Chess clock Chess clock A chess clock consists of two adjacent clocks with buttons to stop one clock while starting the other, so that the two clocks never run simultaneously. Chess clocks are used in chess and other two-player games where the players move in turn. The purpose is to keep track of the total time each player takes for their own moves, and ensure that neither player overly delays the game. Chess clocks were first used extensively in tournament chess, and are often called game clocks. The first time that game clocks were used in a chess tournament was in the
Chess tournament The three main types of time controls used in chess tournaments are "blitz", "standard", and "compensation". In blitz chess (also known as "sudden death" chess) each player starts with a fixed amount of time to spend on their moves of the game. The FIDE Handbook designates the following common blitz time controls: Blitz time controls increase the odds that one would "lose on time", meaning a forfeiture of the game due to the expiration of one's chess clock. Blitz tournaments are often documented with the notation "G/5" or "G/15", meaning "game in 5" and "game in 15", respectively. Standard time