Chess Clock
Two big clocks for over-the-board games. Pick a time control, tap your side after each move, and the clock shows the flag when a player runs out of time.
Chart
Settings: players, time, names
How to use the chess clock
Pick a preset such as 5+0, 3+2 or 10+5, or set your own minutes and bonus in Settings. The first tap on either clock starts White's time. After each move, the player who just moved taps their own clock: it stops and the opponent's clock starts. The running clock is dark, the move number sits between the clocks, and each clock counts that player's moves.
On a phone the clocks sit above each other and the top one is turned upside down, so a phone lying between the players reads the right way for both. On a wider screen they sit side by side; Swap sides puts White on the other side. Pause stops the running clock, and tapping again continues. Undo takes back the last press with the time as it was.
For games with more than two players, use the board game timer, which gives every player a time bank.
Time controls, increment and delay
A time control written as 3+2 means 3 minutes on each clock plus a bonus of 2 seconds per move. This clock offers three kinds of bonus:
- Increment (Fischer): the bonus is added to your clock each time you finish a move, so time can build up if you move fast. The presets use this kind.
- Simple delay (US delay): at the start of each move your clock waits for the delay before it starts counting down. A move made within the delay costs no time, and unused delay is not saved.
- Bronstein delay: your clock runs from the start of the move, and when you finish the move you get back the time you used, up to the delay. You can never end a move with more time than you started it with.
When a clock reaches zero, a horn sounds, that clock shows Time is up and both clocks stop. What the flag means for the result depends on the rules you play by. Under 10 seconds the clock shows tenths of a second.
Keyboard shortcuts
- Space or Enter: end the move of the player whose clock is running (the first press starts White)
- Left Shift or A: the player on the left clock (the top one on a phone) ends their move
- Right Shift or L: the player on the right clock (the bottom one on a phone) ends their move
- P: pause or resume
- U or Ctrl+Z: undo the last press
- N: new game
- F: full screen
- M: sound on or off
With the Shift keys, each player can use their own side of one keyboard; a press on the clock that is not running is ignored.
Questions
Which preset should I pick?
Pick the time control you want to play. In the usual names, games with a few minutes each are called blitz and those with 1 or 2 minutes bullet, but the lines between them vary, so the presets are labelled only with minutes plus seconds.
Is the bonus added before or after the move?
On this clock the Fischer increment is added when you finish a move, so the first move of the game starts from the full base time. Some physical clocks add it at the start of the move instead.
Does the clock keep time if the screen locks?
Yes. The running clock is worked out from the moment the move started, so a locked screen or a refresh does not change the time. The game is saved in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.
Can I see how long each move took?
Yes. The table under the clock shows moves, average and longest move per player, the chart plots the seconds used on each move, and Download CSV saves every move with the time used and the clock after it.
More in Scores and games
Put this chess clock on your website
Free for classrooms, clubs, blogs and shops: paste this code into any page. It works the same inside your site, and counts stay in each visitor's own browser. For a dark version, add ?theme=dark after /chess-clock/ in the code.