TO Rules in a Tournament

I put this in another thread but thought it might get more notice this way:

I am in the Rookie Rapid Fire Tournament and have a little problem. The TO for the game is 1 day. Now, I normally play long games and, even with the TO of 7, I don't claim the win until after 30 days. I figure by then, if you weren't on vacation of course, something is preventing you from returning at all. Anyway, my opponent has already TO'd after the first moves. Again, I normally don't give a rat's behind, but I don't know what the ethics are in bogging down a super fast tournament with my relaxed attitude. Any advice on how this is normally handled around here? Thanks.

--SmittyG

Originally posted by SmittyG
I put this in another thread but thought it might get more notice this way:

I am in the Rookie Rapid Fire Tournament and have a little problem. The TO for the game is 1 day. Now, I normally play long games and, even with the TO of 7, I d ...[text shortened]... how this is normally handled around here? Thanks.

--SmittyG

I'm under the impression the general opinion in tournaments is:
Take the time out when available.

Indeed, there was a rumor that Russ/Chris (developers of the site) were making tournament timeouts automatic. I don't know if that's been implemented yet.

Some reasons:
1) Tournaments are competitive, and time constraints are an important part of the game.

2) Not taking them can be a pain for OTHER players, who have to patiently wait months and months for the non-t/o-takers to meander through their games. Given that the second round of a tourney won't start until ALL the games of the first round are done, enforcing t/o rules can ensure a given tournament doesn't grind to a halt because one player abandoned a game and his/her opponent won't take the t/o.

3) If you don't take a t/o against a given opponent and the rest of the players in your group do, they get "free" wins compared to you and you've got a chance of being knocked out of the tourname even if you are playing better and have more "real" wins.
Hope that helps.

mag

Very sound arguments. That's pretty much was I figured, but I wanted to confirm before I broke a house rule/policy. Thanks for the reply.

--SmittyG