In my experience, they have been as fast as 30 minutes per side, and as slow as 2 hours per side for the first 40 moves, then an hour sudden death.
Time controls in chess tournaments.
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Ok so it really depends on the tournament itself then ... But regardless of the time, do they all count on the same rating ? Or FIDE have a Blitz, Standard and Classic rankings ?
Not sure if it's clear ... 
National tournaments as in a tournament run by the national federation? They can be any time control.
National tournaments as in for the title of nation's champion? They'll be very long (probably ~2 hours per side).
WCC uses FIDE standard which is (IIRC) 90/30 for the first 40 moves, and you get an hour added to your clock after move 40 (still with the 30 second increment).
FIDE has separate ratings for blitz, rapid, and standard. I don't know where they draw the lines though.
In the United States games as fast as 30/0 will affect your standard rating... which is ludicrous to me but hey, they didn't ask me did they 
waffllemaster wrote:
FIDE has separate ratings for blitz, rapid, and standard. I don't know where they draw the lines though.
The minimum time controls at which FIDE will rate a game as a "standard" game are as follows:
"For a game to be rated, each player must have the following minimum periods in which to complete all the moves, assuming the game lasts 60 moves.
Where at least one of the players in the tournament has a rating 2200 or higher, each player must have a minimum of 120 minutes.
Where at least one of the players in the tournament has a rating 1600 or higher, each player must have a minimum of 90 minutes.
Where all the players in the tournament are rated below 1600, each player must have a minimum of 60 minutes."
Additionally, the World Rapidplay Championship time control is all moves in 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move, and the World Blitz Championship time control is all moves in 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move.
To answer the OP:
World Chess Championship, and quite a few of the elite super-GM tournaments: 2 hours for 40 moves, then 1 hour for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes for all further moves plus 30 seconds per move (starting at move 61).
Most other international events (see here: http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=39&view=category): 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes for all further moves plus 30 seconds per move (starting at move 1), also known as the FIDE standard time control.
National championships will obviously vary from country to country, but I'll give a couple of examples:
2013 Irish Championship: FIDE standard time control, although it had previously used something similar to the World Championship time control.
2013 British Championship: The official website only specifies a seven-hour session, presumably similar to the World Championship time control.
Weekend tournaments, which will be most relevant to club-level players: in the order of 90 minutes for all moves, or an increment-based equivalent.
Hope this helps.
Hello chess world.
I was wondering what are the time controls in real life chess tournaments ? Per exemple national tournaments or WCC. Are they blitz or is it much longer (~1h or +) ? Or it depends on the tournament ?
Thank you !