30-minute cut in chess time control

According to the new rule, the first 40 moves are to be made in 90 minutes and then the game should be completed in the next 20 minutes with each move getting additional 30 seconds.

At the same time the Fide Presidential Board reposed its faith in the current knockout World champoinship format and agreed in principle to continue with it for the time being.

Chess Players Association president Valeri Salov said the majority of the board was in favour of reducing the time limit, though he himself was against it. Curiously, one of his proposals for converting the World championship into a series of Grand Prix events, was not discussed at all.

At the same time, Fide has agreed in principle to change the World women’s championship format in accordance with former World Women’s Championshipchallenger Nana Alexandria’s proposal. The proposal was to have a World Cup and two Grand Prix events, all to be played under the knockout system. They will all be awarded Grand Prix points and the top eight players will again play a knockout tournament of quarterfinals and semifinals of four games eachbefore the six-game final to decide the world women’s champion. The prize fund for the entire eight-player World championship is estimated to be 210000 US dollars with the champion taking home $ 80,000.

The idea behind reducing the time limit from two hours to 90 minutes in all chess competitions is to shorten the time for a game. This change is expected to end a game in four hours, two hours for each player. The decision is likely to be debated among the players for sometime. Fide sources said the tiebreak system for World championship will not be touched.

Fide received two main proposals on time limit before the board meeting from Alexie Shirov and Eugenne Torre. Shirov proposed a game of 50 minutes for each player plus 15 seconds addition for each move. Eugenne Torre recommended 40 minute games (for each player) plus 30 seconds incremental time per move.

Shirov, who is scheduled to meet Vishwanathan Anand in the World championship finals in Teheran next week, called the seven-hour normal game, `slow chess’ in his proposal. “The organisers get frustrated by many short draws on the big GM level and keep organising the slow chess tournaments only because the rapid events are not in the Fide rating system,” argues Shirov, who feels the rapid games are not only more attractive for the organisers and the public but it would improve players’ concentration and self-discipline.

WORLD CHESS CONCLUDES: The curtain came down on the World women’s chess championship on Saturday with a simple closing ceremony in which world women’s champion Xie Jun of China was given her prize and title. Union Minister for Power Suresh P Prabhu was the chief guest of the occasion in which Fide president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Fide vice-president and All India Chess Federation secretary PT Ummer Koya and All India Chess Federation president Dhruw Sawhney were pesent on the occasion.