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Welcome to USCF's Correspondence Chess Forum. We frequently offer a topic for discussion but welcome comments related to any topic already in the CC Forum. We do insist that the tone of the comments be offered and presented in a professional manner. USCF has sole discretion regarding comments not being appropriate for posting on its' website. This area is an excellent opportunity for Correspondence Chess players to be heard and be involved in making USCF Correspondence Chess even better.

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The new topic for discussion is:

If a player exceeds his reflection time, should he lose regardless of the event he is participating in? Currently, except in the Absolute Championship and Golden Knight Finals rounds, players overstepping the time control are placed on warning and a reflection time penalty is issued. If the player violates the time rules again, a ruling of forfeiture in most cases is issued. Should this be changed?

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Current topic

Comments received related to: Forfeit on a first time overstep.

Tom Hart writes, "I'd enroll on the side of overstepping-time-means-immediate forfeiture. One doesn't get a new clock in an OTB game if one's flag falls, and keeping players moving steadily along is critically important to me. I HATE having to wait endlessly, and the time allotted seems ample and flexible already, with time-outs allowed, etc."

Robert Collier noted, "Anybody who cannot make at least one move in four days shouldn't be in an e-mail tournament, so I think anyone who doesn't make their move within a four day period without an emergency reason, should be dropped from a tournament and their game forfeited."

Comments received related to: Thematic events

Tom Hart wrote, "I like the idea of thematic tournaments - why not offer a menu of openings and let the players choose? You could offer certain openings, or variations within openings, and responding players could be asked to list their top three choices, so if, for example, it looked like a long wait for someone to get into a slowly-filling Slav section, he or she could be placed in a second c3 Sicilian that was more popular.

I'm not familiar with how thematic tournaments are run, but I suppose everyone plays both white and black in the variation (against different players, I would suppose), and that the games all start two or three moves along? Anyhow, it sounds like fun, and a good way to study - though I'd never want to abandon regular postal entirely, since the surprise factor in openings is a real plus."

(Note from the Correspondence Chess Director, Joan DuBois. Our time control is 10/30 which allows each player an average of three days per move. I'm leaving the topic for this month the same as I would like to hear more from the players on this. JD)

Prior Topics in the Correspondence Chess Forum

October 1997 - Reflection Time
September 1997 - Time Forfeits
July 1997 - Downtime Claims
May 1997 - Reflection Time: Should Time Controls be Changed?

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This page was last updated November 19, 1997