Bill Spight wrote:
I beg to differ on the question of time limits for alasala. For beginners, finishing a game in 30 min. or less is fine. Long time limits might drive him nuts waiting for his opponent to play. Maybe 10 min. main time with 2x0:15 byoyomi, Something that he would find appealing. 
Maybe I'm just a slow thinker, but in byomi, I'd have a very difficult time considering 3 candidate moves in 15 seconds. I've always found 30 seconds to be tight, but I play it largely because it's hard to get games with longer byomi times. That said, the main issue is that he play games that allow him enough time to actively consider his options rather than just playing instinctively, no?
And even with more time, he probably won't spend too much time waiting on his opponents. I've always had a preference for longer time limits, and one of the interesting things I find is that I am usually the only one using the extra time. My opponents often play a 30 min 5x0:30 byomi game like it was a 5 min main time game. Since I spend a comparatively larger fraction of my time reading out moves earlier in the game, it's always entertaining to play a game where my opponent realizes he is in trouble, finally starts to use his time to consider his position, but it's already too late to do anything about it
But then it's awful when my opponent plays a line I did not have the foresight to read, and I'm struggling in byomi while he can read it out at a leisurely pace...
