A chess clock does not merely limit a game. It helps decide what kind of game will be played.

That is why I keep returning to increment: time added after every move, as in 5+3 blitz or 15+10 rapid. Those extra seconds change more than the final scramble.

They make the game keep asking for chess.

You still have to finish

With no increment, a completely winning position can become a race to make almost any legal move before the clock reaches zero. That is a real skill, and it can be spectacular. It is not always the skill I am trying to train.

Increment keeps a small amount of oxygen in the position. If I reach a winning ending, I usually have to demonstrate the win. If I reach a lost ending, I have enough recurring time to keep finding difficult defensive moves.

That means both sides receive practice that a flagging contest can erase:

  • converting an advantage;
  • defending stubbornly;
  • recognizing elementary endings;
  • avoiding stalemate;
  • and making sound decisions while tired.

Increment rewards time management

Increment does not remove time pressure. Five seconds added per move will not repay ten minutes wasted earlier.

It does, however, create a useful floor. A player who reaches the late game with little time can still pause briefly, scan the board, and make a deliberate move. The clock remains part of the position without becoming the only part.

My old 15+10 games show why that matters. In one, I reached a complicated advantage with less time than my opponent and still had to calculate a passed-pawn race, avoid forks, and convert. The increment did not solve the position for me. It preserved the possibility of solving it.

Match the clock to the purpose

There is no universally virtuous time control. Bullet can train mouse speed, instinct, pattern recognition, and emotional recovery. Blitz makes it easy to play many games and encounter many positions. Long rapid and classical games allow deeper calculation and create better material for analysis.

The question is not “Which time control is real chess?”

The question is “Why am I playing this game?”

If the purpose is entertainment, choose the rhythm that is fun. If the purpose is improvement, choose enough time to practice the thinking process you want to improve. If you cannot complete a blunder check before moving, the solution may not be a better blunder check. It may be a slower clock.

My default

For serious online play, I want increment. It leaves room for calculation, but it does not let me sleep over the board. It asks for practical decisions throughout the game and gives winning and saving positions a chance to be played.

The extra seconds are not a cushion against chess.

They are there so the chess can continue.