When you play on the green 'new game' button you get the board and on the right you can choose the time control. There are a few options that have two numbers separated by a vertical bar, like 3 | 2 or something like that. What do those two numbers mean?
The first is initial time in minutes. The second is increment after each move in seconds.
So 3|2 starts with 3 minutes and adds 2 seconds to the remaining time after each move.
When you play on the green 'new game' button you get the board and on the right you can choose the time control. There are a few options that have two numbers separated by a vertical bar, like 3 | 2 or something like that. What do those two numbers mean?
The number on the left is the amount of base time each player has on the clock. The number on the right is the increment and is the number of seconds added to the moving player's clock after a move
https://support.chess.com/article/445-how-do-the-time-controls-work-in-live-chess
Thanks for your replies! I have since learned that the time increment per move is designed so that if you have identified a sequence of moves the execution of which would lead to your victory no matter what your opponent does, you won't lose due to lack of time, because you have X amount of seconds per move to execute your winning sequence. Pretty cool.
When you play on the green 'new game' button you get the board and on the right you can choose the time control. There are a few options that have two numbers separated by a vertical bar, like 3 | 2 or something like that. What do those two numbers mean?