Chess Clocks - How To Use Them

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by ron king

It is a well known fact that chess players who compete at tournaments must play efficiently and rapidly. At tournaments players have a short amount of time to plan their move and they are aided by the chess game clock. The chess clock was not used in the old days, yet it is hard now to find a chess competition, amateur or professional alike, that does not practice chess clock rules.

There are 2 common versions of chess clocks--the traditional (analog or digital) clock and Fischer-clock. The traditional chess clock has 2 time counters, 1 for each player. After a player makes his move, he pushes down a button which completly stops his counter and starts the opponent's. This procedure repeats until the end of the game. In analog clocks there is a flag that will wave if time is over for one player, while digital clocks will beep to signal that. The Fischer-clock, proposed and named after former World Champion Grandmaster Robert Fischer, is used in a similar way. The difference is that a constant amount of time (say 5 or 10 seconds) is added after every move. This assists players from running into time-trouble.

The negotiated time controls are in relevance with the chess game clock used. Time controls may vary from game to game. Players need to take into account the time controls declared when a tournament is to be entered.

Various time controls give chess games different names. A standard game most commonly has a time limit of 2 hours or more. A speedy game take place in the range of 20-45 minutes, and a blitz game in the range 5-15 minutes. There are even shorter time controls, such as 3 minutes per game or 1 minute per game, commonly referred to as 'lightning' or 'bullet', usually only played online. One that is not so familiar with chess will find them draining.

But what happens in case a player fails to complete his move in time? Commonly, he loses the game. There is an exception--if the player who still has time does not have enough material to win, then the game is drawn. Adding to this, a player who would generally win the game, had he sufficient time, may call the arbiter and ask for a draw. The arbiter will check the position and make his decision. There are several issues regarding time controls but they are usually tournament-specific. In the majority of tournaments, players are responsible for checking their opponent's time; in others the arbiter may point to a flag fall as well. These details are indeed of minor importance and chess clock rules are reconsidered every now and then.

What is mostly important is the way a player makes use of his time. A player ought to try to avoid getting into trouble. One must try playing slower, or he takes the risk in blundering. Use of time must be logical. If 2 hours are available for the whole game, this makes about 3 minutes per move (assuming a game is averaging about 40 moves). If one feels that the game is going to be rather long, he might play a bit faster. Early moves usually require little thought and some moves are more or less automatic. On the contrary, difficult situations will require more thinking and thus additional time. In practical chess it is always advantageous to have more time available than the opponent has. Most of all it is vital to look at the chess game clock and abide by the chess clock rules.

For more info, check out the articles at Learn Chess Now or Chess Basics. Ron King is a web developer; visit his website Authoring Articles.

Copyright 2008 Ron King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact and the links live.

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