Stories and curiosities
Chess Clocks: From Hourglasses to the Fischer Increment
· 6 min read
In short
- The first mechanical chess clocks were used at a tournament in London in 1883. Before then, players used hourglasses.
- Bobby Fischer filed a patent in 1988 for a digital clock that adds a small amount of time after every move. It was first used in the 1992 match between Fischer and Spassky.
- A commonly used FIDE classical standard gives players 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment from the first move.
- Time is judged differently in chess than in a race: the fastest player does not win, but a player can lose by running out of time.
Chess is a sport in which time is not measured in hundredths of a second, yet it can determine the result just as decisively as the board and pieces. A player who runs out of time will generally lose even with a better position, although the result is a draw if the opponent cannot deliver checkmate.
Hourglasses and London 1883
Players originally tracked thinking time with hourglasses, which were inaccurate because their performance changed with temperature and humidity. Mechanical chess clocks were first used at a tournament in London in 1883. Invented by Thomas Bright Wilson and Joseph Henry Blackburne, they consisted of two clocks side by side, linked so that a player stopped their own clock and started the opponent’s after making a move: while one clock runs, the other remains stopped.
The Fischer Increment
In 1988, Bobby Fischer filed a patent for a digital chess clock that adds a small amount of time after every move. This increment helps prevent games from ending in frantic scrambles over the final few seconds. The clock was first used in the 1992 match between Fischer and Spassky and quickly became widespread; it was also used at the 1998 FIDE World Championship.
Bronstein Delay
Another system is the Bronstein delay, named after grandmaster David Bronstein. After making a move, you receive back the time you spent on it, up to a specified maximum such as five seconds. Unlike the Fischer increment, this time does not accumulate.
The FIDE Standard and Playing Speed
At a joint ACP and FIDE meeting in Athens in July 2005, a standard for official tournaments was proposed: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment for every move from the first. Alongside classical chess are faster formats such as rapid and blitz, which use shorter time controls.
Comparison with Racing
Chess does not compare the players’ elapsed times; instead, each player uses their own time in turn. Racing is the opposite: competitors’ elapsed times are compared. In both cases, however, the timing rules must be clear in advance. Timekeeping Standards explains how the rules differ among sports.
What Organizers Can Learn from This
As in chess, organizers of running and cycling events need clear timing rules recorded in both the race regulations and the software. Examples of preventable problems are available in Curiosities and Race Timing Mistakes. TAQIO helps you keep results and timing under control.
Frequently asked questions
When were chess clocks first used?
Mechanical chess clocks were first used at a tournament in London in 1883. They were invented by Thomas Bright Wilson and Joseph Henry Blackburne. Before then, players used hourglasses.
What is the Fischer increment?
It is a clock system that adds a fixed amount of time to a player’s remaining time after every move. Bobby Fischer filed a patent for a digital clock using this mechanism in 1988, and it was first used in his 1992 match against Boris Spassky.
What is Bronstein delay?
It is a system in which a player receives back the time used for a move, up to a specified maximum. It is named after grandmaster David Bronstein.
What is the standard time control in classical chess?
A commonly used FIDE standard proposed at a joint ACP and FIDE meeting in Athens in 2005 gives players 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move from the first move.