Under the current rules of chess, White has a large advantage overall. This is proven by statistics that show White wins more than 5 games to every 4 wins by Black. Undoubtedly the rules governing the first move (ply) of the game are responsible for this unfair disparity.
Yet there is one aspect of the current rules of chess that give a tiny but tangible advantage to Black (not a big enuf advantage to overcome the first ply rules). The chess clock flag-fall rules favor Black.
Both players must make 40 moves (plies) in 2 hours. But White must do this before Black must.
Perhaps both players in this afternoon’s game have completed 39 moves, and each has only 1 second remaining. Perhaps neither player would complete his 40th move in the 1 remaining second. White’s flag will fall, and Black’s inability will avoid being tested/demonstrated. Instead Black calls out “I win, your flag fell”.
I do not understand why modern electronic chess clocks do not FREEZE when either flag falls. This would eliminate several scenarios where players argue without proof whose flag fell when or fell first. It would also relieve the players of the unchessly burden of having to intensely monitor the clock: let the players concentrate on the game, and let the clock freeze and beep (one time) when a flag falls.
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This is only an issue when both players are in extreme time pressure, and it could be a toss-up as to which player entered that extreme time pressure first and thus was longest on the hot seat.
This theoretical black edge is also marginally offset by white being able to make the first move with no concerns about what black has played yet and thus using, on average, less time for the first move than black would. Of course, it is a lot easier to lose a slight bit of time at the beginning of the game (when you have plenty of time to modify your time management) than at the end.
The Chronos has a “halt-at-end” option as well as a “beep at end” option. Both of these options were highly recommended in the 4th edition rulebook, but they never really caught on with players or TDs. The 5th edition appears much less enthusiastic about these options.
Since beeps can distract others throughout the room, I wouldn’t be too keen on those. But halting and blinking is relatively benign. The Excalibur stops and has a red light.
But to ask my question more specifically. If I want the halting setting on and my opponent doesn’t, who gets their way? Corollary question, if I put it on and neglect to mention that fact, have I violated any rule?
If I were the TD, I would rule that it’s up to the player who furnished the clock. If the opponent then says “in that case I’ll furnish my clock”, I’d rule that black gets his choice of equipment (provided black’s clock is delay-capable, etc).
I’d say you have not violated any rule, unless you tell your opponent the feature is off when it is actually on.
The Excalibur can beep when time runs out, also. It’s an optional setting, which I leave turned on. Since it only beeps once at the very end of the game, I don’t worry about it distracting the rest of the room. Most players make a little bit of noise when they get up, put away their set, etc at the end of the game, so a single beep doesn’t seem to be more of a distraction than that.