Will you play chess for money without a clock?

Yesterday I played chess with a guy using a 10 minute time control. He quickly resigned and then said he would win if there was no clock and he would bet $100 dollars he wouldn't even be down 1 pawn.

I told him I didn't want to take his money and wanted to keep things friendly because this was in my friends barbershop and this guy was a stranger.

After I agreed to his terms of no clock with a vague promise to play moves within a reasonable amount of time(this is the problem, what is reasonable amounts of time?) we decided to play for approximately 1 hour for no money.

After about 5 minutes I regretted my decision and wanted to resign. What would take me about 3 seconds to make a move was taking him a minute or more. My friend received a call at about 10 minutes in and it was from someone with bad news. A friend of his had committed suicide. He would need to close up shop as soon as the game was over.

I instantly said, I was willing to end the game, but my opponent didn't even look up from the board or make a comment. He was nervously tapping his foot and wringing his hands, in deep thought over my last opening move.

My friend said it was okay, he would wait for about an hour until we finished our game.

After about another hour with my opponent he resigned because I had two passed pawns and would promote one of them after he sacked his bishop for one.

My opponent said I played well and didn't make one mistake., he was very surprised that I played so well and said that all his friends always lost to him. He said he never plays online or with clocks since learning chess about 12 years ago and hasn't lost a game in years.

I told him he played very good and didn't make any blunders or mistakes with only a few inaccuracies that I could see.

I told my friend today that I would never lose to this guy at any time controls because I am also allowed to think when he is thinking too. It's not like my brain shuts off when it's my opponents move. In fact, I do most of my best thinking on my opponents turn.

The difference between using clocks and no clock is that clocks make it fair. No clocks can create issues, like boredom and being handcuffed into playing out games with opponents stalling like they were playing in the year 1795 before the invention of chess clocks.

Just the fact that every good player only wants to play with clocks, told me that I couldn't lose to this guy if I gave him time odds of 1 hour vs 5 minutes.

Does my opponent have a valid argument that playing without clocks is fair?

My chess CAPTCHA a mate with a black queen on h3

I would not want to play a game with no clock cause I'm worse at longer time controls. Plus, what if your opponent is losing and he just wastes all of his time?

Also, oof about the friend of your friend committed suicide. I hope your friend is okay.

Could you clarify the argument that he was making? What reasons or claims did he give in support of the conclusion that "playing without clocks is fair"? We might be able to see if the premises and conclusion are inconsistent.

@jugglingotaku His argument was that clocks made him nervous and that he wasn't used to playing with them. He said he would beat me for certain if he could play without a clock so he could carefully think over all my moves without being under pressure. He said he would play his moves in a reasonable time.

And he did play very well, he carefully spent about 10 times the amount of time on every move that I did. He saw all my plans. The most time was spent on quiet moves that I made, just wasting time and making very slight improvements. He was somewhat baffled by these moves, not seeing the point of them. He spent about 5 minutes on a couple of these time wasters.

Eventually I captured a knight for my light square bishop, doubling his pawns on that file and eventually I was able to simplify the position and winning one of those pawns. He forced the queens off the board, when I had one pawn advantage. While he was hunting down that pawn, I was bringing my king to the other side of the board and he was off side, out of play while I mopped up two of his pawns. At this point I traded my bishop for two of his pawns. I had 3 pawns to his bishop and rook pawn. Two of my pawns were on the 6th rank. He used every last trick he could think of but it didn't help because I patiently waited until I was sure of the win.

As far as I can tell, his plan was that he thought I would make a mistake like all his friends and then go on to win.

However, I was taking no chances and wasn't over extending myself. He played the same opening in both our games as white and black. He opened with moving both center pawns one move and fianchettoed his bishop and then capturing my knight with it, doubling my pawns. That pawn structure is what eventually won the game for me. My chess CAPTCHA was a mate with a queen and knight on f7?

@Sacmaniac I agree with @htt49 - how much time exactly are you going to spend on a chess game? Either way, I wouldn't accept games for money unless I am certain I will win. Prayers and condolences for your friend's family, I hope they are doing all right.

his argument is kinda fine? idk. but I think that his plan to wait 'till you make a mistake is very sussy. by the fact that there were no clocks it is highly unlikely that you would make a mistake. while I can remotely understand that type of play in fast time controls it is just a waste of time doing this in a (probably) classical game.

RIP to your friend. best wishes to him and his family

Not at all i will not play chess for money why, because chess is most of people's hobby and if they play chess for money then chess will be a model and most of people in earth will play whole 24 hours for chess and money

@kaissa44 Your opinion is the same as mine and @htt49 because you are a reasonable person with above average chess knowledge.

In regards to the suicide, I only mentioned that because it was part of the story that illustrated that my opponent was perhaps not as much of an objective thinker and a tad self absorbed. As well as delusional about his abilities at chess. We all know people like this, I'm sure.


I spent a few minutes at my friends barbershop while another was getting her morning STarbucks fix and needed to borrow my face diaper. As she was getting that done I dipped in for a fast game of 9- Ball and my friend was only interested in what happened after he left with me and the weird chess guy.

He didn't mention his friend or his family. All I know is that I asked his age yesterday when he got the call and he said , he was 25 years old. I left it at that. If he wants to talk about it, I will, and if not, I won't bring it up. However I appreciate your concern on this hot button topic. It speaks to the kind of person you are.

The only inconsistency I see is that he said that he was certain that he would beat you. However, you beat him instead. Therefore he was not certain to begin with. He was both certain and uncertain. With this inconsistency we can invoke the Principle of Explosion. The Principle of Explosion means that we can prove anything from a contradiction. The statement "playing without clocks is fair" can now be deduced. Or you can say that unicorns exist.

On a more serious note, they do have an option on lichess to play unlimited casual games. In my opinion, I think that it's fair if both parties agree on the rules and conditions before they start playing. It might also depend on the definition of the word "Fair" as well.

@jugglingotaku Don't get me wrong, it was fair. Meaning I agreed to his terms and was fully expecting to be sitting around for at least an hour as he pondered all my moves thoroughly.

My question was if anyone would play for money without clocks involved? Or even more precisely, would you agree to play a game of chess without clocks if they were convenient and readily available>?

No money involved to complicate it. However, also no time limit agreed upon and no penalties for stalling.

So the only motivation would be to win and prove you are better at chess.

Of course as chess players on Lichess, we almost always play with clocks, often rated tournaments. It almost goes without saying that giving the choice, we would insist on some kind of time controls. Virtually any time controls, as long as it wasn't infinite and open to interpretation of what is a reasonable amount of time to spend on a move.

When we were beginners I would wager most of those early games were played without a game clock.

However since around the 90's i've noticed several other board games played between two players also using chess clocks to time those games, in order to make it more fun, exciting and fair. Even pool players are required to be on a shot clock now and can't spend more than a minute before making their shot.

By not playing with any clock or penalties, it is the advantage of the person that is willing to stall in order to get the win due to exhaustion or a player resigning due to some pressing appointment.

This is what actually spoiled the reputation of chess and made it appear to be a boring game is because before the introduction of chess clocks in the 19th century, players could have a good old think-a-thon and lull their opponents to sleep or motivate them to resign by not moving, because they were technically not compelled to move.

Instead of it being a game of chess it was an exercise in endurance, like a dance marathon.

The only reason I was even in my friends barbershop was to give him a quick lesson in chess that he had requested earlier in the day. When I showed up there was a challenger, who inserted themselves into playing me. He had no idea how well I played, he only knew that I claimed to be a chess player than played almost daily. It's not like I was trying to hustle him.

As a matter of fact, it would have been very easy for me to take his last hundred dollar bill from his wallet, because although I am not technically a titled player I have beat several masters before. So I am better than your average person off the street that claims to never play online or use clocks. Would it be fair for me to challenge him to a game for 100 dollars and not tell him I was skilled at the game ?

My chess CAPTCHA was a queen bishop battery on h7.