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Checklist

Chess Tournament Organizer Checklist

Alexey Mudry · updated August 25, 2026
Before a tournament starts it's easy to forget a small thing that later costs nerves. This checklist gathers everything important on one screen: run through it in five minutes before the start and the tournament goes smoothly. The list suits any scale, from a neighborhood tournament to a corporate event.

A few days before the tournament

Format and announcement
  • Format chosen: Swiss system (or round-robin for a group up to 8-10).
  • Number of rounds set by the field size (8-16 - 5 rounds, 17-32 - 6).
  • Time control chosen: blitz for an evening, rapid for a day.
  • Date, time and venue set and announced to participants.
  • For a formal tournament, one-page regulations ready (format, rounds, tie-break, prizes).

The day before

Gear and registration
  • Enough boards for the number of pairs (players / 2) plus a spare set.
  • Clocks ready - or free phone chess clocks, one per table.
  • Tournament created in the bot, registration open, link shared.
  • Participants without Telegram entered as guests by name.
  • A prize for the winner planned - even a symbolic one.

Right before the start

Final check
  • Registration closed, the field locked.
  • Rules announced: how late players may be, the dispute procedure, phones away.
  • Tables numbered the same way as in the bot.
  • A helper assigned to enter guests' results (if there are many players).
  • Round one started - pairings sent, ready to play.

How to run the checklist with the bot

The bot covers half the list itself: registration, pairing, sending pairings, counting points and Buchholz. You're left with the logistics - venue, boards, prizes and announcing the rules. The clock line ticks itself off: a chess clock for a tournament evening opens on any phone, one per table. The step-by-step launch is in the organizer guide, and the overall prep in the how to organize a tournament guide. Any questions left - see the tournament FAQ.

Checklist done - launch the tournament

The logistics are ready - the bot does the rest. Open @vibechessbot, create a tournament and start round one.
Open the Vibe Chess appBrowser version

Frequently asked questions

What is absolutely required for a chess tournament?

The minimum: participants, boards by the number of pairs, a venue, a phone with the bot for pairing and the table, and an hour and a half for 5 rounds of blitz. Clocks and regulations are desirable but optional for a friendly tournament.

Do I need regulations for a small tournament?

For a neighborhood or home one - no, a verbal agreement is enough. For a school, corporate or open tournament, one-page regulations are desirable: they settle disputes about format, tie-break and prizes.

How many boards should I prepare?

By the number of pairs - half the players, plus a spare set. For 16 people - 8 boards and one spare.

What should I announce before the start?

The rules: how many minutes players may be late, what to do in a dispute (stop the clock and call the organizer), how to handle phones. That heads off most conflicts in advance.

What does the bot take on from the checklist?

Registration, Swiss pairing, sending pairings to tables, collecting results and counting the Buchholz table. The organizer is left with the venue, gear, prizes and announcing the rules.

The tournament app

A tournament without a paper crosstable

Everything people usually keep in a spreadsheet is already in the app: pairings, points, tie-breaks, round order. Free, with no subscriptions and no cap on the number of players.

Swiss

many players, one evening: four or five rounds are enough

Round robin

the fairest format for six to ten players

Free meetup

not a tournament, just an evening of chess - who is free and who is playing is visible in the app

How the tournament runs
  1. 1Set up the event: date, venue, time control
  2. 2Send the link - players register themselves
  3. 3Pair each round with one tap and enter the results
  4. 4Standings and the TRF export are produced automatically
Open the app

More than a bot: the app, FIDE rules and a TRF report

  • The app. Besides the bot there is an app - inside Telegram and simply at vibechess.ru/app: what is on in your city, the player list, a live table, the current round, your profile and game history - everything that is awkward to read as chat messages.
  • Pairings by FIDE rules. Pairings are computed by bbpPairings, an open-source engine implementing the Dutch system: score groups, floats on an odd field, colour alternation, no rematches and no two byes in a row.
  • A TRF report. A finished tournament exports as a single file in the FIDE data exchange format - the one arbiter software and federations accept. Your profile stores the FIDE ID, national federation code, title, sex and date of birth for it.
  • Free. All of the above, with no subscriptions, paid plans or limits on the number of tournaments and players.

Full overview

Missing a feature? Message the developers

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.

What to read next

Step-by-step launch - organizer guide. General prep - how to organize a tournament. All the questions - tournament FAQ. About the round count - how many rounds in the Swiss.

Alexey Mudry
Alexey Mudry · hosted 15 Vibe Chess events

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 →