My Quandaries and Reconciliation with U.S. Chess Time as an Organizer/Director/Player
For initial reference, G/60; d5 is expressed verbally as "game 60 delay 5", where the 60 equals the amount of minutes each player has until the game’s conclusion, and the 5 equals the amount of seconds counted down at the beginning of each move.
As a personal philosophy, G/30 is not equal to G/60, but in fact, they actually are when my US Chess rating is concerned. Not only do both of these affect my regular (classical) rating, but they also affect my quick rating (my antiquated brain generally thinks of the sudden death G/15 as being quintessentially quick rated). It’s called the dual rating system, of which I am not always fond of. It happens when a specific time control lays claim to two ratings simultaneously. I have struggled with not always knowing what the thresholds are for my desire in seeking out “pure rating time controls”. One of the predominantly confusing factors lies in the latest advent of adding delay times. To illustrate delays, if the time is set for G/60; d5, the initial activation of the clock will count down the delay in seconds, i.e., 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and then the actual “real time” of 60 minutes will start to count down. It is the same for every new move, in which the delay time will count down first, and then the “real time” will count down from where it left off from the previous move. Theoretically, a very fast player can actuate the clock before the 5 second delay expires for every move, and never delve into their “real time”, leaving them with a potential massive time advantage.
As an organizer, how do I account for the seemingly arbitrary usage of delay times by each individual when considering when to start the next round?
Happily, I finally learned that the US Chess folks consider G/60; d5 to be equal to 65 minutes per side. Within that 65 minutes per side, I assume the extra 5 minutes is comprised of the unknown multitude of realized/unrealized 5 second delays, which are relative to an hour as a constant. This is a good benchmark to know, because it’s fairly easy to divide (and I ain’t that great at math, much less, time math).
The General Breakdown of US Chess Delay Time as Seen in Equivalence to “Real Time”:
G/60; d5 = 65 minutes per side (d5 = 5:00 min. per hour)
G/30; d5 = 32:30 minutes per side (half of 5:00 min. equals 2:30 min. added per half hour)
G/15; d5 = 16:15 minutes per side (a quarter of 5:00 min. equals 1:15 min. added per quarter of an hour)
A Rating Threshold Example:
G/65 (or G/60; d5) is Dual Rated, and anything over G/65 is recorded as just a Regular Rating. So, G/60; d6 would be the minimum threshold of being considered just a Regular Rating (not Dual). A more practical example for a Regular Rated time control as an organizer/director might be G/65; d5, where it would be roughly 2 hours and 21 minutes for each round to finish.
The Actual Threshold Rules Expressed in Minutes:
Regular Only: Anything over G/65 (so G/60; d6 is the threshold for Regular). Practical examples of G/65; d5, G/70; d5, G/90; d5 are all Regular Only.
Quick Only: More than 10 and less than 30. Practical examples of G/25 and G/25; d3, down to G/10; d3 and G/10; d2 are all Quick Only. Note: G/25; d5 is Dual Rated.
Blitz Only: Time Controls must be at least 3 to a maximum of 10 (where G/5 represents the quintessential spirit of Blitz). Practical examples of G/3; d2, G/5 and G/10 are all Blitz Only.
My Current Favorites for One-Day Event Time Controls Are:
G/3; d2 Blitz
G/5; d2 Blitz
G/15; d3 Quick
G/25; d3 Quick
G/45; d5 Dual
G/65; d5 Regular
G/70; d5 Regular
General Thoughts on Incorporating Delay Times
After one of our quick rated events, a higher rated player expressed to me that he strongly prefers a decent time delay, because he never wants to lose a dead drawn position. Touché. As a bonus for directors, the added delay almost always rules out draw claims of insufficient winning chances.
Final Notes:
These examples are ultimately derived from my thoughts surrounding sudden death time controls, which were popular for the single day tournaments of the past. Not taken into account are the longer time controls, which are often based on a number of moves, and are more conducive to classical time controls in multi-day events. Also glaringly omitted are the other available increments, such as the Fischer and Bronstein increment methods. Lucky for me, the straight delay system is predominantly used in US Chess.
