give guidance. They sometimes offer practical suggestions in applying rules. TD tips do not mandate compliance. The tips can be ignored if a better method is being used. TDs have discretion to apply the spirit of the rules.
Rule 5E2 states “If the organizer fails to specify an increment or delay time in the time control (which may be zero to indicate no
increment or delay), the minimum recommended delay specified in rule 5E shall apply”
The minimum recommended increment in rule 5E for “a mixed or repeating time control, or for a base time of 30 minutes or more” is 5 seconds so for a regular time control, if increment is specified but the amount of increment isn’t, a five second increment would apply, not thirty.
The minimum recommended delay for time controls with a base time of ten minutes or less in rule 5E is two seconds so when no increment or delay is specified for time controls with a base time of ten minutes or less, two seconds of delay would apply, not zero.
Also, the default increment for dual and quick chess is missing from your post.
Correct. However, when a TD Tip doesn’t give the best guidance and causes confusion it should be revised.
Don’t use the word “standard”. “Commonly used” is better, so as not to imply that time controls not on the list are “sub-standard”.
Number of moves should always be 40 or SD or G in all the examples.
Number of minutes should always be a multiple of 30 in all the examples, or should be at the edges (max or min) of the allowable time control range for the tournament type (regular, quick, or blitz).
Increment should always be 30, 5, 3, or 2 seconds in all the examples.
Delay should be 10, 5, 3, 2, or 0 seconds in all the examples.
Specifically (my suggestions in blue):
40/90 SD/30 inc/30 Regular OK
40/120 SD/60 d/5 Regular OK, but reverse 1st two to keep in decreasing order by time
40/115 SD/60 d/5 Regular Toss this one Add 40/120 SD/30 d/10 Regular
G/120 inc/30 Regular OK Add G/120 d/10 Regular
G/115 d/5 Regular Toss this one
G/90 inc/30 Regular OK Add G/90 d/10 Regular
G/90 d/5 Regular OK
G/60 inc/30 Regular OK Add G/61 inc/5 Regular Add G/61 d/5 Regular Add G/60 inc/5 Dual
G/60 d/5 Dual OK
30/30 SD/30 d/5 Dual Toss this one (fast controls should be G/mm)
G/30 d/5 Dual OK
G/25 d/5 Dual OK Add G/26 inc/3 Quick
G/25 d/3 Quick change to G/26 d/3 Quick
G/15 d/3 Quick OK
G/10 d/3 Quick OK
G/10 d/0 Blitz Toss this one (not common)
G/5 d/0 Blitz OK
G/3 inc/2 Blitz OK, but reverse these two so that d/0 is last
When used, standard increment is 30 seconds (Regular). Toss – not necessary
Standard delay is 5 seconds (regular or dual); and 3 seconds (quick). Toss – not necessary
Standard blitz uses no delay or increment (see chapter 11). Toss – not necessary
Although these are not all of the possible time controls, organizers are encouraged to select one of the above (or
very similar) so that all participants are clear as what to expect and under which system the event will be rated. OK, and well stated
Your suggestions look pretty good Bill. My initial thoughts are as follows:
I might keep 40/115 SD/60 d/5 and G/115 d/5 on the list or possibly change the first one to 40/120 SD/55 d/5 or simply add it. G/115 d/5 is actually quite a common time control and is a good time control if you want to use a roughly four-hour time control without much chance of the play going over four hours. 40/115 SD/60 d/5 and 40/120, SD/55 d/5 has been used more recently because FIDE does not allow two rounds of 40/120 SD/60 d/5 in one day anymore because it adds up to over twelve hours of “total playing time” based on a sixty move game and is also a good time control if you want a roughly six-hour time control without much chance of the play going over six hours.
I might keep G/10;d0 since it’s actually quite a common time control and it also shows that G/10;d0 is blitz rated and not quick rated like it used to be (however, one argument for deleting it is since rule 5E2 recommends two seconds of increment or delay for time controls with a base time of ten minutes or less, although you could make the same argument about deleting G/5;d0 from the list due to this as well).
G/60;d10 should be added to the list. It’s become a popular time control for the faster schedules at big events.
I might not put G/61 inc/5 and G/61 d/5 on the list as they are simply deliberate attempts to get around an event being dual rated for no good reason (it was shown in another thread that dual rating has helped the quick rating system).
G/120 d/5 is missing from your list.
Another reason to eliminate 30/30 SD/30 d/5 is that it isn’t a very common time control.
I didn’t think of that. I had assumed that 40/115 or G/115 controls were a throwback to the days (you may be too young to remember) when d/5 did not have to be explicitly stated, but was the default. But if FIDE is using such controls nowadays, for the reasons you stated, then by all means keep it.
Good point – I like having time control extremes (lowest and highest allowable) in the examples – but how about G/8 inc/2 instead?
Although I despise d/0 in general and specifically G/5 d/0 for blitz, let’s keep G/5 d/0 (shudder) simply because it’s still so commonplace.
OK.
I like putting both G/60 and G/61 on the list (with both inc/5 and d/5) to make it clear where the dividing line is.
OK, add it then.
Still a third reason is that it violates FIDE policy that the first control, if not G/, must be 40/.
I’m actually old enough to remember that. The 2007 National High School Championship was played at G/120. My first round opponent set his (longer) Chronos clock for G/120;d5 and I told him it was suppose to be G/115;d5.
On the other hand it is about the only time control used that shows that a dual rated game does not have to be G/xx. For that reason alone it may be worthwhile to keep as an example. It’s kind of like the reason to want G/26;d3 instead of G/25;d3 (when the rule was changed to count the delay time when determining the rating system my club changed the annual quick quad night from G/29 to G/25;d3)
30/30,SD/30 used to be more common and not every organizer pays attention to FIDE (or needs to). The Chicago area chess league uses 45/90, G/60; d5 and does just fine with a non-40 first time control.
Taking into account Bill and my suggestions, here is how the list of time controls would look now:
Another option is to delete the list of time controls from the TD Tip completely since is it necessary? The recommended amount of increment or delay in rule 5E should be sufficient in recommending the proper amount of increment or delay to use with various base time controls. Also, my proposed rewrite of the second TD Tip after rule 5C states some possible time controls to use if you don’t want the time control to be dual rated. It says: “Note 4: G/60 d/5 is dual rated. If you wish for the games not to be quick rated, make the “total playing time” at least 66 minutes (some possible time controls are G/61 d/5 and G/60 d/6). G/25 d/5 is also dual rated. If you do not want these games to be regular rated, make the “total playing time” at most 29 minutes (some possible time controls are G/26 d/3, G/25 d/4, and G/24 d/5).”
Somebody (probably on these forums) once told me that organizers often choose G/61 d/5 not because they dislike dual ratings, but because it affects eligibility for Grand Prix points or something like that.
Yes, there is one organizer here in Wisconsin who does it for exactly that reason (although he uses G/60 d6). I think it affects Junior Grand Prix points, though, not the regular ones.
I’m not sure what the point is of such a long list. If it’s just to give examples, give a few. If it’s to give some guidance to an organizer trying to determine an appropriate TC, a blob-like list without any description of why any given time control would be preferred is pointless.