Several tournament organizers in my area are using increment timing for their tourneys (eg: game/90 with 30 second increment per move) so that the games qualify for FIDE rating. I have a Chronos clock which does not seem to accomodate this TC (though I’ve heard that it actually does!?). Any recommendations and user feedback on Fisher timers will be appreciated.
We used several Chronos clocks at the U.S. Championship last year to do a time control of Game 150 + 30 seconds, so I know that it can be done. Tim Mc Entee did the setting of the clocks, but I’m not sure if he reads this forum.
Alex Relyea
The following is from this page senseis.xmp.net/?ChronosManual
Near the bottom of the page
…
Fischer Timing
From the main menu, choose go - P2. The first menu is the main time, which acts like a normal clock (no added time each move). The next menu is the amount of time to put on the clock once the main time is up. The third menu is the amount of time to add to the clock after each move (once the main time is up). The usual menus beep through halt and end follow.
Example: To play Fischer time controls of 5 minutes plus 15 seconds per move:
Mode: go - P2
Main time: 0:00:01
Added time: 0:05:00
+time per move: 0:15
If you follow the Fischer Timing link senseis.xmp.net/?FischerTiming
You get the following
Definition
Fischer Timing is the time system where
one gets an amount of time (say, 5 minutes),
time used for each move is deducted,
and an extra amount of time (say, 15 seconds) is added after each move.
Remarks
Players’ remaining time
grows as long as they use less than the post-move increment
and declines when they use more – on average.
is always at least the incremental amount for each move …
Thank you both. Question answered!
This is why I like the DGT XL clock. There is a preset option for Fischer Slow (G/90 with 30-sec increment), Fischer Rapid (G/25 with 10-sec increment), and Fischer Blitz (G/3 with 2-sec increment). Pre-sets # 12, 11, 10 respectively.
On the Chronos you have some other options, too. On my older model with the switch on the bottom, CH-P3 does the trick. I’ve heard CH-P5 works on some newer models.
Or you could even try DL-CU, which means delay, move counter, unlimited. It’s intended for repeating controls like 40/2:00:00 followed by 20/1:00:00 indefinitely. But you could instead set it for 01/1:30:00 followed by 01/0:00:30 etc indefinitely (and set the delay to 0).
This repeating control (1 move in 90 minutes followed by 1 move in 30 seconds indefinitely) is mathematically equivalent to G/90 inc/30. AND you have the move counter.
You could even have both a 30-second increment (cumulative) and a 5-second delay (non-cumulative). Sooner or later maybe some organizer will run such a tournament.
The move counter, which some people hate with standard delay time controls, could actually improve accuracy with increment. In fact, I’ve often wondered what happens in an increment tournament when the number of button presses is wrong (somebody forgets to press his clock, or an illegal move is completed and retracted, or black neglects to start white’s clock at the start of the game, etc). Each such button-press error results in a 30-second error in the remaining time. With the move counter, at least you’d know how many extra or missing button-presses there have been, and can use a mid-game adjustment to adjust both the clock times and the move count.
Bill Smythe