I understand the reasoning behind sudden death was to ensure timely round starts but I’m wondering why it was decided that the unused time from the initial standard time control was allowed to be added to the final sudden death time control. Seems to me that this method unfairly penalizes the player that used up all his first time control minutes and awards players that move fast. If the purpose for sudden death was to ensure that subsequent rounds begin on time, wouldn’t rounds finish even quicker if sudden death began for both players as soon as the required number of moves are made for the first session without rolling over unused first session minutes?
Unfairly??
Any sort of time control automatically “penalizes” players who move slowly – that’s the whole idea. Doing it your way would penalize the player who moves quickly, by giving him less total time than his slower opponent.
Bill Smythe
I disagree that anyone would be penalized by doing it my way. My logic is based on the fact that there are two very different time controls. In the past it made more sense to roll over unused minutes into second (and even third) time controls because those additional sessions were based on moves made. Sudden death is not based on moves made but is actually a speed game. The clock becomes much more of an issue to the players.
Each player is entitled to use all his first time control minutes. If one player uses all his minutes and the other doesn’t, both players have met their responsibilities for that first session. It seems unfair to me that both players will not be required to finish the game in sudden death by having the same amount of time to do so just like they are required to do when the game was begun. The first session’s move/time requirements have been met by both players by the time sudden death starts. Now the continuation of the game is not based on moves made.
If one player has extra material at the end of the first time control, he would also need to return it to his opponent at the beginning of the sudden death time control. It would be unfair if both players were not required to finish the game in sudden death with the same material for each side, like they had when the game started.
hmmm…now that’s an idea! 
Yeah, this would be a bad idea. Let’s say I’m about to make move 40, but look over and see I have an hour left to make time control. Then I could just sit there and make my opponent needlessly wait for an hour, knowing that it won’t hurt me in any way to do so. I may as well use that time as otherwise it would go to waste anyways. This would definitely extend games and make it harder on TDs and organizers.