Chess Gorilla GC101 Chess Clock; a review and demonstration. (A.K.A. Leap PQ9923)

I bought the Chess Gorilla GC101 Digital Chess Timer. Then I talked about it for over twenty minutes on YouTube. This clock is the same as the Leap PQ9923 with a cooler looking color scheme and a higher price tag. For anyone interested, here is the video. I could have made a much shorter video but I figured Shelby will eventually make one of those.

Nice review Lew.

2 hour drive to a tournament in Lafayette? I’m a Baton Rougean myself.
Been trying to find some Baton Rouge OTB action.

Cool. Doesn’t the BR chess club still play at the beignet shop on college drive. I moved away from BR almost twenty years ago.

That little Lafayette tourney happens the first Saturday of each month. Because next month is a holiday I won’t go back till August. There are some tournaments in NOLA later this month. Sulphur too which is two hours for you. 

Anyway to put the thread back on topic, thanks for taking time to watch the video. It’s great clock little clock, but CG could be more compatible on pricing, compared to the the non Chess Gorilla branded version. I think I will do a comparison video of it and the DGT Easy +, which is priced about the same, and in the same type of market.

Concerning the delay being displayed (replacing) the large main timer, the only possible reason that occurs to me is for spectators across the room to see the delay. However, I agree with you that I would prefer the delay to NOT replace the main timer.

Concerning the lack of multiple periods in time controls, I personally would prefer to have multiple periods available, but like you said, it’s not a show stopper. Back in the early 90’s, playing weekly chess at Catfish Town, none of our analog chess clocks had multiple periods. We did it the old school way: all chess games “ended” at 6 o’clock. Typical would be 40 moves in 90 minutes. The clock would be set for 4:30 and you had to make your 40’th move by 6:00. If a second time control followed, and both players had made 40 moves, the clock was paused and manually dialed backwards so that the next time control also ended at 6:00

About the Lafayette tourney first Saturday of every month: what is the format, a three round swiss? Also the time control. Is it USCF rated, or is it informal?

I sent a PM of the flyer to you, it has contact info on it. Basically a 3 rd Swiss G60/i30. I sent the PM to keep this thread on topic.

As for the single period time control, a single period digital clock isn’t much different than an old analog. Except the issue is that the changes in bonus or delay time for different periods can’t be done with out a pause and reset of the clock. Therefore this isn’t suitable for those that play multi-period classical time slow chess.

It’s a good clock but, I would like to see Shelby at Chess Gorilla (Rochester CC) get the price under 30 bucks though. With the Leap PQ9923, same clock w/ different colors selling for less than $20 on Amazon, there isn’t much reason to by the Gorilla branded version at twice the price. Perhaps folks would pay a little bit more for the yellow buttons and to support Mr. Lohrman’s US based Chess Gorilla Brand.

I have now made a vertical short form video about it for YouTube Shorts and IG/FB Reels.

YouTube Short for GC101 Chess Clock

You squeezed a lot of info into that 55 seconds, nice job!

Thank you.