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Chess Clock
Put the phone or tablet between two players. Tap your half when you have moved: your clock stops and your opponent’s starts. Works for chess, Go, Scrabble or any turn-based game.
How to use it
- Pick a time control: 1+0 means one minute each with no increment; 3+2 means three minutes plus two seconds added after every move.
- Lay the device flat between the players. The top half is upside down so each player reads their own side.
- The player with Black taps their half to start White’s clock.
- After each move, tap your own half. A click confirms the press.
- The pause button in the middle stops both clocks; Reset sets up a new game.
Increment and delay
Fischer increment adds a fixed number of seconds to your clock after every move you complete, so playing quickly can gain you time. It is the usual setting online and in most tournaments: 3+2 and 10+5 are increment controls.
Simple delay (often called US delay) gives you a few free seconds at the start of each turn before your main time starts to run. Move within the delay and you lose no time, but unused delay is not saved.
With either set to zero, the game is sudden death: when your time is gone, your flag falls and the clock shows which side ran out.
Questions people ask
Who presses the clock first?
By convention the player with the black pieces starts the clock, which begins White’s time. Here that means tapping the half that is not going to move first.
What do the presets mean?
The first number is minutes per player; the second is seconds added per move. 1+0 is bullet, 3+2 and 5+0 are blitz, 10+5 and 15+10 are rapid.
Can I correct a wrong press?
Pause the clock and agree what to do with your opponent. The clock does not take back a press, to keep accidental touches from changing times mid-game.
Does the screen stay on?
While the clock is running the page asks the device to keep the screen awake. If your browser does not support that, raise your auto-lock time for the game.