1. Joined
    06 May '13
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    0
    09 Jul '13 06:08
    Hello.
    I know that rapid is 15 to 60 minutes, blitz is 3 to 15 minutes, and bullet is below 3 minutes. But what I would like to know is, what are the "official" time controls for rapid, blitz and bullet? By "official" time controls, I mean the most common time controls, the time controls that are used in big tournaments.
    Oh and also, is a game of precisely 15 minutes considered as rapid or blitz?
    Thanks in advance for your answers.
  2. Standard memberRJHinds
    The Near Genius
    Fort Gordon
    Joined
    24 Jan '11
    Moves
    13644
    09 Jul '13 07:17
    Originally posted by Marc Benford
    Hello.
    I know that rapid is 15 to 60 minutes, blitz is 3 to 15 minutes, and bullet is below 3 minutes. But what I would like to know is, what are the "official" time controls for rapid, blitz and bullet? By "official" time controls, I mean the most common time controls, the time controls that are used in big tournaments.
    Oh and also, is a game of precisely 15 minutes considered as rapid or blitz?
    Thanks in advance for your answers.
    The USCF rates rapid and bullet chess under the Quick rating system that covers any time controls from 5 minutes to 29 minutes. The official minimum times for rated games is 5 minutes or 3 minutes with a 2 second delay.

    FIDE may have different rules.

    The Instructor
  3. Joined
    06 May '13
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    11 Jul '13 01:03
    Yes, I already knew that, but it wasn't really what I was asking for. Sorry if I perhaps wasn't very clear.
    What I wanted to know was what are the most frequently used time controls (in real-life tournaments and/or online) in rapid, blitz and bullet games.
    For example : The time control 26|7 (26 minutes with an increment of 7 seconds per move) is very rare (because it has weird numbers), but the time control 30|0 is much more common. And so I wanted to know what are the most conventional time controls that are used..


    I made some searchs on the subject and found that : http://www.chessdom.com/world-rapid-and-blitz-chess-championship-2012/
    For the games in the World Rapid Chess Championship each player will have 15 minutes + 10 seconds additional time per move.
    The time control for the World Blitz Chess Championship for each player will be 3 minutes + 2 seconds additional time per move.
    So is 15|10 the most common time control for rapid, and 3|2 the most common time control for blitz?


    Oh and I also found another interesting article related to my question : http://chess-news.ru/en/node/9412
    The Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) has conducted a survey (composed of 4 questions) among Top 30 players in the world (as of 1 July 2012) about the time control in classic, rapid and blitz World Championships.

    [...]

    Question 2: The following 2 rapid time controls are widely used. Which of them should be used in World Rapid Championships?
    a) 15'+10"
    b) 25'+10"

    Results:
    A - 8 votes
    B - 19 votes
    1 player was against both proposals.

    Question 3: The following 3 blitz time controls are widely used. Which of them should be used in World Blitz Championships? Please sort the possibilities from best to worst.
    a) 5'
    b) 3'+2"
    c) 4'+2"

    Results:
    Answer A: 2 first places; 2,5 second places; 23,5 third places
    Answer B: 16 first places; 9,5 second places; 2,5 third places
    Answer C: 10 first places; 16 second places; 2 third places

    Remark: 0,5 arises when a player doesn't give a preference between 2 possibilities.
    Clearly it seems 3|2 is the most widely used time control for blitz. And again it seems 15|10 is a very widely used time control for rapid, but it looks like 25|10 is even more prefered (or perhaps it's just due to GMs prefering longer time controls).
  4. Standard memberRJHinds
    The Near Genius
    Fort Gordon
    Joined
    24 Jan '11
    Moves
    13644
    11 Jul '13 09:091 edit
    Originally posted by Marc Benford
    Yes, I already knew that, but it wasn't really what I was asking for. Sorry if I perhaps wasn't very clear.
    What I wanted to know was what are the most frequently used time controls (in real-life tournaments and/or online) in rapid, blitz and bullet games.
    For example : The time control 26|7 (26 minutes with an increment of 7 seconds per move) is very ven more prefered (or perhaps it's just due to GMs prefering longer time controls).
    Sorry, I can't really help you on that. Around here the 5 minute unrated seems the most popular. However, when the club has tournaments, it is a longer time control. I played in a couple and it seems too fast for me. I think they played 20 minute with 3 second delay, but I am not sure because I don't usually play in them. The other chess club that I went to played 15 minute games. I don't think they had any more time.

    The Instructor
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