Why is clockless chess not a thing anymore?

I absolutely hate playing real-life over-the-board chess with a clock. For the longest time, literally centuries, there were no chess clocks and people, especially when playing casually, didn't have any clocks nor time limits. Yet, it seems that nowadays such a thing doesn't exist.

Playing chess without clocks seems to be such a non-existent thing that I wouldn't actually be surprised if there are huge amounts of new players who don't even know that you can play chess without clocks. I'm sure there are many, many people who honestly think that clocks are mandatory in chess, and a fundamental part of it, and that it's somehow against the rules to play without, or something.

The thing is, chess clocks, especially when using shorter time controls (15 minutes or less), completely destroy one of the richest potentials of real-life casual chess: The social aspect. Plus, they usually just destroy interesting games due to either time pressure or the game ending too soon, before it's actually finished.

I play in an MtG group, and there are no clocks in MtG. And that's just fine. Every player can take their time, without pressure. They can do whatever they want, at their own pace, and opponents can respond, at their own pace. And even if a player is taking a bit of time, the other players can socialize by having a nice conversation about something. Take your time, no time pressure, others can socialize. Yet games do progress and end sooner or later.

No such thing in chess. Go anywhere, like a chess club, or some bar where people are playing chess, or wherever, and suggest to someone if you could play without clocks, and they will look at you like you are insane. Seriously. It's like even the suggestion is something completely ridiculous. Even if it's not any sort of tournament or anything, just some casual chess, it appears that people just can't grasp the concept of playing without clocks.

Yet, the clock just destroys the game. It makes it impossible to have a casual conversation, it makes it impossible to socialize while playing a lighthearted casual game, and it destroys most games either via time pressure or by ending the game too soon.

Some time ago I went regularly to a local chess club, and I got so utterly tired of this that I started just ignoring the clock, not even looking at it, and just playing at my own pace (I did press the clock after making the move, but I didn't care what the clock was showing.) Quite soon I started losing every single game I played by time. All of them. In all the "tournaments" that were played in that club I would always bet 0 points because I would lose every single game by time. And I did that deliberately, as a kind of form of protest. I got so utterly tired of the clock that I didn't care. It was actually more fulfilling to take my time thinking about the positions than stress about the clock. "F the clock, I'm not letting it dictate my pace. If I lose on time, then so be it. F it, I'll lose every single game on time, willingly and purposefully."

I suggested many, many, many times playing without clocks. I didn't get to play a single game there without a clock. Not one. That's how "ridiculous" such a suggestion seems to be.

Sheesh. If it were up to me, chess clocks would all be destroyed. The entire concept removed from human consciousness.

The biggest benefit of using a clock, in my opinion, is a social benefit. The clock establishes an estimated playing time for the game. In the case of a clock with no increment, it establishes an upper limit of playing time for the game.

This time reservation can be communicated (negotiated?) with your spouse, family, etc as you balance the competing interests of your hobby and your social life.

Most of the games at my local club are casual without clocks. If we're limited on time towards the end we might play some blitz games and use a clock

Legend has it that, before the clock, two players were deeply engrossed within a really tight game. After one player spent over an hour considering his move, his opponent, exasperated, asked “sir, are you going to move or not? It’s been an hour at least!”

Bemused, his opponent replied “sir, I thought it was your turn to move, I’ve been waiting on you!”

I think I just posted a forum question that is related to this. In my case I do not want to play clockless chess. I want an upper limit, but not 10 or 15 minutes.

This is an attempt to add to the post I just accidentally posted prematurely. I do want an upper limit. However, most people are, I think, kidding themselves that they can play chess in all its majesty and see all their options when playing a 10 minute game. An hour game maybe. Sure those with 180 IQs and perhaps with eidetic memory or near perfect recall. However, that places the game of chess within the realm of a very smalll niche realm of players.

1861 first chess clock used

If you ask me (and nobody asked me), short times like 15 minutes for chess are bad for the brain…That’s because I know it to be a fact. It doesn’t recruit as much of the brain as chess games with longer time limits.

People who rush mental processes are prone to becoming people who hate to think of a lot at once, or very deeply.

Visualization, mental energy, resilience, self-control, emotional regulation, focus, memory, partial abstraction, critical thinking, reasoning, analysis, problem solving, are some of the full gamut of mental abilities for completely understanding a chess game and being a chess player which takes a minimum time to kick in.

Chess is a game that needs at least around one hour per game for this reason.

But...correspondence chess already exists if you loathe time limits that much.

On this site you can set a custom time up to 120 minutes

I run two chess clubs (one college and one community). I bring clocks for those who want them, but no one uses them. It is a very social club. The only time they really use clocks is if we are getting near the end of our time and need to play a fast game. I do require clocks for our tournaments, though, for obvious reasons. But even during the tournaments, I always set up a couple of boards to the side for people who would rather just chill and play.

Overall, I agree with you. For casual, fun chess, there is no need for a clock.

Which came first: clocks or chess?

There's no time for anything anymore.

Besides you'd have your infinite stallers

Tbf I like OP’s idea. Because if I get in a losing position I can refuse to move until they get bored and resign so I win

Speaking of the devil ...

I was once playing CHESSMASTER on Xbox without the clock. I had forced my opponent into a position where there was nothing he could do and I had him Checkmated in just one move. HE CURSED ME OUT AND REFUSED TO MOVE. I had to leave my xbox on for hours to force his resignation. I promised myself from that moment on, NEVER TO PLAY WITHOUT THE CLOCK. You have two choices when you're losing: RESIGN or watch your clock run out.

3 Minute timer from hence forth.

I love it when you remove the time restriction which then allows people you don't interact with face to face to abuse said system by simply not moving out of spite

Not much socialization happening there...

You can then not play with that person ever again. Who would even want to socialize with such a person?

Doesn't matter for some people, they get the win anyway...