blitz

  There are four types of regular (not wild or bughouse) chess played on this
chess server: Untimed, Lightning, Blitz and Standard. Details on how the clock
works are given under "help clocks".

  A game is "Blitz" if the expected duration of the game is between 3 and 15
minutes per player.  "Expected duration" (etime) determined by a formula that
takes into account both the Start time and the Increment (Inc) value assuming
40 moves are played.  Here is the formula:

     Expected duration = (Start + Inc*2/3)

Thus, a Blitz game is one that is expected to last between 3 and 15 minutes
for each player (or from 6 to 30 minutes combined).  Lightning games are those
with expected durations less than 3 minutes per player, while Standard games
are those with expected durations ot at least than 15 minutes per player.

  The following table shows the dividing lines between Blitz and Lightning on
the one hand and Blitz and Standard on the other hand. those two types of
matches.   [Thanks to schwartzeer for the original calculations between Blitz
and Standard.  :)  ]

    Slowest Lightning   Fastest Blitz       Slowest Blitz     Fastest Standard
   ------------------------------------    -----------------------------------
      Mins  Incr         Mins  Incr           Mins  Incr         Mins  Incr
   ------------------------------------    -----------------------------------
        0     4            0    5              0    22            0    23
        1     2            1    3              1    20            1    21
        2     1            2    2              2    19            2    20
       --------            3    0              3    17            3    18
                                               4    16            4    17
                                               5    14            5    15
                                               6    13            6    14
                                               7    11            7    12
                                               8    10            8    11
                                               9     8            9     9
                                              10     7           10     8
                                              11     5           11     6
                                              12     4           12     5
                                              13     2           13     3
                                              14     1           14     2
                                              --------           15     0

  For example, a game with a Start of 2 minutes will be Blitz if the Increment
is from 2 to 19; but it will be Lightning with an Inc of 0 or 1 and Standard
if the Inc is 20 or higher.  To match a user for blitz, just use appropriate
vales for Start and Inc.  For example: match Solid 2 12.

  You can list logged on users according to their Blitz ratings by typing "who
b" (by default, ratings in 'who' listings will be blitz unless you specifiy
otherwise).  "Blitz" is also a variable that can be used in formulas in order
to screen match requests.

SPECIAL NOTES:

(a) Bughouse, Crazyhouse, Wild and Suicide Chess games can be played at
different time controls, but there are no distinctions made in rating
these games.  Only 'regular' chess games have lightning, blitz and
standard designations.

(b) If Start is zero (0), the player will start with 10 seconds to begin the
match.

See Also:  bughouse  clocks  crazyhouse  formula  lightning  match  standard
           suicide_chess  untimed  who  wild

[Last modified: May 27, 1999 -- pgv]