DGT2500 chess clock User Guide

: June 10, 2024
: DGT

Table of Contents

DGT2500 chess clock
Product Information
Product Usage Instructions
Introduction
Button description
Quick setup
Manual setup
Full setup and clock modes
Manual settings
Period transition
Arbiter mode
Glossary
Warranty
Technical specifications
ABOUT COMPANY
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

DGT2500 chess clock

Product Information

The DGT2500 chess clock is the Official FIDE Chess Clock, approved and recommended by the international chess federation FIDE. It is in full accordance with the FIDE Laws of Chess and suitable for all games and competitions. It includes the following features:

Sound On/Off option
Freeze option
Forced move counter
Period flag / selection bar
Hours, minutes, and seconds display
Low battery indicator

Product Usage Instructions

Quick Setup

Press the on/off button to turn on the clock.
Navigate through the options using the plus and minus buttons.
Press play/pause or right arrow to select an option.
Set the lever in the correct starting position. On the display, the bars will be visible on the side that will start (the white side).
Use minus, plus, or left arrow buttons to turn sound, freeze, and/or move counter on or off.
Press play/pause to start the game.
Press play/pause to pause and resume the game.
When a player reaches zero, the flag is shown by the blinking bar on the top and bottom of the display.
Press on/off at the bottom quickly twice to restart the DGT2500 and start a new game.

Manual Setup

Press the on/off button to turn on the clock.
Select the manual setting option for the timing method you wish to use.
Use the left and right button to navigate through the digits; use + and – to edit the digit value.
At the last digit, press to go the next setting screen. Edit values per screen for your desired game time.
If you do not wish a second or third period leave the value at zero.
If you do not wish to use the Forced move counter leave the move counter value at zero.
At the last screen, press to exit the manual setup and go to Wait for start.
Please note, you can press play/pause at any moment during the manual set up to skip.

Introduction

Congratulations on your purchase of the DGT2500 chess clock. The DGT2500 is the Official FIDE Chess Clock, approved and recommended by the international chess federation FIDE. It is in full accordance with the FIDE Laws of Chess and suitable for all games and competitions.

Button description

Quick setup

Press the on/off button to turn on the clock.
Navigate through the options using the plus and minus buttons.
Press play/pause or right arrow to select an option.
Set the lever in the correct starting position. On the display the bars will be visible on the side that will start (the white side).
Use minus, plus or left arrow buttons to turn sound, freeze, and/or move counter on or off.
Press play/pause to start the game.
Press play/pause to pause and resume the game.
When a player reaches zero, the flag is shown by the blinking bar on the top and bottom of the display.
Press on/off at the bottom quickly twice to restart the DGT2500 and start a new game.

Manual setup

Press the on/off button to turn on the clock.
Select the manual setting option for the timing method you wish to use.
Use the left and right button to navigate through the digits; use + and – to edit the digit value.
At the last digit, press to go the next setting screen. Edit values per screen for your desired game time.
If you do not wish a second or third period leave the value at zero.
If you do not wish to use the “Forced move counter” leave the move counter value at zero.
At the last screen, press to exit the manual setup and go to “Wait for start”.
Please note, you can press play/pause at any moment during the manual set up to skip further screens and immediately go to “Wait for start”.
The manual setup is now complete. Steps 4 through 9 from the quick set up above can now be followed to finish setting up and start your game.

Full setup and clock modes

In sections 3 and 4 of this manual a short explanation is given of how to quickly set up the clock. In this chapter we will go over the functions and modes of the clock in more detail.

Selection mode
- When you turn on the clock it starts in “Selection mode”. In this mode you can navigate through all options using the plus and minus buttons. For each possible option the display will show the starting time, the total number of periods, the default freeze, sound or forced move counter settings. And the two bars indicating which side is white.
- If freeze is activated, the clock will not be able to count down on either side if one side has reached 0:00. Freeze is on by default for all Bonus and Delay options but can be turned off.
- In this mode you can switch the lever freely, but not change any other settings.
- Pressing the left arrow button will show the settings details. More information on setting the chess clock is given under the heading “Setting details” of this section.
- When you have found the timing option you wish to use, press the play/pause or right arrow button to select it.
Wait for start
- After selecting an option, the clock enters “Wait for start” mode. This is the “Pause” before the start of a match. Now some final adjustments can still be made:
1. The position of the lever can still be changed to indicate the correct starting side/ white side.
2. The freeze function can be turned on or off by holding the right arrow button.
3. The sound function can be turned on or off by holding the minus button.
4. The “Forced move counter” can be turned on or off by holding the left arrow button.
- If you want to check if the chosen time control/ option is correct, you can also press the left arrow to show the setting details.
- When all settings are correct, press the play/pause button to start the clock.
Time running mode
- When the clock has been started, it will start counting down on the side where the lever is up.
- When a player has finished their turn, they must push the lever down. When this happens, the other side has the lever up and their clock starts counting down. This will continue until either side has reached zero.
- When the clock is running, pressing buttons has no effect except when the plus button is pressed and the move counter screen is shown. This can be done with or without “Forced move counter” active.
- When the time is running the option and period numbers will be hidden. If the sound, freeze and/or “Forced move counter” are activated, the corresponding symbol will remain visible.

Show move counter
During certain modes the move counter can be shown using the plus button. When holding the plus button, the screen will show a “W” and “B” to indicate the “White” and “Black” side. The digits next to the “W” and “B” show the number of times the lever has been switched. Which, when the clock has been properly used, should correspond to the number of moves completed on the board.
Pause
You can pause and start the clock by pressing the play/pause button. This will pause the countdown for both sides, the play/pause symbol will be shown, and the option number and period number will be visible. During pause you can turn the settings for freeze, sound and “Forced move counter” on or off. But you may not change the lever position. If the lever position is changed during pause, it must be returned to it’s original position from before the clock was paused. Otherwise, the clock will go in to “Arbiter mode” as a safety precaution.
Flag-fall
A Flag-fall occurs if a player has used all their available time. To indicate the Flag-fall, two blinking bars are shown above the numbers 0:00. If the clock is used with the freeze function not active, the other side is still able count down if the lever is up on that side. If freeze is active, the time cannot count down for either side after 0:00 is reached. Even if the lever position is switched.
Note that the flag bars are also shown when a period transition occurs. At that moment the flag bars are displayed (not blinking) for 5 minutes.

Setting details
- It is possible to check the current settings of the clock during “Option select, Wait for start and Pause”. By pressing the left arrow button, the clock will first show the time control category. For example, “Fischer” for Fischer bonus time controls. By pressing the right arrow, you can go to the next screen and view the starting time of the first period. When you press the right arrow again you can see the bonus time for the first period. This action can be repeated until you have seen the starting time and increment for each period.
- Return to the previous clock mode by pressing the left button again, pressing the play/pause button or by pressing the right button until all information screens have passed.

Manual settings

For each of the timing methods a separate manual setting is available on the clock. In the manual setting you can set a custom time per period. Option specific time settings such as bonus, delay or Byo-Yomi periods can also be customized.

When you enter the manual setting for the first time, you will see a display as shown above. The number in the corner of the display indicates that you are editing the starting time for the first period.
The bars are blinking above and below the digit that is currently selected. By using the plus and minus buttons you can edit the digit value. Pressing the arrow buttons will move you to the next or previous digit. Changes made to the left side of the clock are automatically applied to the right side. If you wish to make an asymmetric setting, first edit the left side. Then change the time on the right side. At the last digit of the screen, pressing the right arrow button will move you to the next screen.

After setting the starting time for the first period, the second screen depends on the chosen manual setting type. In the picture above the second screen for the “Fischer bonus” manual setting is shown. Editing the values is done in the same manner as in the previous screen.
After setting the bonus, delay, or other option specific setting, you will enter the moves screen.
In this screen the number of moves per period can be set. If you do not wish to use the “Forced move counter” you can leave the number on zero. If set to a specific number, the clock will transition to the next period after the set number of moves is completed.
Note that the bonus or delay must be set for each period. If you wish to use a bonus starting from move 1, the bonus must be set for period 1 and again for any periods that may follow.
If you wish to use a bonus only during a specific period, then you must set the bonus only in that specific period.
To set the bonus from a certain number of moves, the forced move counter must be used. For example, if you want to set a 30 second bonus starting from move 61. Then set the move count to 60 in the period before the period that has bonus time. Note that if you have more than two periods, a move count must be set for all preceding periods.
During the manual setting, you can quickly accept all settings by pressing the play/pause button. This will skip any further screens and corresponding period settings.

Period transition

When a timing option has multiple periods, the transition from one period to the next occurs when the time reaches 0:00 in the first period. The time of the second period is applied and for 5 minutes the “flag” bars will be shown to indicate a period transition.

Period transition by move count

It is also possible to set the clock, so that the period transition occurs when a certain number of moves have been made (or to be precise, when the lever has been switched a certain number of times). This function is called “Forced move counter”. If this function is active, the time of the next period is added automatically to the current time when the move counter reaches the set number of moves. For the default options, the move count has been pre-set based on standard FIDE timing systems. If you wish to set a different number of moves, use a manual setting instead.
If you wish to play with the period transition based on the move counter. First select the option you wish to play. Then before starting the game, press and hold the left arrow button. When the # symbol appears on the display, the “Forced move counter” is activated.

Arbiter mode

In certain cases you may want to make a correction to the time or the move counter after a game has already started. This can be done using Arbiter mode. The set-up sequence is the same as the manual set-up. To enter Arbiter mode, press and hold the Play/Pause button for 3 seconds when the clock is paused.

Quick time penalty

It is also possible to quickly add 1 minute to either side of the clock without going into Arbiter mode. When the clock is paused, press and hold the right arrow button.
Then press the minus button to add 1 minute to the left side.
Or press plus button to add 1 minute to the right side.

Glossary

Time
In Time mode the clock counts down the time on the side where the lever is up.
Fischer bonus
In Fischer bonus settings players receive an additional amount of time for each move. A bonus time is added before each move from the start of the game. Playing with increments (bonus) has become the standard in chess.
Delay
In Delay settings the players are given a certain amount of free time at the start of each turn before their main thinking time starts counting down. This Delay time is added to the main thinking time in the display so that the total time available to each player is always visible. At the start of a player’s turn, the clock starts to count down and if the player moves within the delay time, the time in the display will return to what it was before the start of the turn.
US Delay
- In US Delay settings the clock has a separate timer that starts counting down before each turn.
- After the separate timer has finished counting down, the main time will start to count down.
Byo-Yomi
In Japanese Byo-Yomi settings players transition to the Byo-Yomi period when their main time runs out. The player receives a number of Byo-Yomi periods with a set amount of time per period. If the player completes their move within the time of that period, the period time is reset. However, if they exceed the time of that period, the time does not reset, and the next period starts counting down. Each time you exceed a period’s time, the number of remaining periods is reduced by one. When the time in the last Byo-Yomi period is used, the player has lost on time and the flag will be shown.
Canadian byo-yomi
In Canadian Byo-Yomi, when main time runs out, the player enters a second period to complete an agreed number of moves in a certain time. When the agreed number of moves is completed, the player’s clock can be reloaded with the Byo-Yomi time by pressing the minus button for two seconds.
Hourglass
In Hourglass options players start with the same amount of time on the clock but when one player’s clock is counting down, the other player’s clock is counting up.
Gong
In Gong options players receive the same fixed amount of time for each move. They must make their move when the clock signals the end of their turn. The lever is not used in this option.
Scrabble™
In Scrabble™ options, when zero is reached, the clock will start counting up.
Move timer
In Move timer settings, the clock will countdown a set time and a player must complete their move before the timer reaches 0:00. The time is then reset for their next move.

Warranty

DGT2500 meets the highest quality requirements. Should your DGT2500, despite our careful choice of parts, materials, production or transport, show a defect within the first two years after purchase, please contact the dealer. The guarantee is only valid when the product is used in a reasonable and careful manner for which it is intended. The warranty is void if the product is used improperly or if unauthorized attempts at modification have been made without the prior written consent of DGT support or one of the DGT authorized service centers. A list of service centers can be found on the DGT website.

Technical specifications

Batteries: 2x AA (1,5 Volt)
Battery life: 4000 hours
Accuracy: within 1 sec/hr
Housing: ABS plastic
Display size: 174 mm x 31 mm (6.8” x 1,2”)
Clock weight: 318 gram (11.2 oz)
Dimensions: 198 mm width, 110 mm depth, 59 mm height (7.8” width, 4.3” depth, 2.3” height)