Time trouble
Encyclopedia
In chess
played with a time control
, time trouble, time pressure, or its German translation Zeitnot, is the situation where a player has little time to complete the required moves. When forced to play quickly, the probability of making blunder
s is increased, so handling the clock is an important aspect of chess playing. The last move of the time control (often move 40) is especially prone to blunders if players only have a few seconds to play it, and many games have been lost due to poor time management in time pressure.
as they consider their plans and calculate various tactical variations. In many cases, spending this time to find the correct path is worth the risk of time trouble later on if the position is simplified to a point where it can be played quickly. However, spending large amounts of time in simple positions on non-forcing matters is often excessive.
In time trouble, players are usually focused on maintaining the integrity of their position. Lars Bo Hansen's principles are to ensure that pieces remain protected, avoid unnecessary pawn moves, and avoid analyzing unnecessary tactics. Webb advises players to keep track of the number of moves played, and work out a provisional response to each of the opponent's moves on the opponent's time. This trick is called "permanent brain
" or "pondering". When the opponent is in time trouble, Webb advocated the barrage technique which involves planning two or more moves ahead, and then playing them in rapid succession. The idea is to give the opponent little time to prepare for the second move, increasing the probability of that move being a mistake. Playing a barrage of moves does increase the chance of a blunder from the barrager as well, and the technique is inadvisable in a winning position where a player should focus on winning on the board.
The first rule regards the recording of moves. A player with less than five minutes remaining, in a game where there is not a 30-second or greater time increment per move, is not required to keep score as usual. However if the player makes the time control, he must update the scoresheet before making a move as soon as the flag falls, marking expiry of the first, and now passed, time control. If only one player is in time trouble and not recording moves, the opponent's scoresheet may be used to update the score. In the case of mutual time pressure, where both players have stopped recording the moves, the tournament director or an assistant should be on hand to record the moves as they are played, and their notes can be used to update the scoresheets upon passage of the time control. If the game score is not recorded by anybody during the time pressure period, the players shall endeavor to reconstruct the moves of the game, under the control of the tournament director, if this is not possible the game continues with the next move being regarded as the first move of the next time control.
The second rule regards the arbiter's possibility of ending a game as drawn due to a player's lack of effort in winning the game by "normal means". Occasionally it happens in a sudden death time control without increments that a player has trouble in physically executing an indefinite series of moves in the time remaining. The opponent could try playing on this, and continue to play on in the hopes of winning by time forfeit, rather than by winning the position on the board. To prevent this FIDE has article 10.2. A player with less than two minutes remaining can, if he considers that the opponent is no longer trying to win the game by normal means, claim a draw and summon the arbiter. The opponent may accept the claimant's draw request, which ends the game by agreement
. If this does not happen, the arbiter may accept the claim (which ends the game immediately as a draw), reject the claim (after which the game continues, with the opponent receiving two additional minutes), or postpone the decision. In this case the opponent may be given two minutes extra, and the game continues until the arbiter makes a call or the claimant's flag falls after which the arbiter makes a decision. Decisions made by the arbiter under 10.2 are final.
The rules allowing an arbiter to declare a game drawn do not apply to blitz chess
. Several high level blitz tournaments, such as the 2009 World Blitz Championship, are played with a two-second increment which allows players time to execute moves and discourages attempts to win on time in trivially drawn positions such as king and knight versus king and knight.
have a similar rule to FIDE's 10.2, called the "insufficient losing chances" rule. A player with less than two minutes remaining without time delay can petition the tournament director for a draw on the grounds that the opponent has no reasonable chance of winning the position, had both players had ample time. In USCF's guidelines, this would mean an average tournament player (class C) having a less than a 10% probability of losing the position against a master, with both players having sufficient time. The tournament director may accept the claim (ending the game as drawn), reject the claim and penalize the claimant with one minute less time, or postpone the decision. If the tournament director postpones the decision, there is the option of substituting a non-delay clock with a delay clock with the claimant having his remaining time halved. Since the insufficient losing chances rules calls upon discretion from the tournament director, clocks with the time delay feature are preferred over clocks without them.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
played with a time control
Time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock...
, time trouble, time pressure, or its German translation Zeitnot, is the situation where a player has little time to complete the required moves. When forced to play quickly, the probability of making blunder
Blunder (chess)
In chess, a blunder is a very bad move. It is usually caused by some tactical oversight, whether from time trouble, overconfidence or carelessness. While a blunder may seem like a stroke of luck for the opposing player, some chess players give their opponent plenty of opportunities to blunder.What...
s is increased, so handling the clock is an important aspect of chess playing. The last move of the time control (often move 40) is especially prone to blunders if players only have a few seconds to play it, and many games have been lost due to poor time management in time pressure.
Practical aspects
Players often spend large amounts of time after the openingChess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
as they consider their plans and calculate various tactical variations. In many cases, spending this time to find the correct path is worth the risk of time trouble later on if the position is simplified to a point where it can be played quickly. However, spending large amounts of time in simple positions on non-forcing matters is often excessive.
In time trouble, players are usually focused on maintaining the integrity of their position. Lars Bo Hansen's principles are to ensure that pieces remain protected, avoid unnecessary pawn moves, and avoid analyzing unnecessary tactics. Webb advises players to keep track of the number of moves played, and work out a provisional response to each of the opponent's moves on the opponent's time. This trick is called "permanent brain
Permanent brain
In turn-based games, permanent brain is the act of thinking during the opponent's turn.Turn-based games such as chess have a weakness: one of the players can spend too much time thinking. Time control solves this problem: each player receives certain amount of time for thinking...
" or "pondering". When the opponent is in time trouble, Webb advocated the barrage technique which involves planning two or more moves ahead, and then playing them in rapid succession. The idea is to give the opponent little time to prepare for the second move, increasing the probability of that move being a mistake. Playing a barrage of moves does increase the chance of a blunder from the barrager as well, and the technique is inadvisable in a winning position where a player should focus on winning on the board.
Rules governing time trouble
FIDE has some additional rules regarding players in time trouble.The first rule regards the recording of moves. A player with less than five minutes remaining, in a game where there is not a 30-second or greater time increment per move, is not required to keep score as usual. However if the player makes the time control, he must update the scoresheet before making a move as soon as the flag falls, marking expiry of the first, and now passed, time control. If only one player is in time trouble and not recording moves, the opponent's scoresheet may be used to update the score. In the case of mutual time pressure, where both players have stopped recording the moves, the tournament director or an assistant should be on hand to record the moves as they are played, and their notes can be used to update the scoresheets upon passage of the time control. If the game score is not recorded by anybody during the time pressure period, the players shall endeavor to reconstruct the moves of the game, under the control of the tournament director, if this is not possible the game continues with the next move being regarded as the first move of the next time control.
The second rule regards the arbiter's possibility of ending a game as drawn due to a player's lack of effort in winning the game by "normal means". Occasionally it happens in a sudden death time control without increments that a player has trouble in physically executing an indefinite series of moves in the time remaining. The opponent could try playing on this, and continue to play on in the hopes of winning by time forfeit, rather than by winning the position on the board. To prevent this FIDE has article 10.2. A player with less than two minutes remaining can, if he considers that the opponent is no longer trying to win the game by normal means, claim a draw and summon the arbiter. The opponent may accept the claimant's draw request, which ends the game by agreement
Draw by agreement
In chess, a draw by agreement is the outcome of a game due to the agreement of both players to a draw. A player may offer a draw to his opponent at any stage of a game; if the opponent accepts, the game is a draw. The relevant portion of the FIDE laws of chess is article 9.1...
. If this does not happen, the arbiter may accept the claim (which ends the game immediately as a draw), reject the claim (after which the game continues, with the opponent receiving two additional minutes), or postpone the decision. In this case the opponent may be given two minutes extra, and the game continues until the arbiter makes a call or the claimant's flag falls after which the arbiter makes a decision. Decisions made by the arbiter under 10.2 are final.
The rules allowing an arbiter to declare a game drawn do not apply to blitz chess
Blitz chess
Fast chess, also known as blitz chess, lightning chess, sudden death, speed chess, bullet chess and rapid chess, is a type of chess game in which each side is given less time to make their moves than under the normal tournament time controls of 60 to 180 minutes per player.-Overview:The different...
. Several high level blitz tournaments, such as the 2009 World Blitz Championship, are played with a two-second increment which allows players time to execute moves and discourages attempts to win on time in trivially drawn positions such as king and knight versus king and knight.
USCF version
Tournaments governed under the rules of the United States Chess FederationUnited States Chess Federation
The United States Chess Federation is a non-profit organization, the governing chess organization within the United States, and one of the federations of the FIDE. The USCF was founded in 1939 from the merger of two regional chess organizations, and grew gradually until 1972, when membership...
have a similar rule to FIDE's 10.2, called the "insufficient losing chances" rule. A player with less than two minutes remaining without time delay can petition the tournament director for a draw on the grounds that the opponent has no reasonable chance of winning the position, had both players had ample time. In USCF's guidelines, this would mean an average tournament player (class C) having a less than a 10% probability of losing the position against a master, with both players having sufficient time. The tournament director may accept the claim (ending the game as drawn), reject the claim and penalize the claimant with one minute less time, or postpone the decision. If the tournament director postpones the decision, there is the option of substituting a non-delay clock with a delay clock with the claimant having his remaining time halved. Since the insufficient losing chances rules calls upon discretion from the tournament director, clocks with the time delay feature are preferred over clocks without them.