Kids Night 031219 a Success with 16 players

Another fun night of chess was had by all. We had seven of the younger chess players and nine older players.

NPP welcomes new members Alex E., Carl S, Dan S and Peter M. Glad you are here.

Casual chess is on the horizon for the next few weeks, so come on in and play in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

Now for a little chess clock history compliments of the late great GM Larry Evans, with some commentary from your humble scribe:

The chess clock did not exist at the first international tournament in 1851. Howard Staunton, who invented the now standard design for chess sets, groused when his opponents took forever thinking about each move.
A year later, in a match between Harrwitz and Lowenthal a time limit of 29 minutes per move was established. Then in 1862, in a match between Anderson and Kolisch, hourglasses were used that gave each player 2 hours for 24 moves.
The now standard double chess clock made its debut in London in 1883. Each side had an hour for 15 moves and clocks then became a fixture for any serious chess match or tournament.
Time limits got tighter and tighter, and today with the better clock designs, we have a bevy of tournament time controls available.
Most serious tournaments have a time limit of around 40 moves in 2 hours. Then 30 moves in an hour and then 30 minutes sudden death. Sometimes the 30 in an hour is removed as a second time control and you go right to a sudden death time control.
The belief is to keep any serious game to 7 hours maximum, as the general rule.
Newer clocks even allow for a "delay" where you maybe set a 5 second interval (although delays can be set for whatever can be agreed upon, but 5 seconds is standard) that runs BEFORE your main time starts running down to at least give you the opportunity to move before losing on time.
There is also something called the "increment" option where a set amount of time is added to your clock after each move. This give a player "credit" for moving. Of course players take advantage of this feature by maybe moving their pieces back and forth twice on the same squares to add a minute to their clocks. GM games have gone over 100 moves with much more frequency now due to that option.
Obviously shorter time controls lowers the quality of the chess game, but idly sitting while a game drags on is no good for the player or any spectator.
Time control for casual games are up to the two players.
For a point of reference, chess games 1 minute to 5 minutes are called Blitz chess. 6 to 15  minutes are called Rapid Chess. 15 minutes to 30 minutes is called Quick Chess.
So now chess has not only it's own special greatness, but you can also play it at any speed you desire - including no clock at all.
But in your scribe's opinion, playing chess with a clock is what makes you a real chess player.