How does time and the clock work in lichess? • page 1/1 • General Chess Discussion • lichess.org

DominickP1JW

I’m newbie to chess. I don’t understand all the nuances of setting time and what the displays mean whil playing a game. Where can I find basic information on time keeping in chess. I can’t believe I’ve waited 71 years to learn this amazing game. Thanks for sharing.

DarkForestNoWayOut edited

Welcome, @DominickP1JW!

The clock is to make sure that people make their moves in a reasonable amount of time instead of just refusing to move when they're losing. When it's your turn, your clock ticks down (but not on your opponent's turn). When your time hits 0, you automatically lose (or draw if your opponent doesn't have enough pieces to checkmate you). So it's important to budget your time so that you can play out the whole game without letting the clock hit 0.

You'll also see that setting the desired time for a game comes with 2 numbers, in the format X + Y. This is called the "time control". The first number is how many minutes you start with on your clock. The second number is called "increment". Increment is how many seconds are added to your clock every time you finish making a move. (The idea of increment was brought to chess by Bobby Fischer). A lot of people like to play with increment because it makes your clock time adjust to how many turns the game runs for.

Different time controls are placed in different time formats. Lichess has ultrabullet, bullet, blitz, rapid, and classical. Generally, ultrabullet is under a minute, bullet is about 1-2 minutes, blitz is 5-8 minutes, rapid is 8-20 minutes, and classical can be several hours. This isn't a hard and fast rule, because the amount of increment also affects which category it would go in. There's also correspondence, where you can take several days between turns, which allows you to play when you have a tight schedule and can only play a few moves every now and then. Each time format has a separate elo score, as they are considered different enough to basically be different game variants (since they require different approaches to playing). (Elo scores are the number that appears next to your username when you play. When you win, you get more Elo. Usually, if you play people who are within about 50 Elo points of you, you should be around the same skill level. Your Elo will fluctuate a lot more when you are new, but it should stabilize after a few games).

I would recommend classical for a new player, as it gives you the most time to think through your moves.

Hope you have fun!
"Life is too short for chess, but that is the fault of life, not chess.”

Welcome, @DominickP1JW! The clock is to make sure that people make their moves in a reasonable amount of time instead of just refusing to move when they're losing. When it's your turn, your clock ticks down (but not on your opponent's turn). When your time hits 0, you automatically lose (or draw if your opponent doesn't have enough pieces to checkmate you). So it's important to budget your time so that you can play out the whole game without letting the clock hit 0. You'll also see that setting the desired time for a game comes with 2 numbers, in the format X + Y. This is called the "time control". The first number is how many minutes you start with on your clock. The second number is called "increment". Increment is how many seconds are added to your clock every time you finish making a move. (The idea of increment was brought to chess by Bobby Fischer). A lot of people like to play with increment because it makes your clock time adjust to how many turns the game runs for. Different time controls are placed in different time formats. Lichess has ultrabullet, bullet, blitz, rapid, and classical. Generally, ultrabullet is under a minute, bullet is about 1-2 minutes, blitz is 5-8 minutes, rapid is 8-20 minutes, and classical can be several hours. This isn't a hard and fast rule, because the amount of increment also affects which category it would go in. There's also correspondence, where you can take several days between turns, which allows you to play when you have a tight schedule and can only play a few moves every now and then. Each time format has a separate elo score, as they are considered different enough to basically be different game variants (since they require different approaches to playing). (Elo scores are the number that appears next to your username when you play. When you win, you get more Elo. Usually, if you play people who are within about 50 Elo points of you, you should be around the same skill level. Your Elo will fluctuate a lot more when you are new, but it should stabilize after a few games). I would recommend classical for a new player, as it gives you the most time to think through your moves. Hope you have fun! "Life is too short for chess, but that is the fault of life, not chess.”