What if chess was played without thinking of the time? What if you are watching a chess game where the players take their own sweet time in making a move? Not much fun, isn’t it? That’s because the element of suspense and anticipation is overly drawn. Enter the game clock. Also called a chess clock, it is also used in games like Scrabble.
A chess clock has two adjacent clocks with buttons to stop one clock while starting the other. Both clocks never run simultaneously. It is used in 2-player games where players take turns for their moves. It keeps track of the total time each player takes during their turn thereby ensuring that no one, wittingly or unwittingly, will delay the game. A game clock was first used in a chess match in London circa 1883.
And yes, the first game clocks were analog. These clocks were equipped with a “flag” that falls to indicate the exact moment the player’s time has expired. It has mechanical buttons that when pressed, will stop your clock and start the opponent’s clock. As all analog instruments, they’re not accurate. And additional time can’t easily be added when the game calls for it. Because of this, digital game clocks were developed. Initially, the digital clock had one mode: time ran forward. It could be reset but not set. But it addressed the issues against the analog counterpart: accuracy and matched timing.
Eventually, improvements on the digital game clocks suited the type of chess play. Take for instance the Fischer (derived from Bobby Fischer, an erstwhile world champion for chess) Time Control. The digital game clock gives each player a fixed time period at the game’s onset and adds a small amount after each move. Such instrument helps the game to finish faster than your usual game of chess. The Fischer’s Time Control is being used by a huge number of top class chess tourneys in 2004. By now, that number might have grown tremendously.
You may use a basic time control when you play chess. When your opponent’s time has run out, he loses. Usually, the game lasts from up to 7 hours to a short and speedy game of 30 to 60 minutes.
Do you need a chess clock for your chess game? Go here and get it as well as a chess computer to practice chess.. This article, Chess Clock: Starting the Game Right is released under a creative commons attribution license.
