How long are tournament chess games? I mean in person games rather than online.

I'd be grateful if someone could fill me in.

Really depends on which Federation you are playing with. FIDE tends to use long-er time controls ... the shorter FIDE controls I've heard about are G90/30 (90 mins of clock for both sides, 30 second increment/time-delay).

The USCF can be quite flexible. There are quick tournaments with a G/30 (30 mins for each side) with a 5 second delay. Some of the longer ones are G/120 (2 hours for each side). Just look at your local tourney listings and find something that fits your kind of comfort zone.

The bottom line is ... if you plan on measuring your performance against a chess rating (USCF/FIDE etc.) by playing tournament games, be prepared for ATLEAST G/30 and G/60 time controls. Anything under 29 mins is considered Quick Chess and this rating is usually second-fiddle in terms of prestige and accomplishment.

Hope this helps!

S.

Thanks, very helpful. When you say "30 second increment," do you mean that you get 30 seconds of added time for each move you make?

I'm not sure specifically about that comment, but the tournaments I played in (2 small ones) were game/60 (60 minutes per side), and a 5 second time delay per move. It's not time ADDED, but rather it takes 5 seconds before the other clock starts to count down. It keeps time in there for you to write down your move (and allows someone in time trouble to always stay alive as long as he/she moves within 5 seconds).

Apparently it's a bit controversial but I thought it was helpful for a tournament newbie.