Dear all,

I recently started to play correspondence games, since with my job and my family I almost never find the undisturbed time I need to play real-time. And I really think OGS is great...
However, I really like how the time affetcs the play in real-time games, and it sometimes feels odd to simply defer a decision on a move during a correspondence game for one or two day. Usually I don't spend more time on a move in a correspondence game than I do in an online game. Excpet for when it gets really difficult.
Now I am thinking if a certain type of hybrid time control would allow to play correspondence games with a little bit more "real-time feel" to it.
This could work as this: You have two timers, one that counts until you have to make your next move (as the conventional Fischer time, with 3 days initial time, 1 day increment per move and a cap at 7 days). This timer would just be used so that the game does not last forever.
Then there would be second timer with the actual "thinking-time". This could be something like 30 minutes total time plus 5x20 seconds byo-yomi.

Now, if the opponent finishes his move, the first clock starts running and you get a notification that the opponent has moved, but you don't actually see the move on the board, but you have a button like "show opponents move". Once you hit this button, the opponent move is shown and the second timer starts running.
Now you essentially have to make the move within the same time constraints as you would on a real-time game. If either of the two timers run out, you lose on time.

Please apologize if this something that has already been discussed several times... But I think it would be great to have something like this.

I havee never seen this idea and I appreciate the motivation, unfortunately it's possible to abuse the rules pretty badly. If I have a forcing move that my opponent must answer in a particular way, then I can start the clock, see my opponent's move, interject a forcing move, then spend a day thinking before I show my opponent's response (because I already know what it will be)

In fact, this point was a key issue in a sealed move during Honinbo Shusai's retirement game against Kitani Minoru.

The protocol might be viable in spite of that, but it is vulnerable to manipulation.

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Occupy Babel!

In correspondence games I like to take a lot of time on many moves, even in the early opening. I like to think about how the game could proceed in a general way, large scale reading, as well as local detailed reading. With a 3 day limit for a move I might well take a couple of hours of actual thinking about almost every move, spread over two or three days. If someone objected to playing so slowly I'd say set up a faster time scheme at the time the conditions of the game were negotiated. 60+ years ago I used to play correspondence chess with people overseas and exchange of moves was done by postcard via regular mail so it could take a week from the time I sent a move and my opponent received it.