My son recently played in his first chess tournament. It was an "official" tournament, with results submitted for ranking purposes. They did not use a clock for the first 40 minutes and then with 10 minutes left they took out a clock and gave each player 5 minutes.
1. Is this appropriate? It doesn't seem fair, as one player could have used up most or all of the first 40 minutes (with no clocks in use).
2. What is the label for this time format? The tournament director said it is G25/5, but I don't think that is correct because each player did not actually get 25 minutes. I think that label would only apply if each player has his own clock running for the entire game.
I am guessing that your son didn't have a clock. Since most tournaments don't provide equipment and since you hadn't provided one either, the tournament director made a practical decision to let players compete without clocks. When the one game ran longer than the others, the TD made another decision to avoid having one game make everyone else wait. These are common practices in scholastic tournaments.
I wouldn't make a Federal case out of it.
//I found this answer in a USCF forum:
Brian Mottershead wrote:
Having said all that, there is also no rule which states directly that you have to play a chess game with a board and pieces, rather than "blindfold". All these things are too obvious to mention, perhaps.
USCF Delegate, 2012
All these things are too obvious to mention, perhaps.
Precisely. At some point, common sense really has to take over. Tournament chess is played with a time control. The chess clock is the means of measuring the time used by the player for the purpose of enforcing the time control. There is no reason the USCF Official Rules of Chess should explicitly state that players are required to use a chess clock.
As a practical matter, in scholastic tournaments, it is not unusual that new players who are playing in their first tournament will not have a chess clock (or a chess set and chess board, for that matter). It is also not unusual that games will start without a clock, especially in "novice" or "unrated" sections. Often, again as a practical consideration, such games will finish within a few minutes (with the outcome being essentially a random event). Rarely will such games last long enough to delay the start of the next round. However, when they do, the director will either borrow a clock or place his own clock (which he has cleverly brought to the tournament for just this purpose) on the game. In this case, the director will typically note the time the round started (printed on the pairing sheet, for example) and divide the remaining time in the round evenly between the two players.
Is this practice approved by the USCF Official Rules of Chess? No, it is not explicitly approved. However, as rule 1 states, the TD has discretion to solve problems not explicitly covered by the rules. The alternative in this case is to not allow new players who do not have equipment to play in the tournament. This practice seems to be a reasonable compromise.
Ken Ballou, NTD and IA
US Chess Delegate, MA
Member of Election, Ethics, FIDE Events, Rules, and TD Certification committees
US Chess Special Referee (Rule 21J)
My son recently played in his first chess tournament. It was an "official" tournament, with results submitted for ranking purposes. They did not use a clock for the first 40 minutes and then with 10 minutes left they took out a clock and gave each player 5 minutes.
1. Is this appropriate? It doesn't seem fair, as one player could have used up most or all of the first 40 minutes (with no clocks in use).
2. What is the label for this time format? The tournament director said it is G25/5, but I don't think that is correct because each player did not actually get 25 minutes. I think that label would only apply if each player has his own clock running for the entire game.