Online Chess Clock
A free digital chess timer for two people at a real board.
Tap either half to start. White moves first.
Space switches, P pauses. Press R twice to reset.
Presets
Custom time control
Minutes 1–180, increment 0–60 seconds.
Adds the increment to your clock after every completed move.
Options
The link carries the time control, so both players can open the same setup.
How to Use the Chess Clock
Two huge tap zones, one per player, with an option to rotate the far half so it reads the right way up from across the board. Pick a preset, set the phone down between you and play.
- Pick a time control — tap a preset, or set your own minutes, increment and timing method.
- Lay the phone or tablet flat between you, with the board in front of it. Turn on "Rotate the far half" in Options and your opponent's side reads the right way up from where they sit.
- Tap either half to start. White's clock runs first, exactly as on a physical clock — after a reset the sides swap, and the line under the clock says who starts.
- Make your move on the board, then tap your own half of the screen. That ends your turn and starts your opponent's. Tapping the other half does nothing.
- Under thirty seconds the running half changes colour, and under ten seconds the display switches to tenths. Turn on sound or vibration if you want a warning without looking.
- Use pause to stop both clocks for an interruption, and reset to start the next game with the colours swapped.
Everything runs in your browser. No account, no upload, nothing recorded — your last time control is remembered on this device and nowhere else.
Increment, Delay, and the Difference Between Them
Every serious clock offers three ways of handing time back, and they are not interchangeable. This one does all three.
Fischer increment
The increment is added to your clock after your move is complete. Move faster than the increment and your clock grows, which is why online chess almost always uses it — a technically won endgame stays winnable. Named for Bobby Fischer, who patented the idea in 1988.
Bronstein delay
Your clock counts down normally, and at the end of the move you get back exactly what you spent, up to the delay. Spend one second of a three-second Bronstein and you get one second back; spend ten and you get three. The net effect matches simple delay, but the display counts down straight away.
Simple delay
Also called US delay. Your clock does not move at all until the delay has run out, so a five-second delay gives you five free seconds every turn. Unused delay is never banked, which means your total time can only fall. This is the system used by US Chess and by most Bronstein-capable tournament clocks set to delay mode.
Which Time Control Should You Pick?
The right time control is the one where both players still enjoy the last ten moves. As a rough guide:
- Bullet
- One or two minutes each. Almost pure reflex, and a fine decider at the end of a long session — but punishing for anyone still learning how the pieces move.
- Blitz
- Three to five minutes each. Long enough for a short tactic, short enough that a club evening fits a dozen games in. 3+2 and 5+3 are the friendliest starting points, because the increment stops a won position being lost to fumbling with the pieces.
- Rapid
- Ten to fifteen minutes each. The sweet spot for a serious game over lunch, and the format most club and online rapid events use. 15+10 leaves room for a real endgame.
- Classical
- Thirty minutes or more per player. This is where you can genuinely calculate. 90+30 is the FIDE standard for a rated game, and the thirty-second increment means the endgame gets played properly instead of scrambled.
How Tournament Chess Clocks Work
A tournament chess clock is two clocks that can never run at the same time. Pressing your lever stops your clock and starts your opponent's, which is why the move and the press are one action: you move with one hand and press with the same hand, and the move is not finished until the clock is pressed.
Arbiters set the increment or delay on the clock itself before the round, and it applies from move one. When a player's display reaches zero the flag falls; under the FIDE Laws of Chess the game is lost, unless the opponent could not checkmate by any legal sequence of moves, in which case it is a draw. Only a player on the move, or an arbiter, may claim a flag fall.
Longer events often use more than one time control in a single game — say ninety minutes for forty moves, then thirty minutes for the rest, with a thirty-second increment throughout. This tool covers the single-period controls that cover almost every club game and casual match; for a multi-period control, set the second period by hand when the first one ends.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this chess clock free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no advert and no paid tier, and the clock runs entirely in your browser — no game data leaves the device. Add the page to your home screen and it opens like an app.
What does increment mean in chess?
An increment is a fixed amount of time added to your clock every time you complete a move. In a 5+3 game each player starts with five minutes and gains three seconds per move, so making moves quickly can grow your clock instead of only shrinking it. It exists to stop good positions being decided by who can press faster.
What is the difference between increment and delay?
An increment is added after your move and is yours to keep. A delay is spent first and is never banked: with a five-second delay your clock simply does not move for the first five seconds of every turn, and anything you do not use disappears. Fischer increment can grow your total time; Bronstein and simple delay never can.
What happens when a player runs out of time?
The clock stops, that player's side turns red and the page says who lost on time. Under FIDE rules the opponent wins, unless they have no way at all to deliver checkmate, in which case the game is drawn. Nothing goes below zero, so there is no argument about how late the flag fell.
Does it stay accurate if I switch apps or the screen locks?
It stays exact. The clock never counts down in steps — it records the moment your turn began and works out the remaining time from your device's clock, so a minute spent in another app costs you exactly one minute. Clocks that subtract a fixed amount on a timer lose time whenever the browser throttles that timer, which is most of the time on a phone.
Will it stop my phone going to sleep?
Yes, on browsers that support the screen wake lock — the clock asks for one automatically while a game is running and re-acquires it whenever you come back to the tab. Where the browser has no wake lock the timing is still correct; only the screen dims. The fullscreen button hides the browser chrome so a stray tap cannot navigate away mid-game.