Time controls in chess: blitz, rapid and classical

The standard notation is “minutes + seconds”: 10+5 means ten minutes for the game for each player and five seconds added after every move made. If there is no increment, it is written 5+0 or simply “5 minutes”.

Official documents use a format with primes: 10'+5" - the same thing, minutes and seconds. Sometimes a control has several stages: “90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes to the end of the game, with a 30-second increment from move one” - that is how classical tournaments are played.

In the regulations the control has to be written in figures: the word “blitz” tells you nothing, because 3+2 and 5+0 are different tournaments with different dynamics.

The boundaries matter not in themselves: they decide which rating list the tournament goes into. A player has three separate ratings - classical, rapid and blitz - and the control decides which of them changes. In detail - the Elo rating and FIDE requirements for tournaments.

There is a fourth, unofficial format - bullet: one or two minutes for the game. It does not count for FIDE rating and is almost never used at over-the-board events: at a real board there is physically no time.

Two ways of compensating for the time spent on a move. The difference is subtle but noticeable in time trouble.

• The Fischer increment. After every move, seconds are added to the time remaining. They accumulate: if a player moves faster than the increment, their reserve grows. This is the mode used almost everywhere.
• The Bronstein delay. The clock does not start counting immediately but a few seconds after the move begins. Unused delay does not accumulate - your reserve does not grow, it simply is not spent on quick moves.

Why this matters: without an increment, blitz produces the situation where a player with a won position loses on time simply because they cannot move the pieces fast enough. An increment gives the game its meaning back - the better player wins rather than the one who bangs the clock faster.

The practical conclusion for an organiser: take any control with an increment. 3+2 is far more pleasant than 5+0, even though the total time is about the same.

A general rule: the more mixed the field, the longer the control should be. A beginner in blitz simply has no time to think and goes home upset, whereas at 10+5 they stand a chance.

A round takes roughly twice the control plus an organisational pause. Hence the simple arithmetic:

You have to reckon by the worst case: most games finish earlier, but the schedule is built around the ones that go the distance. The full calculation is the tournament schedule.

Only an electronic clock or a timer on a phone can handle an increment - a mechanical one cannot. Our online chess timer does handle it: you set the minutes and the increment in seconds, and it adds them after every move. On choosing equipment - chess clocks for a tournament.

A game can be stopped: the pause button in the middle freezes both clocks - for a disputed position, for calling the arbiter or for a break. The game is also finished from there, with the score entered.

If you sign in through Telegram, your opponent connects to the clock: the game stops being anonymous, the score is saved in both players' history, and you can invite someone to the board with a QR code from the screen.

In the Vibe Chess app the control is chosen when the tournament is created, from ready-made options - bullet, blitz, rapid, classical, with the minutes and increment specified. From there it goes into every game card and into the federation report in the accepted format. All a player has to do is open the timer from their own card - there is nothing to set up.

There are three colour schemes: grey-green by default, black-and-white and amber. In a dark bar the monochrome one is more convenient - the digits are visible from the next table and the screen does not light up people's faces.