Placing it in context, the move rate would have been 40 moves in 150 minutes, followed by a perpetual 16 moves in 60 minutes. This would have been the move rate in the British Championship Congress including the Major Open and the Under-21. Other domestic tournaments using that move rate would have been the Hastings Premier and Challengers.Christopher Kreuzer wrote:Thanks for posting that. I only ever once played under anything like time controls like that, at Hastings in 1995-6, when they still had adjournments. It is easy to forget that at one time you could easily have multiple adjournments in the same game. And thinking for an hour over a sealed move is completely alien to league chess of course!
Adjudication culture was well established, so only in the London League and the events mentioned would it be likely that you ever played many games beyond move 40. So the combination of a lack of confidence in how to play the position, as witnessed by the long think on the sealed move, the weak sealed move itself and the unexpected reply, could all add up to a draw offer. Rapidplay tournaments, where you are expected to make snap decisions, particularly in endings, were in their infancy in 1976.