I’ve mentioned this before... and I would like to again, because I got burned by it in a recent game I lost by 10ths of a second because I noticed my opponent’s clock was running out of time, but not my own. With a different clock layout it wouldn’t have happened.
While the symmetry of clock placements in the lichess app is intuitively appropriate aesthetically, the clock placements *are* a liability functionally... Specifically, unlike OTB speed chess, with a standard chess clock, where both players can (and should) see both player’s clocks simultaneously with ease, in lichess, one’s own clock tends to be covered by their thumbs during play, which means one will often tend to not notice when their time is running out, which is not the case in OTB chess.
Although both players are put at same disadvantage, which might appear to be fair in some sense, it does throw games the wrong way some statistically significant percentage of the time. One could argue that it averages out over time (no pun intended). But it is still interfering with the outcome, and will tend to affect some players more than others, depending on how they approach the game. And while you could argue it requires an extra discipline, that implies it is not the same game ... deviates from standard speed chess.
Functionally it would be superior, e.g. more true to speed chess, fairer to the players, bookkeeping and ratings to keep both clocks at the top of the screen on the phone apps, so each player can maintain a consistent equal view of both clocks at all times, without additional effort or extra maneuvers to do so.
It goes without saying that view of one’s own remaining time at all times is just as important as a view of the opponent’s clock is. For example, in a a number of tight games, like the one mentioned at the beginning, I have found myself losing only (and obviously) because I didn’t notice my clock was running out, and only because the clock was covered by my thumbs in natural playing position.
While not a frequent problem per se, i.e. not an issue in most games, it tends to occur in games where one’s time is getting critically low, and one needs to flip from strategy to hastier moves and needs a cue.
I am confident this is a well-reasoned and unavoidable conclusion, and that the issue is a more significant problem with the lichess app and a far more common experience than most people realize, or at least tend to contemplate, independent of the business case and logistics of changing the app layout.
While the symmetry of clock placements in the lichess app is intuitively appropriate aesthetically, the clock placements *are* a liability functionally... Specifically, unlike OTB speed chess, with a standard chess clock, where both players can (and should) see both player’s clocks simultaneously with ease, in lichess, one’s own clock tends to be covered by their thumbs during play, which means one will often tend to not notice when their time is running out, which is not the case in OTB chess.
Although both players are put at same disadvantage, which might appear to be fair in some sense, it does throw games the wrong way some statistically significant percentage of the time. One could argue that it averages out over time (no pun intended). But it is still interfering with the outcome, and will tend to affect some players more than others, depending on how they approach the game. And while you could argue it requires an extra discipline, that implies it is not the same game ... deviates from standard speed chess.
Functionally it would be superior, e.g. more true to speed chess, fairer to the players, bookkeeping and ratings to keep both clocks at the top of the screen on the phone apps, so each player can maintain a consistent equal view of both clocks at all times, without additional effort or extra maneuvers to do so.
It goes without saying that view of one’s own remaining time at all times is just as important as a view of the opponent’s clock is. For example, in a a number of tight games, like the one mentioned at the beginning, I have found myself losing only (and obviously) because I didn’t notice my clock was running out, and only because the clock was covered by my thumbs in natural playing position.
While not a frequent problem per se, i.e. not an issue in most games, it tends to occur in games where one’s time is getting critically low, and one needs to flip from strategy to hastier moves and needs a cue.
I am confident this is a well-reasoned and unavoidable conclusion, and that the issue is a more significant problem with the lichess app and a far more common experience than most people realize, or at least tend to contemplate, independent of the business case and logistics of changing the app layout.