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BGonline.org Forums
Two-Stage Timing
Posted By: Colin Owen In Response To: Two-Stage Timing (Taper_Mike)
Date: Monday, 15 October 2012, at 5:54 a.m.
Your desire for a longer delay time - in order to accommodate cocked dice - may not balance all of the factors that exist in selecting an appropriate delay setting.
Is it fair that one player (and without skimping on shaking and rolling the dice) almost instantly makes up his mind about a play, whereas another dithers for 10 seconds - yet gets to keep the same time on his reserve clock?
Another player basically argues that more complex games are not really done justice with even a 15 sec delay. But tournaments matches have to keep moving. If a match has a high number of moves then it may indeed be that those players have to average somewhat LESS time per move - even though the positions generated may demand more. Provided that the delay adds in a bit more than the average time it takes to physically make a move, then this free thinking time will make up for time lost on those turns when we roll cocked dice. Even a 7-8 sec delay may do this. With analogue clocks, of course, no provision was made for the mechanics of playing at all. Now we have that, but thinking time should really be dealt with in ones reserve.
The 12 sec delay balances conflicting factors very well. But I believe better is to have a shorter delay of probably 9 or 10 sec - combined with a potential switch to a longer one (15 or 18) for a final extra minute of reserve time, in order to minimise actual timeouts due to cocked dice. We have the technology.
I agree with your point about dice landing on recessed chequers, which Neil seems to want to be classed as uncocked. Even with FLAT chequers, if dice settle at the edge of them, ambiguities as to whether they are really flat on the piece can indeed occur.
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