History of Timers and Clocks in Chess Matches
From Simple Hourglasses to Pushbutton Clocks of the Early 1900s
Jun 23, 2009
Those who couldn’t or wouldn’t tolerate a game that required endless hours of pondering apparently chose another pastime, because the first rumblings of change did not appear until the middle of the 19th century.
Early Tournament Players Enjoyed Unlimited Time-to Play
In 1834, during several famous matches between Louis La Bourdonnais and Alexander McDonnell, time was not an issue. According to George Walker, three-fourths of one entire game “was spent in dwelling and pondering and strategizing”. Many of the games lasted long, long hours but the exact duration of each move was not recorded. Walker once timed La Bourdonnais at fifty-five minutes for one move, but then said that “McDonnell was incomparably the slower player”. In 1843, several impartial onlookers described a match between Howard Staunton and Pierre St. Amant as a test of physical endurance rather than a chess match. It is reported that their 21st match game took 66 moves and 14½ hours. These kinds of purposeless prolongations and deliberate attempts to fatigue and wear out the opponent were commonplace at the time, and an average game lasted nine hours.
Deschapelles Speaks Out First Against Time-Wasting Tactics
Shortly after the Staunton matches, famed French player Alexandre Deschapelles severely criticized both players and suggested a maximum time limit in the event of a return match. After the first-ever World Tournament held in London in 1851, a torrent of criticism against the incredible slowness of play caused an anonymous contributor named A. Cantab to write: “Let each player have a three-hour sandglass at his elbow and a friend on either side to turn it. While the player is thinking, the sand must be allowed to run; while his opponent is thinking, his glass will be laid horizontally on the table and the running suspended”. This was written in 1852 and immediately backed by Howard Staunton and other prominent chess players. This very first timing proposal considered gauging the entire cycle of moves and not just one move.
Another proposal, by German chessmaster Baron von der Lasa, was to use two watches and note the time consumed on each move by each opponent. This computation was popular in Europe because the sand glass had proven to be problematic. Temperature and humidity both had effects upon the sand so there were variations in accuracy from location to location and match to match. Also, a flustered player might turn up the wrong end of his timer or even mistakenly turn his opponent’s timepiece and spoil the game.
A Mechanical Timing Device Finally Appears
Another step forward was taken in 1867, when the Paris International Tournament imposed a fine of 5 francs, payable to the tournament committee, to be paid for every fifteen minutes infraction over and above the regulation time limit of ten moves per hour. By 1883 a mechanical timing device had been invented, to the delight of the entire chess community. This “tumbling” chess clock made its debut in London in 1883 as the invention of Thomas Bright Wilson of Manchester. It consisted of two identical pendulum clocks set on opposite ends of a balance beam. When one player finished his move, he moved his clock into a position that stopped its pendulum and started the opponent’s timer. The tumbling-clock was manufactured by Fattorini & Sons of Bradford, England.
The advent of time limits for chess matches transformed a game into a sport. It added the element of pressure and created a three-way struggle for excellence. It was also a significant factor in drawing spectators to matches and smoothing the way for organized play.
Source:
Krish, Edward, “Time Without End”, Chess Review, November 1946.
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