Chess Clock
This chess clock gives each player their own countdown: tap your side after you move, and the clock switches straight to your opponent. Set the minutes per player and an optional increment or delay, and it flags the moment either side reaches zero.
To start, the player who moves second taps their side.
Time control
Bullet
Blitz
Rapid
Classical
Custom
Options
Used when the clocks are stacked, on a phone or tablet held upright.
Keyboard: Space ends the running player's turn, and before the game it starts Player 1's clock. Player 1 can also press ← or ↓, and Player 2 → or ↑. P pauses and resumes; R resets while the clock is stopped.
How to use the clock
This is a free, digital chess clock — some players search for it as a chess timer — that works right in your browser, nothing to download. Set your time control, then put your phone, tablet or laptop on the table between the two of you. In over-the-board chess, the player with the black pieces starts White's clock; after that, each player stops their own clock right after moving, which starts the other one running.
Only one clock counts down at a time, and the side that is running is the one highlighted in cobalt. Tap your half of the screen, or use the keyboard, to end your turn. Pause stops both clocks for a question, a break or a dispute, and nothing is lost when you resume. When a clock hits zero, that side is shown as out of time — with a sound if you want it — and it is up to the players to record the result, same as with a physical clock.
Held upright on a phone or tablet, the two clocks stack, and the top one turns around to face the player across the table, so the device can lie flat between you; on a wider screen they sit side by side instead. Each side's move count is tracked automatically, the screen stays on while a clock is running wherever the browser allows it, and reloading mid-game picks up with the correct time left.
Time controls, increment and delay
A time control is written as two numbers, like 5+3: five minutes on the clock, plus three seconds added after every move. Those extra seconds are the increment — sometimes called Fischer time, after Bobby Fischer, who first proposed it — and they let a player who moves quickly bank a little time back, so a winning position isn't lost purely on the clock in the closing seconds. A control with no increment, such as 5+0, is sudden death.
Under FIDE's Laws of Chess, a blitz game gives each player ten minutes or less once the increment for sixty moves is counted in, and a rapid game gives more than ten but less than sixty; the presets here follow that rule, so 10+0 counts as blitz even though some sites list it as rapid. Bullet — under three minutes — isn't an official FIDE category, but it's the name everyone actually uses for the fastest games.
Some clubs prefer delay over increment, and this chess clock supports both. Simple delay pauses for a few seconds before counting down on each move; Bronstein delay counts down right away but gives back whatever time the move used, up to the delay amount. Either way, a player can't bank extra time. In the last ten seconds, the readout switches to tenths of a second — worth checking which rule a tournament or club is using before you set the clock.
Beyond chess
Any turn-based game where two players should each get a fair share of the clock can use this — draughts, Go, Scrabble, backgammon and plenty of other board games, plus practice rounds for a two-person debate. It doesn't know or enforce the rules of whatever's on the table; it only makes sure thinking time is charged to whoever's turn it is, and shows exactly how much each side has left.
Chess itself is genuinely popular across the Philippines, from barangay plazas and neighborhood parks to school and university teams, and the country has produced players who compete at world level, Wesley So among them. This clock is free, runs entirely in your browser with nothing to install and no account needed, and your last time control is remembered on your own device. For timing one long session instead of two players trading turns, the stopwatch or the timer is the simpler tool.
Questions and answers
How does a chess clock work?
It holds two separate countdowns, and only one runs at a time. After a player moves, they tap their own side, which stops their clock and starts their opponent's, so each player is only ever charged for their own thinking time.
What does 3+2 mean in chess?
Three minutes on each player's clock, plus two seconds added after every move. The first number is the minutes per player; the second is the increment, in seconds.
What's the difference between increment and delay?
Increment adds seconds to your clock after every move, so time you save can build up over a game. Delay just pauses for a few seconds before your clock starts counting down each move, and it never adds more than that, so you can't bank extra time.
Can two people share one phone as a chess clock?
Yes. Hold the phone upright and lay it flat on the table between you: the screen splits into two big halves, and the far half turns around to face your opponent. Each player just taps their own half after moving.
Magkano ang presyo ng chess clock dito sa Pilipinas?
This one's free and digital, so you don't need to buy anything to start playing — a physical chess clock for tournament play is a separate purchase, and prices vary a lot by brand and features.
What happens when a player's time runs out?
That player loses on time — called a flag fall — unless the opponent has no way at all to checkmate them, in which case the Laws of Chess call it a draw instead. The clock shows the flag; recording the result is up to the players.