From: Larry Kaufman <lkaufman <at> WIZARD <dot> NET>
Date: 13 jul 1997
Subject: Byo yomi

     In reply to various postings on this topic:
1) Time delay as now used is slightly different from the way it was done it
pro shogi, in that pro shogi counted only minutes, while modern digital
clocks count seconds.  So a 30 second delay means the first 30 seconds don't
count, not merely that the first 30 don't count.
2) Time delay differs from the Fischer method only in that moves played in
less than the delay don't result in an increase in remaining time.
3) The so-called Fischer method, also known as the increment or accumulation
method, was invented by me (not by Fischer) circa 1980 for use with the
Micromate digital chess clock.  We used it regularly in shogi then,
occasionally also in chess.  The delay method could not be employed on that
clock.  Although I invented increment, I now prefer delay, as I feel that it
is illogical for a player to be able to gain time by repeating position or
by playing waiting moves (this latter applies mostly to chess).
4) Although today's digital clocks do have warning beeps, the Chronos clock
out now does not permit the use of true time delay (as defined above) with
warning beeps when the total of remaining time + delay reaches a specified
figure.  I believe the USCF clock does do this (I am responsible for this),
but the beep on the current model is too quiet to be of much use except in
conditions of strict silence, which is not often the case in shogi events.
I have persuaded Chronos to add this feature, and have also requested that
Excalibur (maker of USCF clock) make the beep louder.


Larry Kaufman, 301-309-0904, 9213 Wooden Bridge Road, Potomac, Md. 20854