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BGonline.org Forums
Clocks
Posted By: Matt Cohn-Geier
Date: Wednesday, 3 September 2008, at 9:01 p.m.
Let me summarize my thoughts and feelings on this matter. I realize that I don't have much backgammon tourney experience, but I have about 6 years worth of chess tourney experience, so I'm not completely unqualified to speak on clocks.
1) I am, as a former chess player, strongly biased about clocks. OTOH, that's because clocks work so well in chess. There's no such thing as unclocked chess; it's like playing backgammon without a doubling cube. It's not "real" chess. I'm not sure if that will happen in backgammon or not, but I would like to see it happen.
2) The point of clocks, IMHO, is not to guarantee that rounds will start on time or to force players to speed up their play (in chess, clocks do guarantee that rounds will start on time, but that's a different story). It's to add a degree of professionalism to tourneys and make life easy for the TDs, so that they can have an easier time doing their job and generally making sure rounds start on time.
3) The cocked dice rule needs to be changed. Seriously, there's no point in keeping it the way it is. I liked the suggestion on here about resetting the delay when dice are cocked. After the buffer is reset the player can pick up the dice and roll again.
4) I am a deliberate, slow player, especially in tourneys. However, I am also a decent backgammon player, and could play a fair game at breakneck speeds (let's say, 30 secs to start + 9 secs delay, or whatever) if I had to. I could also play a pretty good game of chess only spending 1 second or less per move. I prefer not to. Particularly in ABT events, I think giving players ample time to try to find the best play is priority #1, and deciding between looking for the best play and using clock time should be priority #2. However, I don't think that backgammon should be played at anywhere near chess-like speeds. My view is that clocks won't possibly slow matches down any further than they currently are. I can see one way that they might, in that a player might feel obligated to use his time, but I don't have a problem with introducing clocks at a time control where no one ever comes close to flagging, with the expectation that matches will run at about the same length as they do now.
5) I would like to see everything be clocked. I think that this is a pretty different format from the current status quo where 1 out of 50 matches gets clocked. Many posters here are adamant about the use of clocks, but I realize there are difficulties standing in the way, and the big one is that most people don't want to migrate to clocks. The smaller one is that there isn't anyone at the moment to provide the clocks, so will the players provide them or the TDs? Honestly, if people wanted to play with clocks, the latter problem would get solved.
6) I personally think the time controls of 2/12 are too strict for an ABT event. 2/12 is a little intimidating to me (and I've been using chess clocks for years), so it's probably a whole lot more intimidating to someone who has never used a chess clock at all, doesn't want to migrate to clocks, and can't play backgammon at lightning speeds. I suggested 4/15, offhand, as a way to introduce clocks to the reluctant public. I realize that 4/15 is still too slow, but it would probably be less intimidating to others. Personally, I would prefer 2.5/15, but 2/15 is probably acceptable.
7) I would rather see clocks be introduced in side events and then into the main as opposed to introducing them into the main in one tourney and immediately rejecting them for all future events. Also, the main event should almost always take precedence over the sides.
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