ICCF Lockdown Open

Details of upcoming UK events, please provide working links if possible.
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Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5802
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

ICCF Lockdown Open

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Sun May 10, 2020 4:31 pm

I'm pretty sure this is legitimate.

https://www.iccf.com/message?message=1351

"Triple Block" time limits have been controversial.

"The time control will be Triple Block “650” with 75 days initial bank and 4 days increment for the first 50 moves; guaranteed time will be deployed after the first 50 moves."

This means that you start with 75 days for all your moves, but get 4 days extra for each of the first 50 moves, so that's 275 days for all your moves, but remember you are playing 12 games at once. What happens after move 50 is a little unclear to me! So presumably, some sort of time addition happens.

Anyone who looks at the link might be amused that the "Silli System" is used for pairing, Suffice to say, Mr Silli devised the system, and it is a means of doing a sort of 12 round Swiss for 100 players, but all the games happen at once. Be careful if doing internet searches for "Silli system", as my computer suddenly got attacked by some sort of virus.

You can use any sort of software in ICCF events, but don't ask for advice from carbon-based life forms.

Ian Thompson
Posts: 3543
Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:31 pm
Location: Awbridge, Hampshire

Re: ICCF Lockdown Open

Post by Ian Thompson » Sun May 10, 2020 5:13 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Sun May 10, 2020 4:31 pm
I'm pretty sure this is legitimate.

https://www.iccf.com/message?message=1351

"Triple Block" time limits have been controversial.

"The time control will be Triple Block “650” with 75 days initial bank and 4 days increment for the first 50 moves; guaranteed time will be deployed after the first 50 moves."

This means that you start with 75 days for all your moves, but get 4 days extra for each of the first 50 moves, so that's 275 days for all your moves, but remember you are playing 12 games at once. What happens after move 50 is a little unclear to me! So presumably, some sort of time addition happens.
Triple Block “650” means the maximum number of days the game can last is 650 days. Each player gets 325 days thinking time. That consists of 125 days initial allocation (50 initial + 75 bank) + 200 days extra time (50 moves * 4 days increment).

You get nothing extra after move 50. It's sudden death, if such a term is applicable to correspondence chess. Actually, it is, because the rules say that's why you get 50 initial + 75 bank instead of just getting 125 days initial time. It's to speed up the conclusion of a game when players silently withdraw or die. You're never allowed to have more than 50 days on your clock for the current move. If you want to take more than 50 days you have to manually move time from your bank to top up your playing time before it reduces to 0 and you lose on time; the assumption being that someone who has silently withdrawn won't do this so they'll lose on time after no more than 50 days instead of up to 125 days.

Roger de Coverly
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Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: ICCF Lockdown Open

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun May 10, 2020 6:10 pm

Ian Thompson wrote:
Sun May 10, 2020 5:13 pm
Actually, it is, because the rules say that's why you get 50 initial + 75 bank instead of just getting 125 days initial time. It's to speed up the conclusion of a game when players silently withdraw or die.
It's an interesting and untried option for over the board chess. Suppose you have 30 minutes to start, a minute a move until move 60 and then sudden death or a 10 second increment. That's a three hour session, more or less, with the special feature of penalising late arrival rather more severely than more usual time controls.

J T Melsom
Posts: 1294
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:12 pm

Re: ICCF Lockdown Open

Post by J T Melsom » Sun May 10, 2020 6:13 pm

Why would you seek to penalise late arrival in predominantly amateur competition? Can't see that being desirable at all.

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5802
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: ICCF Lockdown Open

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Sun May 10, 2020 6:59 pm

" Each player gets 325 days thinking time."

Good point - suddenly my mathematical brain emulated Priti Patel and Diane Abbott (in the interests of balance).

And I have moaned about triple block enough in the past. One issue is that you don't get any "time-outs". I am just starting an event where it's 50 days for 10 moves, and you get 45 days "leave" a year, so that's fairly sedate. OK, most of us are on leave at present... Admittedly, you normally get the pairings a couple of weeks before the start (and there's always somebody who finishes a game before it officially started). You can reach move 15-20 in many games without having to think or switch on Stockfish.

Anyway it's a good cause. One thing about ICCF events is they're normally fairly narrow rating bands. The event I'm just starting is a 15-player all-play-all, where the ratings of the players are 2258-2299. The Lockdown event could have a very dramatic range of ratings and non-ratings.

"If you want to take more than 50 days you have to manually move time from your bank to top up your playing time before it reduces to 0 and you lose on time; the assumption being that someone who has silently withdrawn won't do this so they'll lose on time after no more than 50 days instead of up to 125 days."

This is true, but also, usually any time used is backed up by the "bank" automatically, and most normal events say you get defaulted if you take 40 days (say) on one move. And if you default half the games, you get losses in all your remaining games. So you would rarely have to wait a long time for people to silently withdraw. You might get more in the Lockdown event as it could attract a lot of people who don't usually play CC - then they suddenly find it can be hard work. But, you play different people and you "meet" some nice opponents.

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