strange behavior of clock (time jumps backwards?)

Hi -- I have only been playing at chess.com for a day or two (though I've played at the Facebook version of chess.com for a long time).  The rules and procedure here are different, and right now I'm confused and befuddled -- in LIVE CHESS -- about some mysterious behavior of the clock.

Here are 3 little chat questions I posed to my opponent in a game that I just now lost (the opponent didn't notice or didn't deign to respond to the inquiries):

david-raphael-israel: Hey, how come you now have more than a minute left -- before it was 59 seconds :-)

david-raphael-israel: And now you have 2 minutes - why?

david-raphael-israel: strange behavior of the click -- suddenly it goes from 2:05 to 2:25 or something

Can anybody explain this to me.  I thought the clock only ran in one direction!

The game I was playing was a "15 | 10" game -- 15 minutes, plus 10 seconds of waiting between each move (I believe it means).  Unless it's really so-called bonus minutes? (that theory was discounted as erroneous in the chess.com documentation) . . .

A little clarification would be appreciated!

thanks,
David

A x|y game is a game where you start with x minutes, and each move you gain y seconds in increment. 

Ah I see, thanks for the explanation.  I'd thought the clock would simply PAUSE for Y seconds before proceeding to decrease -- didn't realize that in fact: (a) it constantly decreases, except for the factor of (b) a Y-second increase that increments the total in a reverse direction with each move.

So if players are moving relatively fast, in principle (hypothetically) the clock might never run out (if given a non-zero Y value -- e.g. practically speaking, of at least 10 or more). hmm.

Fair enough -- good to know how the thing works.

unsportsman like behavior to let the clock run out completely when you know you are losing the game. this behavior tied me up for nearly 14 minutes that I could have been enjoying my limited time playing another game.  You should be more considerate of other players.

i had the same question a few days ago, i saw he only had 30 seconds and i had 2 mins left so knowing i would win on time, (even tho i was well in a better position and had a queen rook and a few pawns more than my opponent) i carelessley let him take my queen then my rook and then noticed he had 50+ seconds left , i was typing "how you doing this" in the end i accused him of somehow cheating,,,lol but after HE won the game he told me to look at the time options....lol...true story

David, the time control you are describing (what you though chess.com used) is called a "delay" and is commonly used in tournaments. The time control chess.com uses is called an "increment" and is standard online. In both cases you are guaranteed to have at least a few seconds for every move (even in time trouble), but increments allow you to gain extra time by moving very quickly.

"plus 10 seconds of waiting between each move"

:p I like your reasoning

lol strange behavior of the dick lol but there is probably bonus time

A

David,

Another factor that can mysteriously add time to the opponants time is lag: when the opponant has a slow connection, the computer/server here will address this inequity and add back the time it took between their actual move and when the their server got around to reporting it. Look at the opponants connection lag bar: all green is normal and orange partial bar or red is slow or much slower. Frustrating when you depend on the time clock to pace your moves, watch them run out of time, think you have won, and see time added back to their clock. Arg!

In a 10-15 game there is ten minutes of clock time counting down, while with every move there is added 15 seconds of " bonus time" back on the clock.

John

yes, x|y adds if you move quickly, but I have seen a number of 'anomalies' - with the clock, I've seen opponents go down to 0, and then they have up to 2 seconds still on their clock. I've had an opponent castle ACROSS checked squares, too.

I don't know much about this, except that there is a very common setting where some number of seconds are added with each move.  That is an acceptable setting for a game, and when it applies, of course it applies to BOTH opponents.  It is established in parameters of the game.

I have not paid much attention to it, but have seen it.