Chess tournament software: what to use for what
The programs
Two different kinds of thing get called «tournament software»: managers, which hold the players, the results and the standings, and pairing engines, which do one job - take the history and return the next round. Managers embed engines.
The de facto standard at large opens: up to 2,000 players and 23 rounds in a Swiss, with team formats alongside. Used by well over a hundred federations, with one-button publishing to chess-results.com. Windows only - on macOS and Linux it runs under a compatibility layer or a virtual machine.
Price: Light and Full licences, a one-off lifetime purchase
Supports Dutch, Dubov and Burstein pairings and the usual tie-breaks. Native on all three desktop systems, which makes it the practical choice for anybody not on Windows. Exports XML, HTML and TRF for FIDE.
Price: Free on Linux and free up to 30 players on Windows; a one-off fee above that
Not a tournament manager but the reference implementation of the Dutch system, against which the other programs are tested. Used as the pairing engine inside Vega, optionally in Swiss-Manager, and in cloud services - about JaVaFo.
Price: Free
The strongest option for hybrid events combining a hall with online players, including electronic boards. Real-time synchronization between venue and remote participants, and a «call arbiter» button for online players.
Price: Free to run events; transaction fees apply on paid registrations
Long-established desktop managers, each dominant in its own region. Functionally close to Swiss-Manager; the choice usually follows whatever the local federation and arbiters already use.
Price: Commercial licences
Swiss tournaments in the browser, created by a team leader. Sonneborn-Berger is the default tie-break and the pairing uses a fork of bbpPairings. For an online club or company event it is the fastest route there is - Swiss on Lichess.
Price: Free
Like JaVaFo, an engine rather than a manager: it reads a TRF file and returns the round's pairings. Embedded in Lichess, in SwissSys as an option and in a great many home-built services - about bbpPairings.
Price: Free and open source
Swiss and round robin. Each round is paired by bbpPairings under the Dutch rules - score groups, colour alternation, no repeat meetings and no two byes in a row - and the finished event exports as TRF. A live table with Buchholz, results entered by the players and confirmed by their opponents, guests without an account, a built-in clock and a profile carrying the FIDE ID and title. No endorsement from the FIDE pairing-programs commission: the Dutch rules are followed, no certificate was issued.
Price: Free, with no subscriptions or limits
Licence prices change and differ by region, so the price line gives the model rather than a figure - check the current terms on the vendor's own site.
What FIDE endorsement actually means
Endorsement is granted by the FIDE Systems of Pairings and Programs Commission after testing. Without it, a program may not process events for FIDE rating under the Dutch system. For unrated events - amateur, school, corporate - endorsement is not required at all.
The endorsed managers include Swiss-Manager, Vega, SwissSys, Swiss Master, Swiss-Chess and Tornelo, with JaVaFo as the reference engine. The current list lives on the commission's own site - spp.fide.com - and is worth checking rather than trusting any article, this one included.
The distinction that catches people out: implementing the Dutch rules correctly is not the same as being endorsed. Several free engines follow the same rules and hold no certificate - FIDE requirements.
Six scenarios, six answers
Free, nothing to install, one-click entry and automatic Buchholz.
Sign-up from a link, a mobile arbiter, printable protocols and exportable results.
Only endorsed software is accepted for official rating, and TRF export is built in.
Playing surface and pairing in one service. For a serious hybrid with electronic boards, Tornelo.
High capacity and team scoring on one side; sign-up from a link gathers people faster than a form on the other.
Leagues, squads and a standing carried across several events are what desktop managers are built for.
A combination is common and sensible: one tool for registration and the public side, an endorsed manager for the official pairing and the TRF export, and a results site for the live table.
Ten mistakes that cost an event
Refresh ratings from the federation before pairing, or the seeding is wrong and the report is rejected.
A player with no ID does not reach the national or international report. Check before round one.
Older desktop builds do not autosave. Save manually after every round.
Half-point, full-point and zero-point byes are different things, and confusing them breaks the Buchholz calculation.
Dutch does not guarantee alternation when there are many draws - a third colour in a row can occur and has to be spotted.
Run the file through the FIDE pairings checker before submitting, or it comes back.
Regenerating the round overwrites hand edits. Always mark pairs as manually paired.
The report has to be UTF-8, or the checksum fails on submission.
Several desktop managers default to the developer's language until you change it in the settings.
A player chasing a title norm needs federation, FIDE ID, rating and an exact date of birth in the file.
Most of them come down to the same thing: the file is checked after the event rather than before it. The report format itself - TRF.
Where Vibe Chess fits
It covers the amateur and corporate segment - the part where endorsement is not required. It runs in the browser and in the app, with nothing to install and nothing to pay.
- Swiss paired by the Dutch algorithm through bbpPairings;
- round robin from the standard tables;
- a casual meet-up with no pairing at all;
- a live table with points and Buchholz;
- a TRF report in the FIDE exchange format;
- no limits on the number of events or players.
Anybody can create an event - it is not restricted to clubs or arbiters. Set the date, the venue, the control and the number of rounds, and open entry from a link - how it works.
Where it does not fit: FIDE-rated events. For those, use an endorsed manager and agree the software with your federation in advance.
Start an event in five minutes
Frequently asked questions about tournament software
Which program do I need for a FIDE-rated tournament?
An endorsed one: Swiss-Manager, Vega, Swiss Master, Swiss-Chess, SwissSys or Tornelo. The current list is published by the FIDE pairings commission at spp.fide.com. For unrated events any program will do.
Can I run tournaments for free?
Yes. Vega is free on Linux and free up to 30 players on Windows; Lichess Swiss is free; Tornelo is free to run events; and the Vibe Chess app is free with no limits.
What operating system does Swiss-Manager need?
Windows. On macOS and Linux it runs through a compatibility layer or a virtual machine. Vega runs natively on Windows, Linux and macOS, which is usually the deciding factor for non-Windows organizers.
What is JaVaFo and why does it matter?
The reference implementation of the Dutch pairing system, written by the secretary of the FIDE pairings commission. It is free, embeds into other programs as a pairing engine, and other software is tested for agreement with it.
How do I export results for FIDE rating?
Through the program's export menu, in TRF format, as a UTF-8 text file sent to the rating officer. Run it through the FIDE pairings checker before submitting.
Can a tournament be run with no internet?
Yes. The desktop managers work entirely offline. Lichess, Tornelo and other cloud services need a connection, as does entering results in any web app.
What should I use for a school tournament?
Vibe Chess or Vega Free: both are free, both compute Buchholz and both suit 8 to 30 players. The app adds sign-up from a link and a mobile arbiter.
How many players does a desktop manager handle?
Swiss-Manager handles up to 2,000 in a Swiss and large team events alongside. That is more than enough for any open outside the very largest.
What is accelerated pairing?
A method of adding virtual points to the top seeds in the early rounds so that they meet each other sooner. It is supported by the endorsed managers and set out in the FIDE handbook.
Is Lichess Swiss suitable for an official event?
Not for FIDE rating - it is not endorsed. For an internal club or company event online it is entirely suitable and free, pairing with a fork of bbpPairings and using Sonneborn-Berger as the default tie-break.
Is Vibe Chess comparable with Swiss-Manager?
For FIDE-rated events, no - it does not operate in that niche. For school, company, amateur and networking events it is more convenient: no Windows needed, sign-up in seconds, a mobile arbiter and no cost. Using one for registration and an endorsed manager for the official pairing is a common arrangement.
Three event formats in one app
The Vibe Chess app is built for an evening over the board, not for online play: it keeps the sign-up list, the pairings and the table while you deal with people and the venue. All of it free.
score groups, no rematches, no two byes in a row
everyone plays everyone, the app works out the number of rounds
who is free and who is already at a board is shown under Now
- 1Create the event and save the venue for next time
- 2Open sign-up, players arrive through the link
- 3Start the tournament and the app announces the pairings
- 4Keep entering results, then take the final table and the TRF file
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.
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
Individual programs - Swiss-Manager, Vega, chess-results.com. Engines - JaVaFo, bbpPairings. The report - TRF.