Friday, August 16, 2019

Slow Rapids

So my new idea is to play more rapid. I want to get to 200 classical games still, but also I'd like to focus on my rapid game which will presumably give me a lot more games to play and let me focus on just GETTING GAMES IN! So I want to find out the slowest possible time control on lichess that still is classified as "rapid." I found this information on lichess' message board:

Assuming a time control of M minutes with S increment in seconds:

1 M = 60 seconds
1 S = 40 seconds

Basically, for every base minute add 60 seconds and for every increment-second, add 40 seconds. You'll use that sum in conjunction with this table to get lichess' time control classification:

0:01-0:29 = Ultrabullet
0:30-2:59 = Bullet
3:00-7:59 = Blitz
8:00-24:59 = Rapid
25:00+ = Classical

Let's say you have a 5|5 game That's 5 minutes of game time plus 5 seconds increment per move, or 5M + 5S. From the above assignments, that would be 5*60 + 5*40 = 500 seconds, or 8:20 which fits under the rapid category.

So my quest is to know all comfortably slow time controls that are still considered rapid in lichess. This way I can still take as much time as possible even though they're technically rapid. I'm reeeeally trying to find every edge, probably for little actual value ;) So I have to get as close to the 24:59 sum as possible. Let's just shoot for 25:00 to simplify the math then I can drop a second of increment to get within the range. 

Let's start with a base of 10 minutes. That would give me 15:00 more to work with to calculate the increment time. That's 900 seconds and if I divide that by 40 to get the necessary increment, it's 22.5 so we have to say 22 seconds. So with a base start time of 10 minutes, I can do a maximum of 22s increment to stay within rapid. I'd imagine after playing a few quick opening moves, a 10|22 game wouldn't feel wildly different from a 15|15 game that I'm more used to.

I did a few more so here's an overview for rapid time controls that would be on the extreme slow end. This should be read as base time plus the maximum increment that will still classify the game as rapid:

5|29 (minimum of 5 seconds of increment)
6|28 (minimum of 4 seconds of increment)
7|26 (minimum of 2 seconds of increment)        
8|25 
9|23
10|22
11|20
12|19
13|17
14|16
15|14
20|7

Again, 5|29 is rapid, but if you play a 5|30 game, that is technically classified as a classical game! I'll grant that this chart is a bit specific because, most probably, you won't find a lot of 6|28 games. But it is helpful for those more common 5, 8, 10, 12, or 15-minute base games that pop up in the lobby. So if you see a 5|25 game available, you'll know that's technically a rapid game! Or a 10|20, 12|15, 15|10, or 20|5 game! 

So in conclusion, since I'm going to start working on my rapid rating, why not try to milk as much time as possible for these games?! I mean technically a 5 minute game with 5 seconds increment is rapid, but if there is a 5|25 game available too, isn't it good to know that they're both classified as the same type of game?! Oh well, this at least wasted some time for me at work....

No comments:

Post a Comment

My SECOND OTB Tournament Experience!

Allright, it's time for another tournament! Six months since my last one, no thanks to a certain variant of a certain virus which shall ...