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BGonline.org Forums
Is 2 minutes enough clock reserve time?
Posted By: Bill Riles In Response To: Is 2 minutes enough clock reserve time? (Rich Munitz)
Date: Tuesday, 9 June 2009, at 1:26 p.m.
I personally think 2/12 is adequate -- to extend significantly would be to render clock usage, from the time perspective, moot.
At 16C-6/17 CJC had approximately 8 minutes left and Joe had something around 12 minutes left -- I would have to review the recording for specifics. (If anyone wants some specifics, let me know.) I didn't watch all of the early portion of the match but we all know CJC plays fairly quickly; so Joe must have been playing even faster early on.
After that score, Joe's game became much more deliberate. He had 2 or 3 very difficult checker play decisions that he spent a couple of minutes each studying. Rightfully or wrongfully, he was annoyed by several conversations at nearby tables -- he paused the clock 2 or 3 times until the discussions were ceased, moved, or quieted. Once restarted, then I assume he had to resume/restart his considerations. To some extent, I thought him oblivious of the clock. At one point, with less than two minutes left, after CJC ended her move by hitting the clock, Joe reached for his water bottle and took a drink before rolling -- the entire buffer plus about 20 seconds expired before he even rolled. So, I think clock awareness is an issue.
Joe never commented on the clock, to my knowledge, after the decision was made to allow the clock to be used. Had he hit that last blot, who knows what would have happened. I'm all in favor of clocks -- for time control and for the enhanced mechanics of the game; however, it would have been unfortunate if Joe would have had to play 2 or 3 more games strictly on the buffer.
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