In a FIDE-rated event, using increment, wouldn’t having the clock set to freeze at the end of the time control be preferable to having the freeze turned off?
Otherwise,
If White's flag falls with freeze off, what happens if he presses his clock back right away?
If the clock is set to freeze off, what happens if Black's flag falls immediately after White's?
Steve
FIDE rules prefer to avoid a situation where both flags have fallen and you can’t determine who flagged first. This can be achieved by the clock freezing when one player runs out of time or by allowing both players to run out of time but having a sign on the clock signaling who ran out of time first. For a clock to get FIDE certification, it must be able to freeze in increment time controls. I’m not sure why they don’t allow either of the above options.
All of the clocks I know of have White’s clock remain on zero, like they should, so you will know the player ran out of time.
Under FIDE rules, if you can determine who ran out of time first, that player loses. Otherwise, it’s a draw.
Not to pick a nit, but are we in a “sudden death” control, or one of a “40/90” type?
Alex Relyea
I would think so, yes.
There is a lot of Neanderthal thinking among USA tournament directors, many of whom seem to enjoy the rule “The TD can’t call the flag down, no matter what”. I guess they like the possibility of declaring both-flags-down draws.
This attitude creates a problem if the clock freezes. Apparently there was an infamous incident somewhere once (might have been in the USAT East) where one player exceeded the time limit, the clock froze, and the other player didn’t want to claim a win on time because he preferred the satisfaction of actually checkmating his opponent. The TD felt helpless to intervene, so the game dragged on and on and delayed the start of the next round.
The U.S. Chess answer to this dilemma was to pass a rule saying that clocks should never be set to freeze at end, if at all possible. This further widened an already unnecessary gap between U.S. Chess rules and FIDE rules. It also provided a problem for owners of the DGT North American and similar clocks.
If U.S. Chess wanted to insist on maintaining this difference between itself and FIDE, a much better rule would have been to at least allow the TD to call the flag down if the clock is frozen. Perhaps, for the benefit of those who absolutely felt they could not tolerate such a rule, there could be a waiting period imposed. For example, the TD could be required to wait 5 minutes (regular), 3 minutes (quick), or 2 minutes (blitz), before calling a frozen flag down. (These would be wall clock times, not chess clock times, since the chess clock would be frozen.)
Bill Smythe
Hey!! I resemble that remark!
Hmm, you do, don’t you?
(It took me a good 10 seconds to get it. I’m glad I waited before I posted this reply. 
)
Bill Smythe