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<P>I've done some tweaking to the time control setting I previously proposed. After running through some examples, I consider the following setting to be good for setting an average pace of 3 moves per week.</P> <PRE> Spare Time: 7 days Grace Time: 32 hours Extra Time: 24 hours Bonus Time: 8 hours Bonus Period: 24 hours </PRE> <P>These settings will accomodate a pace of three moves per week, so long as each move is made on a different day. It will work for three adjacent days, such as Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, or for three nonadjacent days, such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Let me explain how it works for each example. If someone moves Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, he can gain enough time to coast until next Friday. He will need five days of time. He uses 1 1/3 days in grace time, gets 2/3 in bonus time, and gets 3 in extra time. These add up to 5 days. If a player moves Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the same time each day, grace time and extra time for a single move are sufficient for the two 48 hour intervals, and there will be at least 16 hours of extra time left over. Combine this with 32 hours grace time and 24 more hours of extra time, and you have 72 hours, enough time to go from Friday to next Monday. These calculations all presume that your opponent moves immediately after you each time. Odds are good that this won't happen, which will allow you to maintain this pace with time to spare or to move at a slower pace. Also, if you keep up a pace of at least 4 moves per week, you will gain time every week.</P> <P>Antoine proposes that players should have the option of mutually raising their sparetime. I don't think this is necessary. If two players in a game are both in need of more time, they can cooperate together to both use their time more efficiently. For example, if each player made full use of his gracetime and extratime for each move, they could reduce their pace to 1 move every 4 2/3 days.</P> <P>Regarding illegal moves, I don't think it is necessary to make any special provisions for them. First of all, Game Courier makes it easy to take back an illegal move. Second, given that you don't have to think long about your move when you're taking back an illegal move, the person who makes an illegal move is the one more likely to lose time. Therefore, there is no incentive for intentionally making an illegal move.</P> <P>While on the subject, there should be a rule against taking back a move unless it is an illegal move. After all, this will be a tournament.</P>