# Chess Clock Choice / More Standard? **URL:** \ **Category:** Running Chess Tournaments\ **Created:** [July 26, 2026, 4:29pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464 "2026-07-26T16:29:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TomDoan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TomDoan](https://forum.uschess.org/u/TomDoan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/21 "2026-07-29T13:58:50Z")
I assume that’s G/45;+15. If someone had bad handwriting, someone else might misinterpret a written G as a 6. ---
**Author:** ![chessgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@chessgary](https://forum.uschess.org/u/chessgary)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 2:47pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/22 "2026-07-29T14:47:30Z")
> [@nolan](#): > > Some TD told me he wanted to use a 120 second delay or increment at some event but most of the clocks didn’t go past 99. I’d like to hear the reason, but since there is no boundary by rule - none is needed. 😉 Perhaps some sanity boundaries are needed? w/o them clocks will dictate. Some early clocks were basically 0 or 5 seconds only. The original GameTime despite being pretty full featured stopped at some low level (9 Seconds?) I believe the mitigation was to adjust the base time G/25;d10 = G/30;d5 ---
**Author:** ![ulmont](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.uschess.org/ulmont/32/151_2.png) [@ulmont](https://forum.uschess.org/u/ulmont)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/23 "2026-07-29T15:23:40Z")
> [@nolan](#): > > Some TD told me he wanted to use a 120 second delay or increment at some event but most of the clocks didn’t go past 99. The leap clock we started with only goes up to +59 / d59. ---
**Author:** ![chessgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@chessgary](https://forum.uschess.org/u/chessgary)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/24 "2026-07-29T16:43:52Z")
![Screenshot 2026-07-29 123850](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/uschess/original/2X/2/2ba08cc215f68572a9c8f79fa1100369121f74e0.png) I live in a multi-period tournament desert (even the last few bigger events settled with G/120;5 or G/90;+30) so I thought the numbers could have been even lower. ---
**Author:** ![chessgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@chessgary](https://forum.uschess.org/u/chessgary)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 5:14pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/25 "2026-07-29T17:14:13Z")
> [@jwiewel](#): > > K9908 The KK9908 is a FREEZE only (FIDE) clock so it could get the boot for a better no-freeze clock if non-FIDE tournament. For a multiple period non-fide tournament with black providing a no-freeze single period clock be ok vs white having a KK9908 multiple period clock that freezes? ---
**Author:** ![chessgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@chessgary](https://forum.uschess.org/u/chessgary)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/26 "2026-07-29T17:51:29Z")
> [@Micah\_Smith](#): > > It’s good to see time controls with multiple time periods aren’t that common anymore. These types of time controls are unnecessary. I agree. I have a tough time seeing a lot of upsides as a player or TD - perhaps a little in getting someone from sitting on a really lost game. _When I tell younger or new players that is was common to run “tornadoes” as single day, 4 round, 40/90;30/60 tournaments that sometimes got over past midnight I get the feeling that most of them would not be playing in smaller local tournaments if that is the way it was today. G/60;d5 is slow and a lot take a requested bye - even in a 3 rounder._ ---
**Author:** ![nolan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.uschess.org/nolan/32/174_2.png) [@nolan](https://forum.uschess.org/u/nolan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 5:54pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/27 "2026-07-29T17:54:45Z")
30/30 tornadoes were common years ago, back in the 70’s. Some TDs were not fond of them because it meant adjusting analog clocks after move 30 for any games that hadn’t ended before that. ---
**Author:** ![Micah\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@Micah\_Smith](https://forum.uschess.org/u/Micah_Smith)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 6:00pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/28 "2026-07-29T18:00:14Z")
> [@chessgary](#): > > > [@jwiewel](#): > > > > K9908 > > The KK9908 is a FREEZE only (FIDE) clock so it could get the boot for a better no-freeze clock if non-FIDE tournament. For a multiple period non-fide tournament with black providing a no-freeze single period clock be ok vs white having a KK9908 multiple period clock that freezes? No, you can turn the FREEZE function on or off on this clock. ---
**Author:** ![nolan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.uschess.org/nolan/32/174_2.png) [@nolan](https://forum.uschess.org/u/nolan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/29 "2026-07-29T18:03:22Z")
I wonder what those younger players would have though about insanities? Houston was famous for running them. I mentioned them to a young person I knew who wasn’t into chess, and he thought it would be weird to be playing chess all night, though he did admit to having played minecraft all night more than once. ---
**Author:** ![chessgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@chessgary](https://forum.uschess.org/u/chessgary)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 6:16pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/30 "2026-07-29T18:16:48Z")
yeah 30/30 were crazy – lots of clock resets and they played out more like 10/25;20/5 I had one that had moving towards move 90 - I got all ready to adjourn it and as I was walking towards the game there was a blunder - before that there was enough play that it might have gone another 30. for some reason I thought 30 minute 1st time period only came in in the 1980s and before that it had to be 60 minutes. Maybe I mixing that up with when SD/30 became a thing? ---
**Author:** ![chessgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@chessgary](https://forum.uschess.org/u/chessgary)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/31 "2026-07-29T18:37:37Z")
There was a group in NH that use to do them. We did one in college in 1980 – interesting was a few students stopping in to see what was going on at 2AM. ![Screenshot 2026-07-29 143331](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/uschess/original/2X/d/d664cb777a52280686e8623b38b93470bc983797.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![chessgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@chessgary](https://forum.uschess.org/u/chessgary)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 7:01pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/32 "2026-07-29T19:01:04Z")
That’s great! I just looked for it as toggle and did not think about it being only in the manual config. I need to keep this mind for other clocks that I think there is no option. ---
**Author:** ![nolan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.uschess.org/nolan/32/174_2.png) [@nolan](https://forum.uschess.org/u/nolan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 5:25pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/33 "2026-07-30T17:25:19Z")
And just to complete the suite, here are the quick-only time controls since November: | G/15;d0 | 345 | | --- | --- | | G/24;+5 | 298 | | G/20;d5 | 281 | | G/15;+3 | 198 | | G/15;d5 | 197 | | G/15;d3 | 139 | | G/10;+5 | 138 | | G/10;d2 | 134 | | G/10;+1 | 107 | | G/10;d5 | 106 | | G/15;+5 | 105 | | G/15;+10 | 98 | | G/10;d3 | 72 | | G/15;+2 | 70 | | G/20 | 64 | | G/24;d5 | 63 | | G/25;d3 | 60 | | G/10;+10 | 57 | | G/20;+5 | 53 | | G/24;d4 | 49 | | G/10;+2 | 47 | | G/15 | 39 | | G/25;d0 | 31 | | G/20;d0 | 29 | | G/10;+3 | 27 | | G/15;d2 | 26 | | G/25;d4 | 21 | | G/8;d3 | 19 | | G/17;d3 | 16 | | G/25 | 14 | | G/20;d2 | 12 | | G/20;d3 | 11 | | G/12;d3 | 9 | | G/6;+7 | 9 | | G/25;+4 | 8 | | G/8;+3 | 7 | | G/13;+5 | 7 | | G/25;+2 | 5 | | G/26;d3 | 4 | | G/12;+5 | 4 | | G/6;d7 | 4 | | G/29 | 4 | | G/29;d0 | 4 | | G/13;d3 | 3 | | G/15;d10 | 3 | | G/20;+3 | 3 | | G/12;+4 | 3 | | G/24;+4 | 2 | | G/25;+3 | 2 | | G/10;d15 | 2 | | G/25;d2 | 2 | | G/12;+3 | 2 | | 8/8;d3 | 1 | | G/10;d10 | 1 | | G/12;d5 | 1 | | G/20;+2 | 1 | | G/7;d4 | 1 | | G/11;d0 | 1 | | G/12;d0 | 1 | | G/12;d2 | 1 | | G/11;+6 | 1 | | G/5;+10 | 1 | And here are the Blitz time controls since November: | G/3;+2 | 695 | | --- | --- | | G/5;d0 | 395 | | G/10;d0 | 194 | | G/3;d2 | 121 | | G/5;+2 | 119 | | G/5 | 76 | | G/5;+3 | 73 | | G/5;d2 | 73 | | G/10 | 39 | | G/5;+5 | 13 | | G/5;d3 | 11 | | G/5;d5 | 6 | | G/4;d2 | 5 | | G/7;d0 | 4 | | G/7;d3 | 4 | | G/5;+1 | 4 | | G/7 | 3 | | G/3;+3 | 3 | | G/03;+2 | 1 | | G/05;d0 | 1 | | G/5;d1 | 1 | | G/5;+4 | 1 | | G/3;d5 | 1 | | G/8;d2 | 1 | | G/7;d2 | 1 | | G/4;+2 | 1 | | G/4;d3 | 1 | | G/5;d03 | 1 | ---
**Author:** ![Micah\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@Micah\_Smith](https://forum.uschess.org/u/Micah_Smith)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 7:40pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/34 "2026-07-30T19:40:38Z")
It’s really past time for the statement in the td tip after rule 5C that says “Standard blitz uses no delay or increment” and bliz rule 1a, “Standard time control (TC) for blitz is G/5 with no delay”, to be eliminated ---
**Author:** ![TomDoan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TomDoan](https://forum.uschess.org/u/TomDoan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 3:30am UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/35 "2026-07-31T03:30:42Z")
> [@Micah\_Smith](#): > > It’s good to see time controls with multiple time periods aren’t that common anymore. These types of time controls are unnecessary. I don’t think there is any need for multiple segments _if the session length is 4 hours or less_. (G/90 with +30 or d30 seems like a perfectly reasonable way to handle a 4 hour time control.) If the session length is 5 hours or more, I don’t like a single time control—something needs to force the pace of play. (There is only tournament with it, but G/155;d5 is an abomination and G/120;d30 isn’t that much better.). And if you look at the examples, there are very few with multiple segments that are less than 4 hours, and very few at 5 hours or more that aren’t. So it appears that that seems to be what organizers and players have decided in practice. ---
**Author:** ![chessgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@chessgary](https://forum.uschess.org/u/chessgary)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 2:05pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/36 "2026-07-31T14:05:04Z")
I met one guy who considers anything but 5/0 not to be Blitz. He said something like his favorite wins are dead draws/losses where his opponent can’t physically move the pieces as fast as he can. ---
**Author:** ![chessgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@chessgary](https://forum.uschess.org/u/chessgary)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/37 "2026-07-31T14:50:55Z")
> [@nolan](#): > > And here are the Blitz time controls since November: I wonder if rated blitz is declining with the increase in rating fee?? I always had the opinion that blitz should be half price (or less) so more would get rated and perhaps more accurate ratings. Most of our impromptu blitz tournaments were 12-18 rounds so $1.50 to $2.25 ($1.80-$2.70 now) was a hard sell – If I could have said just throw in a buck and i will rate them I think that would have worked. In the last 20 years I potentially would have done 100+ instead of the 5 or so I did. ---
**Author:** ![nolan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.uschess.org/nolan/32/174_2.png) [@nolan](https://forum.uschess.org/u/nolan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/38 "2026-07-31T16:16:39Z")
It’s probably too soon to say if the increase in ratings fees has had an impact, but here’s a graph showing the number of rated blitz games since 2017 by month. (I haven’t figured out how to get a month scale on the bottom yet, different software, new tools to learn.) ![blitz2](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/uschess/original/2X/d/dd958ef5ef1cd023173d55c00c2e29e808faa314.png) ---
**Author:** ![Micah\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@Micah\_Smith](https://forum.uschess.org/u/Micah_Smith)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2026, 8:37am UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/39 "2026-08-01T08:37:41Z")
Interesting that the rulebook kind of doesn’t recommend G/25;d5, the most common dual-rated time control. “5E. Recommended increment or delay. For a mixed or repeating time control, or for a base time of 30 minutes or more, an increment or delay in the range of 5 to 30 seconds is recommended. For a base time of more than 10 minutes and less than 30 minutes, an increment or delay of 3 seconds is recommended. For a base time of 10 minutes or less, an increment or delay of 2 seconds is recommended.” ---
**Author:** ![chessgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@chessgary](https://forum.uschess.org/u/chessgary)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464/40 "2026-08-01T17:11:50Z")
> [@Micah\_Smith](#): > > Interesting that the rulebook kind of doesn’t recommend G/25;d5, the most common dual-rated time control. It is the common sense tc for 100-800 rated scholastics where almost no games get close to using that. Good to see that +5 is in there, too. I had one 5-6 year old girl who was on target to flag since it took her 30-60 seconds to record her move (A very good candidate for the circle the move sheet) I wonder if folks use 30 minute time controls for Adult Newbie/beginner type tournaments these days. I once asked an mixed adult/kid u1400 section if the wanted to play a 4 round G/25;d5 section instead of a 2 round G/60;d10 and they all agreed. [Previous page](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464.md?page=1) [Next page](https://forum.uschess.org/t/chess-clock-choice-more-standard/61464.md?page=3)