Do you think analog clocks should be banned !?

We have photography why not ban paintings

we have cars, let's ban walking.

Analog clocks are ok, but ban using smartphones as clocks.  You need to be able to bang the lever/button.

We have the internet, so why should we still have chess boards?

Me too. I have a very beautiful Jaeger Clock and one of those old, cheap "Made in West Germany" clocks USCF used to sell.

But, preparing to return to OTB tournaments after some years away, I bought a DGT North American clock in case I need to set incremental, etc. controls.  I hope the plastic lever takes the hard banging the old analog clocks did when players were short on time or wanted to make a statement.

I don't think so, the only thing that analog can't be used is the time increment which is now popular in some tournaments, but banning the analog its just like banning our grand pas and grand mas. did we start in computer world? common guys lets used them, in the first place they were our first love...

We have watches so we should ban all clocks! We have fake plants so we should ban all vegetation! We have you so we should ban everyone else! Wow! What a great idea!

Yesm they can be rigged,

some analog clocks have buttons that are really hard to press down, but that is just the age

Analog clocks should be banned and anyone using them should serve prison time.

Second-time offenders should be sent in exile.

My plastic DGT handles the slamming much better than my old wooden Rolland. Fewer parts have to move when you press the button.

Go ahead and keep browsing on the internet with your old DOS computer.



There is no sense that the term "racism" can be applied to the undeniable request that Luddites must use twenty-first century technology while participating in chess competition. They are free to live in their traditional manner, but if they want to compete, they must play by current rules. To maintain that analog clocks should be allowed due to their archaic religious ideology is akin to allowing deceased twelfth century Spanish players to insist that your Vizier can move only two spaces diagonally and pawns may move only a single square on their first move.

Yeah, have you seen the price of hiring skips!

Don't think clocks should be banned. If a tournament doesn't ahve clocks to provide people with, than I guess the people have to playw ithout a clock. Of course if an opponent has a clock then they have to use it. I think it should be a rule that you have to use a clock if you have one

FIDE rules assume a clock is in use for the entire game. USCF rules, which we use in the US, also do so. In the US, players are expected to provide their own clocks. In most of the world, as I understand, that responsibility falls on the tournament organizer.

As a scholastic tournament director, I run large tournaments with players who cannot realistically be expected to provide their own clocks. Nor can tournament organizers find the money to supply a sufficient number.

In scholastic events in my state, we solve this problem with a compromise. We use game/30 time control, but players mostly play without clocks. After forty minutes of play, usually only a few games remain. These remaining games get clocks with ten minutes per player.

There are ways to abuse this system, of course.

Before 2009 in my city, organizing a youth tournament meant scrounging for enough clocks and chess sets to put on the event. Multiple schools and coaches provided equipment, as did the Spokane Chess Club. We usually had a mix of digital and analog clocks.

In 2009, we hosted the Elementary State Championship. This large event drew over 1000 registered players, plus those in two side events. We purchased 600 chess sets and 60 digital clocks. The chess sets had commemorative boards and we sold about 100 during the event. We donated many others to local schools, but kept back several dozen.

Since 2009, we have always had enough clocks and sets to host events without scrounging from every local school. But, we still do not always have enough for every game. The top section (older children, and young strong players) often play with a clock the whole game. The younger get clocks 40 minutes in.

We no longer use analog clocks because we have sufficient numbers of digital.

Clearly your  clock is slow, he's been prezzie for a month now.

in a tournament hall...100s of analog clocks ticking...ah the memory of nationals lol i actually miss the ticking☺

Of course TDs can always buy clocks with tournament registration money they collect Ziryab :)

It's clear you haven't run tournaments. Most of the time, tournament registration fees barely cover prizes and facility costs. There's no extra money for buying equipment. 

Running a large state state tournament with over 1000 participants, however, did make it possible to spend thousands on new clocks.

Best way to keep something is to ban it.