From: SalvaAC AOL COM Date: 20 apr 2000 Subject: And the beep goes on... Hi, My own preference with the clocks is to have the audible warnings. Most of the time if I'm byoyomi, I've already chosen my probable move (right or not) and am just trying to play out the variation in my head as far as I can. I can time my physically moving the piece and hit the clock because I'm not having to glance back and forth to check if I have five or three seconds left. Hey - at least the clocks don't do tenths of a second yet. I wonder if much of this discussion is related to our individual backgrounds. I was never a chess player (or any other game) as far as tournament type things go. I haven't grown up with the custom of keeping things really quiet and all that. Even in our smaller tournaments here, unless there's the uproarious conversation nearby, the occasional comment over someone else's board doesn't bother me. We all usually get a chuckle out of it anyway. I wonder too if it's a matter of what one plays for. I enjoy getting together and seeing friends I haven't seen in awhlie (I've been quite inactive lately), even in a tournament setting. The tournaments give me that extra desire to play my absolute best, rather than just a casual game where we can have a laugh over consecutive moves hanging major pieces. Tony