What is the proper balance of time for White and Black in an Armageddon time control?
I believe that the 6-5 [W-B] time control results in a win [including a draw win] for Black over 70% of the time. As I recall Bill Goichberg experimented with a 7-5 [W-B] time control, but eventually stopped using it. I think with the 7-5 control White won over 70% of the time. The most recent US Open used a 5-3 [W-B] time control that was won by White.
I think that a proper tie-break system should not overly favor one side over the other. 60% win expectancy is still reasonable for a tie-break system, but I do not think that a 70% or greater expectancy is good. Has there ever been any proper experiment with longer time controls [say 10-9 (W-B) for instance] for Armageddon play? Could the additional amount of time available possibly offset some of the advantages currently inherent in the present day Armageddon time controls?
I had the same thought. 5-3 seems too extreme. I think in the past 5-4 was found to favor black. I would imagine there is no law preventing us from using 5-3.5, which might prove sufficiently balanced. In any event, if the barbaric concept of Armageddon playoffs is going to be used to determine national titles, we need to find something a lot closer to 50-50.
One suggestion on site was to take the top four US players by tie-break, split them into two pairs, have a bughouse game , and the winning team would then proceed to the blitz play-off.
Conrad’s only stated concern with that was whether or not he would get a good bughouse partner (he was probably being too polite to mention his other concerns).
I do wonder how many people would be interested in seeing an all-GM bughouse game.
Yes. Bidding is certainly the only fair way to quantify the time advantage for White (to compensate White for Black’s advantage of enjoying draw odds).
Michael, congratulations on your shared first at the US Open.
I don’t think the proper balance for an armageddon game has been found yet, and I’m not sure it can be found without extensive testing. Go’s komi (the number of points awarded to White to compensate for Black’s first move) was determined by analysis of thousands of top-level games, and governing bodies periodically adjust it (6.5 or 7.5 points is common today).
Personally, I don’t find armageddon games more satisfying than the standard mathematical tiebreaks listed in the USCF rulebook. And I say that, Michael, even though they wouldn’t have gone your way.
EDIT: I somehow got in my head that Mulfish is IM Mulyar. Channeling Emily Litella: Nevermind.
, and the winning team would then proceed to the blitz play-off. 
