Bronstein Delay
A time-control method in which the clock waits a fixed delay before counting down, and any unused delay time is added back to the player's remaining time.
Unlike a simple delay, where unused delay seconds are lost, Bronstein delay banks the unused portion back onto the main clock, so a player who moves quickly does not lose time overall. It is named for the mechanism's association with grandmaster David Bronstein.
Etymology
The term is named after the Soviet grandmaster David Bronstein, who is credited with inventing this timing method. Digital Game Technology's clock documentation dates his proposal to 1969, calling it the earliest proposal for adding extra time per move and noting that his method applies from the first move, that principal thinking time is reduced by the delay, and that unlike the FIDE and Fischer methods it is not possible to increase thinking time by playing quickly. The Chessprogramming wiki similarly records that Bobby Fischer and David Bronstein proposed a delay or increment of time for each move, and that Bronstein's time works similarly to Fischer's but never increases the remaining time; the schemes only became practical with the development of digital chess clocks in the 1970s and 1980s. In the Bronstein system the clock adds back only the time actually used during the move, up to the delay amount, so the main time can never grow. FIDE treats Bronstein delay and simple delay as mathematically equivalent and interchangeable, with simple delay favoured in the United States and Bronstein delay more common elsewhere.
First documented: 1969 — Digital Game Technology, Which extra time per move methods are there?, stating The earliest proposal (1969) came from IGM David Bronstein
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