Why do people play without increments?

Indeed. They are just different time controls and players adjust accordingly.

You guys gotta be board

The reason i play without it because i'm terrible at time managment. I've lost too many games where i've had huge advantage. Of course increment would help me to win those games but it also shows that my converting technique is sucks otherwise i had won them despite lack of time. An effective technique is also fast. And i'd like to learn how to think faster.

I'm looking forward to playing Live in the near future.

According to chessgames.com, <<the very first chess tournament ever played with clocks had time added on per moves.>>


That's incorrect, however.

But there are players who exploit the increment game too, and deliberately run their time down to near zero, because they're experts at playing 2-seconds per move chess. One is no better than the other and I prefer no increment, although I'd happily play 5+2 or 5+3 if anyone would play that, but they won't. It's hard to get a game at 5+2.

I dont understand you. If someone wants to decrese his time to almost zero than do it? I mean its nothing to do with my time. 

We both have 5/2 min
If he wants to wait 5 min on move 3 and have 2sec for the rest of the game / move thats fine by me

People play without increment for lack of online tournaments with increment.

Playing with increment is a different technique .... arguably less chess-like than without an increment. In online chess, 5 mins is effectively bullet, because of the delay in moving unless you have a special system maybe with touch screen.If an increment were more popular, there'd be more tournaments with it.

It's bad a bad player that loses while two Queens up.

Good players do not need increments

This is patently false. Let’s imagine a player has slowly outplayed his opponent and had two seconds on his clock. His opponent sacs his Q to drag out the game a few moves. It may take two or three seconds just to process what happened, and the good player loses on time.

That sort of cheapo works when there is no increment, but doesn’t work if there is an increment.

An increment certainly changes the game.

Five minutes is slow blitz, not bullet.

For most of the past twenty years my online play has been principally 3 0: blitz without an increment. I win many games running out my opponent’s clock when I have a dead lost position, and my opponents do the same to me. Add an increment, such as 3 2, which is a popular Arena time control on this site, and you have to win with better moves. Losing on time with a clear advantage is rare. 3 2 is like 5 0 until the time gets short, then the lack of an increment is worth a rook if you have more time than your opponent.

A few years ago, I played a lot of bullet at 1 0. By my mid-50s, however, I found the youngsters could flag me too easily. Now, my bullet is 2 1, which is really more like 3 0 blitz, with fewer flags.

I'd call 5/0 classic blitz.

I've played it OTB with analogic clocks. Really funny, although I'm really bad at it.

OTB, I agree. Online, you do not need to reset the pieces you knocked over, nor press the button on the clock. For me, thus, 3 0 online is closer to 5 0 OTB.

Those old BHB clocks would spin on the table in the donut shop when players were under a minute. One guy glued some foam on the bottom of his to prevent this.

5/0 Losers chess

3/0 wimps chess

1/0 bullet head

Yes, you are right, didn't think about it.

I played 10 minute without increment when it was classed as blitz but they changed it so I now play 5/5.

It remained so due to old clocks which didnt have the option of increment. I think increments are a very good option in modern chess.