Was thinking of joining a tournament.  Looked at the "One Day Mayhem" and wondered: 1 day/move, Won't a single game take 2 months if it's "short" - 30 moves per side before resignation or mate?  Will the tournament take a decade?

Of course, some people hang around for an hour's worth of moves a day, but others don't.  One game could be over in an hour while another lasts a month.  Then what happens to the tournament? 

The tournament progresses as the games are finished. It is really unpredictable as to how long a tournament could last. It could be anywhere from 1 month to many months.

I am presently in a tournament that started during the first part of May and the first round has not fnished yet.  It is August.  So that is over 90 days.  I have no idea how long it will last or how many rounds there will be.  I am not sure, but I think 700+ people entered.

bvangunten wrote:

Was thinking of joining a tournament.  Looked at the "One Day Mayhem" and wondered: 1 day/move, Won't a single game take 2 months if it's "short" - 30 moves per side before resignation or mate?  Will the tournament take a decade?

** end of quote **

There are a lot of factors to consider.  Some are Time Control: # days/move, Max Avg Time/Move (if used), both games at once or one at a time, and minimum number of rounds.

The biggest factor with groups of 2 is the tie break does not work. There could be an infinite number of rounds.

The first round of the tournament you refer to took approximately 50 days.

The tournament started Jul 06 and the second round started Aug 24.

http://www.chess.com/tournament/one-day-mayhem

There are at least 6 rounds left for a total of 7 minimum.

R1 - 32 groups to 32 winners + 4 ties - 1 withdrawal = 35 there is a big difference in the ratings so there were few ties. (Compare this tournament where there were 11 ties in the first round as the players ratings are very close   http://www.chess.com/tournament/homeowners-1300---1650-knock-out-bonanza.)

In round 2 there is currently one tie, group 11. From here we assume zero ties just to calculate the minimum rounds.

R2 - 17 groups to 17 winners + 1 tie + 1 bye = 19 players (More ties will surely follow as the higher rated players start playing each other.)

R3 - 9 groups to 9 winners + 1 bye = 10 players

R4 - 5 groups to 5 winners = 5 players

R5 - 2 groups to 2 winners + 1 bye = 3 players

R6 - 1 group to 1 winner + 1 bye = 2 players

R7 - 1 group to 1 winner

For an example of a worst case scenario see here, where it took 5 rounds to decide a tournament of 4 people with similar ratings.  On the other side of the coin these 4 players took about 40 days total to finish the tournament.

http://www.chess.com/tournament/awardchess33-match2