I organize a high school chess league, and the other day I was talking with a teacher, who was a prospective team sponsor. At one point the conversation went:
Teacher: are the matches timed?
Me: I tell people, if you have clocks, bring them; but if you don’t, it’s OK, clocks are not required.
Teacher: No problem to bring clocks; most of my students have smartphones, and we’ll just use their chess clock apps.
Not having a smartphone myself, I was not aware that there was such a thing as chess clock apps, but it’s an obvious thing to have an app for. So my question to this forum is: what chess clock apps are there, and are they all OK to use, or are some of them much better or worse than others?
Note that the league is unrated and generally under the radar of USCF, and few of the players even have 4-digit ratings. So, in this league, they would just need the “basics”. However if you want to mention amenities like increment, delay, multiple time controls, etc., I’m listening.
For rated play, there are no clock apps that would typically be allowed in a tournament. There are no electronic devices like cell phones allowed in tournaments due to cheating concerns. For unrated or casual play, it doesn’t matter much. I have no experience using apps for a clock. You can get decent dedicated chess clocks for under $50 per unit.
For informal play when I do not have a chess clock handy, I often use check clock for android app by chess.com. It is free in google play store.
It comes with multiple preset time controls that support delay and increment and periods. You can also configure whatever time control you want.
Easy to use and free.
One thing I want to add is that while the app is running and clock is ticking, it doesn’t block any activity of the phone. For example, i tried to call my cell phone with app actively running from a landline and incoming call appeared on the side of a screen. Same happened with a text message.
Not a problem for an informal blitz against a friend, but you may want to design some rules regulating this in your league. And of cause as already indicated by a TD earlier no cell phone will ever be allowed in a rated game due to cheating possibilities those devices provide.
I did use a clock app at one non-rated scholastic tournament where the organizer did not have clocks (only a couple of games didn’t finish with plenty of time to spare).
In addition to the points mentioned above you also have to be cognizant of what could happen to a smartphone during clock-bashing time pressure.
I have been shown various clock apps that work on phones and tablets. They appear to work okay. The player has to “lightly” touch the screen, something that can be a problem as the game gets more intense. With the phones/tablets sitting next to the players, it is difficult to use them for anything but as a chess clock. the displays on the tablets are large; on the phones not so much, but still usable.
For a non-rated chess game in a a high school league that is trying to build interest in chess, go for it. The more we learn about the use of these apps both positive and negative, the better. This is certainly better than having no clock at all and will introduce many players to serious play with longer time controls. As for their use in rated play, I am less sanguine about their use because of the communication capability and the sturdiness of the devices. There needs to be more testing and regulations developed for these items. They are also extremely expensive compared to digital chess clocks on the market. Who wants to jeopardize their $700+ iphone in a K-3 tournament game? If the kids don’t destroy it, they are likely to leave it on the table or lose it in transit back to mom, like they do with all of their chess stuff.