An arena is a tournament limited not by the number of rounds but by time. Players do not wait for every table to finish: as soon as you finish, you get a new opponent. In the time available one player might get ten games and another six, and that is fine: whoever scores the most points wins.
The arena rules in Vibe Chess are taken from Lichess: the same 2/1/0 scoring, the same fire streak, the same berserk, the same finish on the timer and the same performance tie-break. If you have played arenas on Lichess, the rules here are identical. The one difference: your opponent sits opposite you, the pieces are real, and time runs on a chess clock on the phone.
| Arena on Lichess | Arena in Vibe Chess | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it is played | online, on a screen | in person, at a board in the hall |
| Opponent | anyone who is connected | anyone who has come to the hall |
| Pairing | by place in the table | by place in the table, never your last opponent |
| Points | 2/1/0, streak, berserk | 2/1/0, streak, berserk |
| Time | built-in clock | a chess clock on the phone |
| Tables | unlimited | as many as there are boards in the hall |
| Rating | Lichess rating | Vibe Chess rating for every game |
How an arena on Lichess itself differs from a Swiss and which to choose for an online tournament - Swiss versus arena on Lichess.
An arena is created just like any other tournament in Vibe Chess. In the app: "Games" - "Create your own game" - "Arena". It sits in the list next to the Swiss system, the round robin and the free meetup.
What you set when creating it:
Once it is created, the app gives you an invitation link: send it to the club chat and players sign up in the Telegram bot. How invitations and sign-ups work - the organiser's guide.
On the day, the organiser opens the arena card and marks who has arrived. Only those marked start the arena: the rest are paused and join automatically when they turn up. Below the list the app tells you whether there are enough tables: 11 players need 6 boards, and if there are only 4, three people will wait for the first free one.
Press "Start the arena" and the timer starts, and the app immediately seats everyone. Each player sees their table number, opponent and colour on their phone, and gets a Telegram message saying "Table N - you are White". Nobody has to hunt for their name on a paper pairing sheet.
There is no round-by-round draw in an arena: pairs are made continuously, as tables free up. A game ends, the result is entered, and both players join the queue. Every few seconds the app looks at who is waiting and pairs them by these rules:
It is the same principle as in the Swiss system - strong players meet strong players - only without shared rounds and without waiting for the last table.
| Result | Points | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Win | 2 | 4 on a fire streak |
| Draw | 1 | 2 on a streak; a draw before move 10 - 0 |
| Loss | 0 | the streak ends |
| Win with berserk | +1 | if the game lasted at least 7 moves |
| Second draw in a row | 0 | only the first one scores if the game is 30 moves or shorter |
Two wins in a row light a flame next to the player in the table. While it burns, every game brings double points: 4 for a win, 2 for a draw. The flame goes out as soon as the player stops winning: a draw still scores double but ends the streak, and a loss ends it at once. On the hall screen double points are highlighted in orange.
Before the first move a player can press "Berserk": their clock time is halved, the increment disappears, and a win brings an extra point - provided the game lasted at least seven moves. There is no going back. Berserk stacks with the streak: a berserk win on fire is 4 + 1 = 5 points.
To stop players agreeing draws for points, a draw before move 10 scores nothing for either side. After the first draw, any further draws in a row score zero if the game was 30 moves or shorter; only a win breaks the chain. The app takes the number of moves from the chess clock the game was played on.
If points are level, the player with the higher performance ranks higher: the average rating of their opponents plus an adjustment for wins and losses. Beating strong players is worth more than scoring the same points against beginners. Performance is shown in the table next to the points.
The same situations arise in an arena as in any tournament, and each one has its own button:
The organiser can pause the whole arena - for an announcement or a break, say - and end it early if the venue closes sooner than planned.
For a projector or TV the arena has its own screen: a large countdown timer, the table with points, flames and performance, the games being played right now and how many people are waiting for an opponent. The table updates by itself after every game. It opens with the "Show the tournament on a screen" button in the arena card.
When the timer reaches zero, no new pairings are made. Games in progress at that moment are played out but do not count - just as on Lichess. The screen switches to the results by itself.
Look at the winner: 0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 5, 4. Two wins in a row lit the flame, the next win with berserk brought 5 points, and another one 4. The runner-up scored one point fewer with the same number of wins: their flame went out sooner.
Every arena game is an ordinary rated game in Vibe Chess: ratings change after each game, not at the end of the evening. If the moves were recorded, the games can be followed live and analysed with an engine afterwards; how it works - a tournament with live game broadcasts.
When you need a fair winner and every place decided, a Swiss or a round robin is the better choice. An arena shines where playing a lot without waiting matters more.
A timed tournament with no rounds: finish a game and you immediately get a new opponent. A win is 2 points, a draw 1, a loss 0. Whoever scores the most points in the time available wins.
Yes. In the Vibe Chess app the arena is played on real boards in a hall: the app pairs opponents, assigns tables and keeps score, and everyone sees their own table and colour on their phone.
The rules are the same: 2/1/0 scoring, streak, berserk, finish on the timer, performance tie-break. The difference is that it is played in person, the number of tables is limited by the boards in the hall, and two players who have just met are not paired again if someone else is available.
Waiting players are paired with their neighbours in the table, never with their last opponent if someone else is free. White goes to whoever had Black last time. If there are not enough tables, a free table goes to whoever has waited longest.
After two wins in a row your points are doubled: 4 for a win, 2 for a draw. The streak lasts as long as you keep winning.
Before the first move you can give up half your time and the increment. A win in a game of at least 7 moves earns an extra point. Berserk cannot be undone.
Yes. You can sign up and start playing after the start, and the "Pause" button takes you out of the pairing until you come back. Your points are kept.
They are played out but do not count towards the arena - just as on Lichess. They do count towards your personal rating.
The organiser sets the length, 60 minutes by default. In an hour of 3+2 blitz players usually manage 7-10 games.
The Vibe Chess app is free. All you need is boards and players' phones.
Pairings are computed by bbpPairings, an open-source engine implementing the Dutch system by FIDE rules: score groups, floats on an odd field, colour alternation. Free to use.
The bot is constantly improved based on real tournaments. If you need a feature that isn't there yet, message the developers right inside the bot with the /support command. Many features appeared exactly because organizers asked for them, and useful ideas get added quickly.
Other formats: a Swiss-system tournament, the round-robin system, a team Swiss. Broadcasting games in any format - a live chess tournament broadcast. How to write down moves - algebraic chess notation. What to buy for the hall - chess sets for a tournament.
At the board since childhood: hazy about his rating, precise about every rook he has blundered. Counts an evening as a good one if the opponent stayed to talk afterwards instead of rushing off to check with an engine. Message →
