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GameTime™ offers. Then dip into Chapter 4 for an explanation of the most common
options you’ll want to set from day to day. Tackle Chapter 5 and 6 when you’re ready
to start selecting your own time controls and want to learn more about the advanced
options.
CHAPTER 3. PRESET TIME CONTROLS
The only options you may ever need
In this chapter, we’ll explain what time controls are, what advantages the preset time
controls offer, and show you how to select a preset time control. You can always set
your own time control (explained in Chapter 5), but it’s a good idea to understand the
basics in this chapter first.
What are time controls anyway?
Traditional chess time controls are only one of many game settings that the
GameTime™ offers. But time controls are the essential feature: They control how
much thinking time each player has. The controls you select have the most significant
impact on the pace and, to a great extent, the quality of a game.
Most games can be timed in two basic ways:
• Traditional time controls allow each player a specific amount of time to make a
given number of moves. For example, you might have to make 40 moves in 90
minutes, written as 40/90m.
• Sudden-death time controls allow each player a specific amount of time to complete
the entire game. For example, the popular “blitz” time control in chess is five min-
utes per player for the entire game, written as G/5m.
The GameTime™ can keep track of up to two traditional time control periods (called
the primary and secondary time controls) and a sudden-death time control period.
These can be combined in a variety of ways for tremendous flexibility. Here are a few
examples of chess time controls:
• One-day tournaments with four or five games often use a single sudden-death time
control of G/30. Each player has 30 minutes, ensuring that the game ends in an
hour.
• More leisurely two-day tournaments with four or five games can offer a primary
time control of 50/90 followed by a sudden-death time control of G/30. Each game
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