We’re watching “From Russia With Love” on the TNN Thanksgiving 007 Marathon, and they just showed the scene where the guys are playing that big chess match.
My GF and I are both wondering, what’s the point of that clock-thingy that you always see on the side of the board in professional (or at least serious) chess matches? IIRC, each player “punches in” on it at the completion of a move, and there are 3 clock faces on the device.
Is there a time limit? Penalties? What do the 3 faces do?
Chess clocks generally have two faces, one for the elapsed time of each player. When I press my button down at the completion of my move, your face starts timing you. Before the game starts the tournament rules will specify, say, game/90 which means a maximum of 90 minutes on each clock for the whole game. A number of moves in so many minutes may be specified. If you run out of time you lose. If you are playing someone who is known to get in “time trouble” it is a good tactic to play complicated positions that require lots of thought to exagerrate his problem.
As for the clock in the movie having three faces: I assume, just like chriszarate, that the third face in the middle is just a regular timepiece to let the players keep track of total time.
Before you let go of the piece. There was this infamous game where an IGM moved a piece and apparently also removed his hand, and then, realizing it was an error, said “j’adoube.” He was allowed to move another piece, but witnesses swear he let go of the piece. Such is chess.