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Chess Clocks
Chess
games played at tournaments involve using a chess clock in addition to
the chess board and pieces. Each player must make his moves without
exceeding the time limit. In past years, no chess clocks were used, even
on top class competitions. The clock is a fair solution for players to
have an equal amount of time to spend on thinking.
There are two common types of chess clocks: the traditional (analog or
digital) clock and Fischer-clock. The traditional chess clock has two
time counters, one for each player. After a player makes his move, he
pushes a button which stops his counter and starts the opponent's one.
This procedure continues until the end of the game. In analog clocks
there is a flag that will fall if time is over for one player, while a
digital clocks will beep to denote that. The Fischer-clock, proposed and
named after former World Champion Grandmaster Robert Fischer (a totally
enigmatic and admirable chess personality), 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 made. This helps prevent players from running
into time-trouble.
The negotiated time controls are in relevance with the chess clock used.
Time controls may differ from game to game. Players need to take into
account the time controls announced when a tournament is to take place.
Typical examples are: "two hours for the whole game", "one and half an
hour for the first 40 moves and one hour for the rest", "two hours for
the first 40 moves and half an hour for every 20 moves thereafter", "one
hour and 15-seconds-added-per-move for the whole game (requires a
Fischer-clock)".
Shorter time controls give chess games different names. A standard game
usually has a time limit of two hours or more. A rapid game falls in the
range of 20-45 minutes and a blitz game in the range 5-15 minutes. There
are even shorter time controls, for example 3 minutes per game or 1
minute per game (sometimes referred to as "lightning" or "bullet", can
only be played online); one that is not very familiar with chess will
find them exhausting.
But what happens if a player fails to complete his moves in time? In
general, he loses the game. There is an exception here: if the player
who still has time does not have sufficient material to win, then the
game is drawn. In addition, a player who would normally win the game,
had he enough 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. For
example, what happens if both players run out of time? This may actually
happen some time, for a player may not notice his opponent's flag fell
until his own does too. Well, the game is drawn. In most tournaments
players are responsible for checking their opponent's time; in others
the arbiter may indicate a flag fall as well. These details are indeed
of minor importance and rules are reconsidered every now and then.
What is really important is the way a player uses his time. One should
try to avoid getting into time trouble; it is at least annoying and
leads to bad results. One should also try not to play too quickly, or he
takes the risk of blundering something. Use of time should be rational.
If two 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 lengthy, he may play a bit
more fast. 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 more time. In practical chess it is
always good to have more time available than the opponent has, or at
least about the same. And it is necessary to always to keep an eye on
the clock.
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