GMs and muggles decide: what are the best time controls?

Time controls questionnaire

Yasser Seirawan: "My sense was that the GM's who didn't bother to vote, even after being cajoled to do so, refuse simply because they don't expect their opinions to matter. Apathy and inertia being the most powerful forces in the universe are formidable obstacles to overcome! Hopefully, after publishing the following results, other GM's may be inclined to add their voices. We will leave it to others to draw their own conclusions about the voting. I would like to thank Joel Lautier and Emil Sutovsky for all your help in encouraging GM's to vote."

• The original questionnaire
• The muggles speak (below)

The votes received so far

The Muggles speak

Here are a few excerpts from messages we received from our readers on the subject. The choice of which message to publish was mainly random, so please do not feel discriminated if yours does not appear in this section.

Luis A Baquero
I not a professional player but I'm going to give my point of view because what the professionals adopt for themselves affect all the players in the world. minimum total time for classical chess: 7 hours (40/2, 20/1, all/30, mechanical clock). With digital clocks, same as the previous scheme and 40/2, 20/1, all/30 + 30. I can also suggest that to decide the winner of a drawn match in classical chess, simply the highest rating should advance and the lowest rating should have a share of the prize of his opponent.

Francesco Di Tolla
It is diffcult to chose: from one side one would like a simple rule, so that rule A would seem the best on the other side I fear that with this ruile many players would end up playing 20-25 moves in 150 inutes and later coplete the game at the speed of one move each 30 seconds. This could be source of many early-endgame errors. For this rule C seem more uniform (and more similar to what we are already used than ruke B)up to the 60 moves at least, but looks somewhat more complex to read/implement. If I could chose I would mimic rule A with a 60 seconds increment: 90 minutes + 60 seconds increment is the perfect interpolation that reproduces 40 moves in 120 minutes and grants you always 60 seconds to move (forces a more uniform play between middle-game and endgame), preserving the 7 hours limits for 120 moves. Being forced to stay with the FIDE proposals I would anyway go for A.

Patrick Sharper
I am in favor of the longest time controls for all events. Shorter time controls hurt the quality of the chess.

Chris Kantack
I vote for Choice C 40/2, 20/1, 15+30/All. To me the increment per move only makes sense in the sudden death time control.

Shaun Press
Option B would be my preferred choice. If length of playing sessions is a problem then B can be modified to 40/100+30 & 30+30 which was the time control at the 2000 Olympiad, if I recall correctly.

D. Ebrahim Al Mannai
Choice C (40/2hrs. 20/1hr, All/15min+30s) would be my choice for the time control. If a game goes beyond 90 moves, then the players have earned the extra time (over 7 hours). The arbiters can wait an extra ten minutes or so! Choice A is the least desirable, as it lacks the discipline that the traditional 40-move time control demands. Thanks for hearing from us mortals.

Gary S.G. Bryant
I only really care about the time control for the top level. I go with: Choice C, (40/2, 20/1, 15+30/All) is the most conventional. The first two time-controls of Choice C are exactly the same as those used for the Mechanical Clock. The third time-control of 15 minutes plus the 30-second bonus increment avoids the undesirable guillotine finish. However, this time-control is the slowest. It would mean that games that last beyond move 90 would probably go beyond the seven-hour playing session. It is most likely to result in high-quality games and determine who really is best.

Damien Lavery (1525 patzer!)
Can I just say that I feel that tradition has a lot going for it. Why can't we blend the best of the old with the best of the new? Over the board, there are some positions where a long think is simply required. The art of the endgame demands this. I believe that the Ivanchuk vs. Ponomariov match for the last Fide championship, played at 90 + 30 time control, makes this obvious. In one game, win after win escaped Ivanchuk merely because of the time constraint. Kasparov often calls his analysis of the game 'the search for the truth'. Well it would seem that with this time control, the truth simply isn't enough! The game of chess simply must not be allowed to reduce to the randomness of people's reactions. Of course, with the advent of technology, the guillotine finish is undesirable, especially with clokcs capable of Fischer increment measure. But this should only be used for the purpose of avoiding a drastic end to the contest. Increments should not play a part in the main body of the game. I believe that the control of 2hrs/40, 1hr/20 and 30+inc/all is the most sensible. Please tell me what your opinions are!

H. Caceres
I think the best for the quality of the game is C, the classical. New FIDE format sucks, players fight against the clock and can't care about going deep to the heart of the position. They are always under the extra pressure of time, and a more profound understanding its not worth because of that.

Sakari Pankkonen
My preferences are rather conventional: Blitz Chess as proposed for mechanical and digital clocks. Rapid Chess time control as proposed for digital clocks, and with the natural idea that it should be played with digital clocks only. (It also suits the newish nature of this kind of chess.) Seven hour games for both mechanical and digital clocks as in Choice D. Thank you for the poll!

Ed Matheson
Choice C) (40/2, 20/1, 15+30/All) . Being a "not top" player, nor even a really good player, I am sending my vote to you. I want to see high quality games, as in the past, not some of these "speed" blunders that have been occurring more recently.

Thomas Lloyd
I am for all time controls for the blitz and rapid time controls, and i go with choice A for the professional time control.

Juan Luis Garcia Alonso
My time control is 90 minutes + 30 seconds for every movement for the whole game.

Kai Schröder
Is there really someone who wants a shorter time control whose name isn't Ponomariov? Here's my short opinion: For X/For X/For X/D. I wished this time control nightmare would vanish as quick as that...

Sampson Matthis
My choice is D. 40/2 20/1 30/all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kevin Plant (soon to be a force in the chess world)
Kasparov-Ponomriov 40 moves in 2 hours + 20 moves in 1 hour + 30 mins + 30 secs for remaining moves and draw odds for reigning champion. Leko-Kramnik same as above. The two winners: same as above but no draw odds but if drawn then 4 more games at 90 mins for all moves. It would be very unlikely that the match would still be drawn after all this. Previous world championships have rarely been drawn. If the match is drawn then they are joint champs and go into the semifinals of the next world championships and are seeded so they dont play each other in the semi. All above: best of 16 games. 4 games a week , mon/tues (wednesday rest day) thurs/fri (sat/sun rest days) 1 game per day. One final thing: keep up the good work at ChessBase, the best chess site on the Internet.

Will Davis
Slow chess: Choice C. All high level tournaments should be played at very slow time controls. Tthough I am only a Class B player (USCF) I hate seeing games decided by one player blundering in time pressure, and how much more I hate seeing GMs mess up like that. FIDE's constant speeding up of time controls was
definitely a bad idea, and caused the production of much worse quality chess. I believe the slower the better. Thank you for allowing me to express my opinion.

Joost Bosmans
I vote for Choice D) (40/2, 20/1, 30/All) as time control for Professional Chess. As you changed the time control for Professional Chess it doesn't 'feel' as chess anymore.

Lawrence Cooper (IM)
Blitz: 5 minutes for all moves, no increments. Rapid: 30 minutes for all moves, no increments. 7 hour: 40 in 2 hours, 20 in 1 hour, 30 minutes for the rest without increment.