Zero time on digital clock.

[Richard Bates]

How can you have a remaining time that is both >= 14 mins 45 secs and < 14 mins 44 secs?

Because time is continuous, not discrete.

Wormhole.

[Mike Truran]

Not very nice to call Alex that.

[Ian Thompson]

At the start of the game, suppose you were playing G/90. The display would show 1:30. This means you have 1:30.00. When you start the clock, it will stay displaying 1:30 for 1 second (i.e. > 1:29.59 but less than <1:30, and only then show 1:29 once the second has elapsed. So if you have 1:29.59.5 the clock will still show 1:30.

If what you said was true, then if you started the game, you'd be starting with 1 second more than you were supposed to.

I don't think so. The remaining time is 1:30 before the game is started and the display changes to 1:29 the instant it is started, because you then have a fraction of a second less than 1:30 left. If you sat there until you lost on time you would lose on time after exactly 90 minutes, not 90 mins 1 sec.

[Ian Thompson]

Not very nice to call Alex that.

(time) warped would have been OK though.

[Alex Holowczak]

The remaining time is 1:30 before the game is started and the display changes to 1:29 the instant it is started

No it doesn't. Try it.

[LawrenceCooper]

Not very nice to call Alex that.

He's been called worse

[Stewart Reuben]

Kevin. I'm surprised you have not recommended the use of the J Arthur Rank banging of the gong. Have you ever seen one of those chessclocks where the entire clock tilted? I have, but never used it.
The great advantage of a digital clock is the use of the increment. This avoids quickplay finishes and is a much better way of concluding a chess game.
Most mechanical chessclocks do not make an audible tick.

When I played poker professionally, I don't think I ever shuffled my chips. I have never heard a person's stomach rumbling in either game.

If you use an electronic clock without the move counter, then pressing it once too often or once too few does not make a great deal of difference. If you have an increment of 30 seconds, of course each clock will be incorrect by 30 seconds. That can be corrected if thought necessary.

[Kevin O'Rourke]

Kevin. I'm surprised you have not recommended the use of the J Arthur Rank banging of the gong. Have you ever seen one of those chessclocks where the entire clock tilted? I have, but never used it.
The great advantage of a digital clock is the use of the increment. This avoids quickplay finishes and is a much better way of concluding a chess game.
Most mechanical chessclocks do not make an audible tick.

When I played poker professionally, I don't think I ever shuffled my chips. I have never heard a person's stomach rumbling in either game.

If you use an electronic clock without the move counter, then pressing it once too often or once too few does not make a great deal of difference. If you have an increment of 30 seconds, of course each clock will be incorrect by 30 seconds. That can be corrected if thought necessary.

When i entered the Rio all you could hear was chips shuffling about.

if you make a mistake and press the clock and then have to unpress it, it will add the extra time on a move too soon

[Roger de Coverly]

if you make a mistake and press the clock and then have to unpress it, it will add the extra time on a move too soon

That is correct only if it has been set to count the number of times it is pressed and act accordingly. Arbiters in the UK at least seem to have decided that a clock showing the wrong time is a lesser evil than one adding time prematurely and use settings which don't count. It's at least in part a fault of the designs, in not displaying the clock's opinion of the move count.

Players have got used to the feature that when playing 40/90 + 30 with 30 second increments, that the clock does not add time at move 40. So much so, that there was an incident or two in a tournament run as 90 30, where players lost on time expecting the additional half hour.

[Kevin O'Rourke]

if you make a mistake and press the clock and then have to unpress it, it will add the extra time on a move too soon

That is correct only if it has been set to count the number of times it is pressed and act accordingly. Arbiters in the UK at least seem to have decided that a clock showing the wrong time is a lesser evil than one adding time prematurely and use settings which don't count. It's at least in part a fault of the designs, in not displaying the clock's opinion of the move count.

Players have got used to the feature that when playing 40/90 + 30 with 30 second increments, that the clock does not add time at move 40. So much so, that there was an incident or two in a tournament run as 90 30, where players lost on time expecting the additional half hour.

exactly. Don't like these clocks at all. The time control i play I do expect the clock to jump up at 34 moves.

The incruement idea is good but i prefer the standard time control

[Stewart Reuben]

Kevin O'Rourke >The increment idea is good but i prefer the standard time control<

So do Roger and I. We prefer the standard time control which IS with an increment. I expect by 2021 an increment will be required internationally for games to be rated.
There are probably still people who prefer adjudication. I am a dinosaur in preferring adjournment over quickplay finishes WHEN no arbiter is present.

[Roger de Coverly]

We prefer the standard time control which IS with an increment.

The current design of digital clocks and arbiter's preferences sits poorly with move rates that require x moves in y and then an additional period. That's regardless of whether there's an increment.

If you don't have an intermediate time control, you don't greatly need increments until the last five or two minutes. So instead of 90 minutes with 30 second increments, make it 115 minutes with the increment only switching on when either player hits 5 minutes remaining. This move rate gives players who rely on the increment from about move 20, an extra 15 minutes. Any game not needing the increment is still over in under 4 hours.

[Stewart Reuben]

I tried to persuade Albert Vasse to display the number of pushes but failed. He thought, incorrectly this was against the Laws. Then, he got upset when I wrote that no clock could be complete if it didn't display the number of pushes! Albert was, at that time, MD of DGT.
The Chronos clocks show the number of pushes, if wanted. Its defect is that it is expensive.

[NickFaulks]

I expect by 2021 an increment will be required internationally for games to be rated.

I don't.

[Kevin O'Rourke]

after black's 34th move we used to pick the clock up and rewind both hands by 15 or 20mins depending on the time control. There were no increments obviously but there are still none in the league and cups i play in.