Free Online Chess Clock

A chess clock is a two-faced timer that tracks how much time each player has used during their turn. When one player makes a move and presses the clock, their timer pauses and the opponent's timer starts. If a player runs out of time before checkmate, they lose on time. An online chess clock is a digital version that runs on any phone, tablet, or computer.

Each player gets a starting time (e.g., 5 minutes). After making a move, you tap your side of the clock — your timer pauses, your opponent's starts. With increment (e.g., '5+3'), a few seconds are added back to your clock after each move. The first player to run out of time loses, unless their opponent has insufficient material to checkmate.

An increment adds time to a player's clock after each move. '5+3' means 5 minutes starting time with 3 seconds added after each move. Increments prevent players from losing on time in clearly winning positions and let games stay competitive without rushing every move.

Bullet: 1 minute per player. Blitz: 3-5 minutes. Rapid: 10-15 minutes. Classical: 30+ minutes. Tournament games often use an increment, written as 'base+inc' — for example, '15+10' means 15 minutes with a 10-second increment per move.

Yes — it works for any two-player turn-based game: Scrabble, Go, checkers, backgammon, card games, or any game where you want to limit thinking time. Set custom durations to match your game.

Click or tap your side of the clock after making your move. On desktop, you can also press the spacebar. The other player's clock starts automatically.