This free chess clock software looks interestin...

Has anyone here tried it? I am wondering if it meets standards for tournament play?
It's called 'Top Score Chess' found at the address below.

http://www.breakthrusoftware.com/

Looks pretty rubbish to me.

A standard clock - mechanical or electronic is cheaper than a PC.

Also, it keeps the 'score' based on the pieces captured. Oh dear.

True, but I already have a laptop and since this is free, the price was right.

Yeah, it calculates a score based on relative value of pieces (which you can change). I know there is a lot of debate on the values to use. Showing a score is probably not very useful.

This page has an interesting discussion of valueing chess pieces.
http://www.chesscentral.com/articles_chess/chess-piece-value_1.htm

Most tournament tables do not have room for your laptop next to the chess board, no laptops offer the necessary buttons to be acceptable to most players, and the chess board in the picture should tell you how serious these folks are regarding tournament chess.

Thanks, that's a good point on the footprint and space available on tournement tables. I'll probably keep it for playing with friends at home because the time keeping options are pretty flexible.

It lets you pick a key on the keyboard for each player to indicate a completed move and stop the player's clock -- so it simulates the buttons on top of the standard clock. Seems to work ok in that respect.

Interesting...

This probably wouldn't cut it for any serious tournament play, but if you just wanted to play a few friendly games at home with some friends, why not use it?

I find the interface cumbersome though. It kind of inspired me to write my own, much simpler, program someday.

Originally posted by WhiteRook
It lets you pick a key on the keyboard for each player to indicate a completed move and stop the player's clock

I find the interface cumbersome though.

I can't help but notice that you don't make many moves and come from Connecticut, where the company which wrote this is based.

Originally posted by DeepThought
I can't help but notice that you don't make many moves and come from Connecticut, where the company which wrote this is based.

This is rich.....guy has no games in progress, no games completed, and is interested in our views on a crappy piece of chess related software. He's probably trying to score points with the douchebags at work who thought up this chess clock for your pc idea.
OK, marketing boy, here's my view: As pointed out earlier, it takes up too much space for tournament use, and thus it's utility is marginal, at best. Added to that the small market demand for it (serious chess players who don't already have a clock for tourneys) and you've got a real loser on your hands. Sales should be in the double digits if yer lucky.

Originally posted by General Putzer
This is rich.....guy has no games in progress, no games completed, and is interested in our views on a crappy piece of chess related software. He's probably trying to score points with the douchebags at work who thought up this chess clock for your pc idea.
OK, marketing boy, here's my view: As pointed out earlier, it takes up too much space for ...[text shortened]... d you've got a real loser on your hands. Sales should be in the double digits if yer lucky.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
When Putz and I agree, either the world has gone insane or there is no possibility of a reasonable opinion to the contrary. This is such a case (the third in the history of RHP).