Incremental time controls

[Graham Kerr]

Having never played OTB with an incremental time control, sorry if i ask a question that's obvious to others...

Scenario - Player A stops recording his moves once he gets into the final 5 minutes of his time, then makes a few quick moves, each gaining 30 seconds (minus a couple of seconds for actually making the moves) taking his time back over the 5 minutes.
Does he then have to update his scoresheet?

[Andy McCulloch]

With increments of 30 seconds or more you can never stop recording.

Used at the Ayr congress today. Appears to have been a great success.

[Graham Kerr]

Thanks for that Andy

[David G Congalton]

Chess Scotland Rule Book - The FIDE Laws of Chess

8.4 If a player has less than five minutes left on his clock at some stage in a period and does not have additional time of 30 seconds or more added with each move, then for the remainder of the period he is not obliged to meet the requirements of Article 8.1. Immediately after one flag has fallen the player must update his scoresheet completely before moving a piece on the chessboard.

[Andy Howie]

Loved the increments this weekend. Thinking of using them in other tournaments but would like to know what others think?

[James Watson]

Loved the increments this weekend. Thinking of using them in other tournaments but would like to know what others think?

I played in the Major at the weekend and, at one point in one of my games, I had only 51 seconds left, after 5/6 quick moves I suddenly had over three minutes available. This saved my bacon and I evetually won that game. So the 30 second increment has some merit, although, I didn't ask my opponent what he thought11

[William Hulme]

Loved the increments this weekend. Thinking of using them in other tournaments but would like to know what others think?

I have to say the incremental time control was a pure pleasure to play under at Ayr (great Air Conditioned venue too!).

Perhaps it won't suit those players who are good at taking advantage when others are short of time - but I'm not one of them. How much of it is psychological - I'm not sure - but normally in league chess during the 15 mins allegro finish - lots of players get anxious and start to make poor moves rather than using up too much time! Knowing you have +30 seconds up your sleeve helps calm you down and trust you can actually play out the position to the best of your abilities. Did I play a higher standard of chess..? Not sure, although I'd like to think I did! The biggest difference for me was that I enjoyed the games much more and that has to count for something.

It's all down to the individual in the end, but personally, I'd love to see more tournaments with incremental time controls like this. I would definitely play in more tournaments if that was the case.

[Derek Howie]

Did many of the games end up being longer than the traditional 4 hours? How long was the longest game?

We have heard positive feedback. Were there any players who didn't like the time control and if so why?

Although I was down at Ayr, I didn't play so didn't experience it, but look forward to trying it in a tournament next season.