What a chess tournament costs: the budget line by line

The conclusion from the table: nearly every line can be zeroed individually. A tournament becomes expensive when everything has to be bought and transported at once - which is to say, at the first one.

Realistic when three conditions hold: your own room, your own boards and your own organizer.

• The venue - an office, a school, a library or a bar that takes it for the trade.
• Equipment - players bring their own sets and phones replace clocks: a timer in the browser.
• Record-keeping - the free app: pairings, standings and registration with no limits.
• Prizes - certificates off a printer and a trophy bought once that changes hands.
• The host - the organizer.

That is how club, school and office tournaments run. The one limitation: it all rests on one enthusiast.

An event for 20 to 30 people where some of the lines are actually purchased. In rough proportion:

• Equipment. A board-and-pieces set is the base unit; twelve of them is a noticeable one-off outlay. Bought once, it lasts years.
• Clocks. A pair costs several times a set of pieces, which is why people usually buy a few for the top tables and let the rest play on phones.
• Prizes. Trophies, medals, certificates - normally the main variable cost.
• Printing. Table numbers, certificates, a banner - cheap, and always forgotten at the planning stage.
• Refreshments. Water, tea, biscuits, by headcount.

The governing principle: equipment is an investment, not a cost of this event. Divide it across ten future tournaments and the figure stops being frightening.

What to buy first - boards and clocks.

When a contractor takes the organizing on, the price covers people and work rather than only objects:

• designing the format and writing the regulations;
• registration and communication with the players;
• transporting and setting up the equipment;
• an arbiter and a host on site;
• pairings, standings, prize-giving;
• photographs and material after the event.

The cost is quoted individually: it depends on the city, the number of players, the length and how much the client takes on. A «market average» is meaningless here - a fifteen-player office event and a hundred-player festival differ by an order of magnitude.

What normally stays with the client: the room, the catering, and the prize fund if it is cash.

The commonest false economy is too few boards. It does not look like a problem while planning, and at the event it doubles the length of every round.

• An entry fee. Standard at open events - fees and the prize fund.
• A sponsor or partner. Prizes or money in exchange for a mention.
• The venue as the client. A bar or coworking space wants the footfall - then the venue pays.
• A corporate booking. The company pays for the whole event for its staff.
• Federation or civic support. Realistic for junior and community events - grants.

Worth understanding: an amateur tournament is rarely profitable in itself. It pays for itself either as a service to a client, or as a tool - for a venue, a club or a company.