Rate of Play

Venues, fixtures, teams and related matters.
Richard Bates
Posts: 3338
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:27 pm

Re: Rate of Play

Post by Richard Bates » Tue Mar 29, 2011 6:31 pm

Maria Yurenok wrote: There is a practical problem with 7 hour time limit - people end up with two very long days over the weekend (or even longer than expected as we all know what public transport is like on Sunday in this country) and then they have to go to work the next day. So cutting time limit by an hour could make a positive difference for some or even many people. What do I have to do to get this change considered by the 4 ncl management board?
FWIW i think that it isn't axiomatic that faster time controls = less tiring games. For a start, just because you have a 7 hr time control it doesn't routinely mean that you have games of that length. Furthermore I would argue that the intensity of the faster time controls (with any game where you are "down to the increment" over a prolonged period clearly being the worst) can be a lot more tiring because you have much less time for ingame relaxation. Probably not everyone chooses to use their available time quite as inefficiently as me though! :roll:

As to the issue of player opinions - it's obviously a slightly different sample and a different tournament format, but i think that the two options were presented in the player survey at the British and i believe the 7hr time control played there (albeit the 'longer' one with increments) was favoured quite convincingly.

Maria Yurenok
Posts: 57
Joined: Fri May 21, 2010 12:09 pm

Re: Rate of Play

Post by Maria Yurenok » Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:11 pm

Mike, I agree with you that doing a poll on the ECF forum isn't going to give an accurate picture while testing the water with the captains is a good idea. I'll just have to remember to check if my captain is going to the meeting and give him my views!

Richard, I agree that intensity of some time controls is too much, that's why I don't like 1:30hr plus 30sec for the whole game. But I'm not suggesting such a short time control. Also, I can see the point for keeping 7 hr time limit in the British because players are staying near the venue but 4NCL is different because a lot of people have to travel long distances on Saturday and Sunday.