FIDE should 📛 increment times and substitute it with Delay !

In blitz, time delay prevents a player from adding time to the clock with quick hands (or quick-mouse) and it also makes pre-move guessing games completely irrelevant. A three second delay means that if you get into time bad time trouble in blitz (and we've all been there) there's nothing to be gained by the ugly, unchess, clock butchering piece spraying "tornado hands" we've all witnessed at the end of normal blitz time and which adding time increments basically encourages -- the faster you move, the more time you get added to the clock so go crazy man... Increments also encourage fast hands in the opening: if you can smack out ten moves of your canned opening in the blink of an eye, you can add nearly 30 seconds to your time at +3 fischer. The opening gets played like Bruce Lee practicing with his nunchuks. 

Chess should never be a sport where the guy with the faster hands gains a significant advantage. Time delay means... hey, go ahead and move the pieces like a grown-up in the opening. That Bruce Lee clock-slap style won't buy you an extra second. As for pre-move: chess shouldn't be a guessing game where if you guess right you win 3 seconds.

Time delay, basically means 5 minute chess is still 5 minute chess (Put 3 or 4 mins on the clock to compensate for the delay)... but if you get to a won ending that doesn't require much thought or accuracy you can make moves at a quick but reasonable human pace and still win. That's all i want from a blitz time control. I hate having to physically race against the clock while my opponent challenges not my mind, but my dexterity.

So what are you delaying exactly? 

I think I get it. Rather than incrementing time with every move, you're given -- say 2 minutes extra time when your clock runs out.

A 5 minute game with 2 minutes extra when the player's clock runs out. That way players can't stack up increments, they simply have 5 minutes and 2 minutes extra.

The question is why not just make it a seven minute game with no increments? 

I agree.

It’s not the same thing. The delay is basically a per move ‘buffer zone’. Without knowing how many moves the game is, it’s not possible to say how much real time it equates to. 

But that sounds just like time increments. Perhaps me and Chessflyfisher are missing something 😅.

An increment is bonus time and if you outpace the increment you can build clock time. That’s not possible with delay. There’s no accumulation. 

USCF already uses delay.

Okay, you got me. I knew I was being trolled 😀

pre-moves don't exist in over the board chess and FIDE don't make the rules in online chess.

Add time delay if you want but increment as well. 

Playing with no increment is for idiots. 

The majority of players in the USCF would prefer that increment became the default, instead of delay. TD's and organizers have been resistant. It's always the same excuse: it'easier to estimate how long a round will last with delay, since you can calculate exactly the max time it would take for game with a lot of moves. Even if the vast majority of games less that 70 moves  with most wrapping up inside of 50 moves. A tiny fraction of games go longer than 80 moves.

I would be ok if scholastic kepy delay, since most times are 30 minutes or less, and it's usual to schedule all 5 rounds in a single day.

-In college I help run a seven state scholastic tournament. Exhausting. The first round started at 9am, then 10:30am  1pm, 2:30pm, 4pm, and 5:30pm. Awards at 7:30pm, and then all the people helping to run the tounament started cleaning up at 8:30pm.  By 9pm, we all grouped into cars and went to a buffet to chow down. 

Ah, remember the days when people used to just agree an amount of time to play a game and then get one with it.  People used to just manage their clock without needing to be given extra time for being incapable of doing that.

I like increments for top level chess tournaments so they aren't spoiled so much by time scrambles, but for the 99% of players who play mediocre or worse chess, just manage your time better in the first place, it's unnecessary to have either increment or delay.

No, there is a short delay -typically seconds before your clock starts to run on each move. That way if you get into a position, such as an endgame and you know the technique you can still hold the draw (or even get the win) but you gotta know your stuff. 

Thanks for clearing that up. After JamesColeman pointed out some differences earlier, I went and googled the specifics... And ended up laughing quite a bit actually.

From my perspective it seems all the same. For example, I could Bruce Lee that clock within the time delay and never actually begin the main countdown throughout the entire opening.

But I realize that in practice there probably are some differences that make it worth the debate -- exploits here and there. 

That was the Bronstein clock, I think.

Agree to disagree