Setting chess clocks to count moves

[Crawford Macnab]

Hi,

I have used a few digital chess clocks over the years and generally aim to configure them so that they count the minimum number of moves to be completed in the first time control.

34 moves in 85 minutes followed by 20 minutes
40 moves in 120 minutes followed by 30 minutes

If you fail to make the minimum number of moves then the clock will flag this.

Usually there is only a single mode that can be programmed this way and so all clocks need to be adjusted if switching between spens time controls and club/Edinburgh league time controls. It is a hassle to have to reprogram them.

The alternative is to use the modes that do not have the number of moves programmed and so it is the responsibility of the players (or arbiter) to confirm that the minimum number of moves have been completed. For example on the DGT 2010 clocks we have it is possible to set mode 5 for spens time control, and mode 7 for Edinburgh league. So no re-programming is required, if willing to not have the clock count the minimum moves.

To my question, what are other clubs doing for this?

Reading some other forums I can see that it may well be the case that for FIDE rules you should not be programming the minimum moves in to the clock. it is the score sheet that should be used to record evidence of minimum number of moves being made.

Thanks,
Crawford.

[Alex McFarlane]

It depends on the clocks.  The DGT XL and 3000s allow for 5 settings to be programmed (modes 26-30 on the 3000s).

Having the press counter on can be a mixed blessing.  If the clock runs out of time thinking the time control has not been reached because a clock press was not made then it can usually be fixed easily.  However if it goes early because there has been an extra press (which can sometimes happen if the players have an illegal move or the wrong clock starts at the beginning) then you have to reset the whole thing.  That's the reason that the press counter is often not used.

[Ianbrownlee]

Hi Crawford
Am I right on the 2010 it is only option 21 that doesnt have the move counter, on all other settings the move counter is not only there, it is mandatory (i.e. cant be removed or switched off)

[Crawford Macnab]

Hi Crawford
Am I right on the 2010 it is only option 21 that doesnt have the move counter, on all other settings the move counter is not only there, it is mandatory (i.e. cant be removed or switched off)

Hi Ian,

I believe it is the other way round.
Only mode 21 can be optionally programmed to set specific moves to be counted.
The other modes do not appear to allow the number of moves to be set.
Still investigating the clock but that is what I understand so far.

On reflection I think we will stick to not bothering to set the moves to be counted.
As Alex mentions there are downsides to using the move counter. More so for the 2010.
Worked fine last night at league match apart from one game not starting the clock correctly and didn't notice for 10 minutes!

Cheers,
Crawford.

[KMcGeoch]

Actually as far as our club goes we've found it's a bit of a false economy going for the cheaper variants of clocks (e.g. DGT 2010 vs 3000) as while the cheaper variants work well in limited conditions it often turns out that whenever you want to go out with those conditions it turns out to be awkward and requires manually programming settings.

Another issue I've noticed is that a lot of players tend to be a bit technophobic so they struggle to change time controls or do so badly. A classic is when time control adds 20 hours instead of 20 minutes. I heard of one game that took place when I was away when they used analogue clocks cause no one knew how to set up digital ones.

Our final solution was to actually get a different set of clocks for every league and have them each set to appropriate configuration by default and then all that a player needs to do is turn it on and it's set. Only slight hiccup we had was when I first set up DGT3000's and thought I had to use Time+Delay for time settings when it turned out I actually had to use Fischer(with 0sec increment)+Time where I was only able to fix it with this helpful revew (http://www.chessarbitersassociation.co.u...iews1.html) but now it works great