You count not from the number of guests but from how many people will be playing at the same time. Those are different numbers: in a casual area during an evening about a third of the room plays, in a tournament everyone plays at once.
| Guests | Casual area through the evening | Tournament: everyone plays |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 4-6 sets | 10 sets |
| 30 | 6-8 | 15 |
| 50 | 8-12 | 25 |
| 100 | 15-20 | 50 |
The tournament rule is simple: one board per two players, so half the number of people playing. With fewer boards, some pairs have to wait their turn and the round takes twice as long, which at an evening event usually means the tournament never finishes.
A casual area inside the programme needs fewer boards, but not dramatically fewer: they rarely sit idle, because people sit down not only to play but also to “see what's going on”. Calculations for a specific headcount: 20 and 30 players.
A set is a board and pieces. Everything else is counted separately, and it's worth agreeing on that up front.
If you plan to buy your own rather than borrow for an evening, contents and brands are covered separately in chess equipment: what to buy. How to pack it all and get it there if you carry it yourselves: storing and transporting equipment.
The most common unnecessary expense. The answer depends on one thing: whether there's a schedule.
Not needed. Clocks turn a pastime into a competition, and nobody is keeping score anyway.
Essential, one per board. Without them a round never ends: one game that drags on holds up the whole room.
Needed, and they're half the spectacle: slapping the clock is what people watch blitz for.
A cheap substitute. If you need clocks but the budget is tight, a phone can be the timer: we have a free chess clock in the browser, one phone per table, nothing to install. Which time control suits your evening: chess time controls.
A separate story: waist-high floor pieces aren't about playing, they're about photos. People take them to outdoor venues, festivals and the lobbies of big events.
How giant chess works inside a programme is one of the eight formats in chess activities for corporate events. At an outdoor venue: chess at a festival.
Requirements for the room as a whole: a venue for a tournament. If it's easier to hand over everything, people included: a turnkey tournament, and what the price is made of: a tournament budget.
For a tournament, one board per two players: 15 sets for 30 players. For a casual area inside the programme, fewer: 6-8 sets are enough for 30 guests, because usually about a third of the room plays at the same time.
A board and pieces. For events that's a vinyl board with 50-55 mm squares and weighted plastic pieces with a 95 mm king, each set in its own bag. Clocks, a demo board and a screen are counted separately.
Only if there's a schedule of rounds: without them one game that drags on holds up the whole room. For casual play clocks aren't needed; they turn a pastime into a competition. If you need them but the budget is tight, a phone can be the timer: a free chess clock opens in the browser, one phone per table.
Yes, but take them with a clear purpose: they're a photo spot, not a playing set. Nobody plays real games on them; people come over, move a couple of pieces and take pictures. You need a 4×4 metre area plus a walkway round the edge, a level floor and, outdoors, weighted pieces, otherwise light ones get blown over.
It depends on the city, the number of sets, the rental period and whether you need clocks and delivery. We quote an exact figure for the specific event: a price list posted on a page goes out of date faster than the page gets updated.
Rental is for when you have your own programme and your own host and only the boards are missing. Turnkey is for when you need someone to explain the rules, make the pairings, keep the standings and run the prizegiving. The difference isn't the equipment: in both cases it's ours that arrives.
There are no club or arbiter roles in the app: the create button is available to everyone. You can announce a tournament today and run it this weekend.
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.
Related: what to buy and own, transporting equipment, DGT electronic boards. The whole event: a corporate 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 →
