Incremental Time Limits

Technical questions regarding Openings, Middlegames, Endings etc.
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Phil Neatherway
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Incremental Time Limits

Post by Phil Neatherway » Mon Aug 15, 2011 2:58 pm

I'm intending to enter a tournament with the time limit of 90 minutes for the whole game plus 30 seconds increment per move. I've never played using an incremental time limit before and I'd really appreciate some advice on how to approach it, such as, shall I carry on playing as I normally do, or do I need to make sojme adjustments?

E Michael White
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Re: Incremental Time Limits

Post by E Michael White » Mon Aug 15, 2011 3:05 pm

Dont enter it Phil. They 're a pain; you never know what time the games will finish, which upsets any dining arrangements. In addition you will be subjected to numerous surveys by arbiters with carefully crafted questions to try to prove that increment chess is more popular.

Phil Neatherway
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Re: Incremental Time Limits

Post by Phil Neatherway » Mon Aug 15, 2011 3:09 pm

Ah yes. Beware the evil arbiter. That is certainly good advice, Mike.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Incremental Time Limits

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Mon Aug 15, 2011 3:23 pm

Don't fall into the trap of thinking you can play all types of position with only 30 seconds for each move. If the position is complicated, or there are potential wrinkles in seemingly simple positions, still leave enough time for a few minutes thought to secure a win or draw. If you both get down to only 30 seconds a move (or a few minutes each left), then look for traps but concentrate on playing simple moves and building up some time again. The key, I would say, is to stay close to your opponent in terms of clock times. That way whatever problems you face on the clock, he or she will also face. N.B. I don't have brilliant results from incremental play, so take the above with a large dose of salt.

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David Shepherd
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Re: Incremental Time Limits

Post by David Shepherd » Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:21 pm

Just ignor the increment - the only time to consider it is if you are short on time and want to throw in a few extra moves such as repeating twice, checks etc to gain time. Also don't let your clock get too low it is much easier to play with 5 or 10 minutes on your clock with 30 seconds repeatedly added than wih 20 seconds on your clock with 30 seconds repeatedly added.

Peter Shaw
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Re: Incremental Time Limits

Post by Peter Shaw » Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:22 pm

For some reason when I play with increments I seem to avoid getting into extreme time trouble. Normally I will quite often leave myself 5-10 moves to make in less than a minute, but playing with increments I hardly ever let it go below 2 minutes. I seem to subconciously think 2 mins + increment for 5 moves is worse time trouble than 1 minute without increment! :? Can anybody explain that?

I don't understand why anybody who likes chess would be against increments. In the rare cases that it makes a real difference it is a choice between (A) taking longer to bring the game to a proper conclusion on the board and (B) having the game decided in some clock banging / 10.2 nonsense. I'll vote for option (A) everytime.

Ian Kingston
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Re: Incremental Time Limits

Post by Ian Kingston » Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:25 pm

I like to think in terms of how long the time control gives me to play 40 moves - in this case 110 minutes - and then try to relate that to a non-increment time control that I'm familiar with. For instance, 40 moves in 100 minutes (without increments) is quite common as a first time control, so if you aim at that you'll then have 10 minutes plus increments for the rest of the game. Adjust according to taste and (of course) the position on the board. After a few games you'll get used to what you need to do.

Dan O'Dowd
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Re: Incremental Time Limits

Post by Dan O'Dowd » Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:07 pm

It all depends on your methods of play in the first place. For me, increments make me so much less prone to general error (note general, not tactical oversights or other pattern errors). 90 +0.30 without an intermediary time control might be better thought of, initially, as a 90 minute game, since it would take 60 moves each to reach 2hrs total each.

One advantage of an increment is if you need a good deep think early on (say to get positional bearings/form a plan), it leaves you far less pressured than it would otherwise. Say you play your first 12 moves fairly quickly, and you end up with 85 minutes remaining. In that case, a twenty minute think is not as problematic as it might otherwise seem. You can probably get away with two deep thinks during the game; but paradoxically, if you enter a ridiculously complicated position, you'll want to mix your use of a) full calculation no matter the time taken, and b) finding a decent move in a short time.

Be careful! If you take a long time over some moves, don't snap into playing TOO quickly thereafter even if your verbal argument seems sound. Nothing is worse psychologically than building an advantage of some nature, being really precise and close to converting it, then slipping because you feared the clock.

The other advantage which has already been mentioned is that of time trouble in general. Note that with 0.30 a move, you are obliged to keep your scoresheet up to date at all times, and neither side can ever claim a 10.2 draw (opponent not trying/cannot win by normal means). If you're the sort of player who reaches a late middlegame and can find mini-plans of 3-4 moves calc, then taking 5 minutes on the initial think, then bashing out 3-4 more moves can be really useful. I'd say you should make sure to have a reserve of twenty minutes at all times until you enter a simplified late middlegame, or ending. Of course once you're in an ending which is more calculation than analysis, you can afford to let time run very low indeed. In the British PM Open, on several occasions I let my time run to barely a minute, pre-empting a forced or calculated sequence, which allows far more precision.

Probably the best advice is to imagine you're playing a G90, but remember that in complex positions you have that extra pinch of time to do blunder checks, etc. Hope that helps!

Richard Bates
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Re: Incremental Time Limits

Post by Richard Bates » Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:08 pm

Treat it as if you're playing in a quickplay game. Put a premium of having a favourable time situation viz your opponent, because time is likely to play a major factor in the ultimate result.

Phil Neatherway
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Re: Incremental Time Limits

Post by Phil Neatherway » Wed Aug 17, 2011 9:36 am

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll let you know how it goes. That won't be for a few weeks though, because the tournament isn't until the end of October.

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