Learn ChessCompete

A little guidance.
A smoother tournament.

Short walkthroughs you can follow at your own pace. Watch from the start, or jump to the step you need.

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Lesson 01

Your first tournament

2:19 · English audio + subtitles

0:00 / 2:19

English subtitles are included in the video. Space: play/pause · Arrow keys: skip 5 seconds.

Read the English transcript

0:00 · Meet your workspace

Welcome to ChessCompete. Let us walk through the essentials of running a chess tournament. We will create an event, add players, review pairings, record results, and save the standings. Use Calendar to see your saved events by date. Status badges distinguish drafts, planned tournaments, events in progress, and completed competitions.

0:24 · Create a tournament

Choose New tournament. In Basics, enter a name, location, and dates for your event. Continue to Format. Choose your time control, rating category, and pairing system. Here we use Swiss Dutch. Check the scoring and tie-break order in Scoring, then continue to Report details. Add any event codes and arbiter details needed for your reports. Review the summary. When everything is correct, select Create tournament.

0:54 · Add your players

Open Players and choose Add player. Enter the player details, then select Save player. Repeat for the rest of the field, or import a CSV file. Check names and ratings before the first round.

1:08 · Prepare the pairings

Open Pairings and select Start first round. Starting a real tournament requires an active subscription. Review the draft, including board numbers and colors. When everything is ready, choose Publish pairings. The round is now published. You can save a PDF or print the pairings for the playing hall.

1:28 · Record a result

Select the result box between the players. Choose a white win, a draw, or a black win. Here we record a white win on board one. Complete every board result before pairing the next round.

1:40 · Follow the standings

Open Standings to see the ranking, scores, and tie-break values. The table updates as you record results. Use Save PDF or Print to share the current standings with your players.

1:53 · Export and back up

In Reports, export player lists, results, and standings. Download a full tournament backup to keep a recoverable copy. An already activated tournament can continue offline. Sign-in, activation, and synchronization need an internet connection.