Hi friends,

I was seeing some You Tube videos of blitz games when I had a weird thought, what would happen if the battery of an electronic chess clock were to go off and the clock stops?

I understand in large international tournaments, they video record and have giant screens with the time displayed. But how about lower level tournaments?  In such a scenario, even if a clock is replaced with a new one, both the players might not necessarily know the time that was actually  left in their clocks especially in Blitz games.

Is there any way or rule to resolve an issue like this? Has anyone come across an event like this :).

Thanks and Cheers,

Arun

I've seen it happen, but in a rapid, where time is not as decisive. The arbiter gave both of the players half of the total time remaining (you can calculate that from another clock). That is far from a fair solution (one player might have a superior position simply because he used double the time)-but what would be fair?

I suppose in a blitz tournament, it would be fairer to simply have them play a new game-though still not a perfect solution (I suppose you'd be angry if you were winning).

Anyways, batteries are to be checked before a tournament. If it was the player's own clock, have them lose the game (a player who forgot to bring material would actually have an advantage). If it was the organizers', a refund might be appropriate.

Still, no good solution. It's just a bad situation to be in.

It doesn't happen suddenly I believe, the digital display would fade to be fainter and fainter.  So gradually that the screen would be barely visible at all at the start of a game where the batteries are so low they would quit.

I had two digital clocks fail on me in a row, during a friendly (but still rated) long play club match. In the absence of an arbiter we simply agreed on who had used the most time and set the (eventually analogue!) clock accordingly. I dislike the digital clocks for long play and often ask my opponent if he wouldn't mind using the clockwork type (where permissible). Most players have no problem with this, especially the older ones. I just like being able to hear the clock ticking.

I don't think it would be fair to penalize a player for forgetting to change his batteries. From what I've seen the solution that would have to be implemented is to split the time as suggested above or start a new game depending on how far the game has progressed.

I saw this happen once on a battery-operated analog clock (they were very popular before digital clocks came out, very quiet operation).

Since the round time was on schedule, the TD added the times showing for each player, deducted that from the time elapsed since the start of the round to figure how long it had been stopped, divided the stopped time in half and added that amount to each player on the replacement clock.

It made sense at the time.  I don't know if it is the official USCF rule or not, because they don't publish their tournament rules online so they can force people to buy the book.