Managing a tournament

From creation to final standings. For tournament details, see Create a tournament; for Vega and FIDE files, see Import and export.

The tournament is divided into tabs: Details, Players, Rounds, Standings, Crosstable, Prizes, Reports, Log.

Tournament phases

Registration

In the Players tab, when registration is open:

• search for a player by name or ID and press Register. The search looks in the archive and, online, in the updated FIDE list (with standard, rapid and blitz ratings, title, federation and year of birth); if not in the FIDE list and you have an account, search for Elo Italia on torneionline.com;
• if not there, press New player: the search text becomes the last name. In the row you find last name, first name, FIDE rating (for the tournament's time control) and Italian rating; the ⋯ button shows other optional fields (FIDE ID, FSI ID, title, federation, sex, date of birth, club). The player is also added to the archive.

From keyboard: Enter moves to the next field. On a completed FIDE rating field it moves to Italian rating; on an empty FIDE rating field or on Italian rating, it registers the player and puts the cursor back in the search box, ready for the next one.

Initial order is: FIDE rating (of the type required by the time control), then Italian rating, then title, then alphabetically; players without a rating go to the bottom. The pairing number is fixed when registration closes.

Before round 1 a registered player can be modified or Removed; after round 1 they can only be Withdrawn.

How many rounds? When registration closes the app checks that the rounds are playable:

• it blocks them if there are not enough different opponents (with N players, at most N − 1 rounds if N is even, N if odd): the warning, for example "Too many rounds (7): at most 1", leads to the field to be corrected in Details;
• it warns if there are fewer than twice as many players as rounds: the last rounds risk being unpaired.

Late entries

Until the round indicated in Last round to join you can register players even while the tournament is running. For each round already played, the late entrant receives the points set for late entry (0 or ½). If registration is already closed, use Reopen registration.

Byes and absences

There are three different cases, and it helps to tell them apart because with the 2026 tie-breaks they count differently.

Requested bye (in advance). The player notifies that they will skip a round: in the Players tab, in Bye in round, choose the round. They receive the requested bye points (½ or 0) and are not paired. If the request exceeds tournament rules (too many byes, last rounds) the app asks for confirmation: the arbiter can grant it anyway.

Absent at pairing time. Before generating each round the app shows players and asks you to mark the Absent ones: they receive a requested bye instead of being paired and then losing by forfeit. It is the best choice for their opponents too: under the 2026 FIDE rules a forfeit win against an absent player scores little in the tie-breaks of those who were present. If the previous round had forfeits, the app will remind you.

Pairing-allocated bye (odd number). If available players are odd, the pairing leaves one player without an opponent, who receives pairing-allocated bye points. No one receives it twice.

Withdrawal. Final: the player remains in the standings with their points and is not paired again.

Rounds

Rounds tab. At the top are all the planned rounds, each with its date from the calendar (Details tab): those already paired open, the others stay disabled until they are played. When the previous round is complete (or, for round 1, registration is closed), the next round becomes Prepare round N. In a round-robin tournament just Automatic pairing is needed: the pairings from the Berger tables are confirmed straightaway.

1. Mark absent players.
2. Choose: - Automatic pairing: the FIDE Dutch engine calculates the pairings; - Manual pairing: start from an empty board.
3. The pairings are in Draft: check them, edit if needed and press Confirm pairings. Only after confirmation are they visible to those following the tournament and can be printed.

Editing pairings

In draft you can:

• click two players on different boards to swap them;
• Swap colours on a board;
• Remove a board: the players go back to To be paired; click two players to pair them (the first gets White);
• manually assign the Pairing-allocated bye.

The app blocks pairings that violate absolute FIDE rules (players who have already met, second pairing-allocated bye, colours not allowed, forbidden pairs) and explains why. After the first result is entered, the pairings for that round cannot be edited.

Results

For each board press the result button: 1-0, ½-½, 0-1; forfeits and games not played (1-0F, 0F-1, 0F-0F, 0-0) are behind the ⋯ button. Pressing the highlighted result again deletes it. Or use the keyboard: 1 (White wins), 0 (Black wins), 5 or = (draw), + (1-0F, forfeit: White wins), − (0F-1, forfeit: Black wins). After each result the next board is shown.

Game not played by arbiter decision (0-0). The FIDE rules do not say how to treat it in tie-breaks, so you decide for each of the two players: below the result check White and/or Black under Voluntary absence. For those checked, the round counts as a forfeit loss; for others, as a round not played by their choice.

When all results are entered the round is complete and you can prepare the next one. As long as you do not prepare the next round, the results of the last round can still be corrected.

Final round

When all planned rounds have been played, press Finish tournament. If you want to add more rounds, increase the Number of rounds in the Details tab.

Corrections

All of them ask for confirmation and save a backup before acting.

The Log tab lists all actions with date and time, and Backups: Restore brings the tournament back to how it was before an action (the current state is in turn backed up, so you can go back again).

Standings and tie-breaks

Order: points, then Buchholz with worst score cut (BH-C1), then Buchholz (BH), according to the FIDE rules in effect from 1 March 2026. Players still tied share the position (for example "3–5"). Tie-break detail shows the contribution of each opponent round by round: useful to explain a placement.

Compared to programs using the previous rules (for example Vega 8), the tie-breaks can differ, especially with forfeits and byes: rounds not played count according to the new rules.

Crosstable

The Crosstable tab shows all results together: one row per player, one column per completed round. Each cell holds the result (1, ½, 0; + and − for games won or lost by forfeit) and below it the number of the opponent with the colour (□ white, ■ black), or BYE. Sort it By points (as the standings) or By number. Tap a name to highlight their opponents. For the printable version use Crosstable in Reports.

Prizes

In the Prizes tab, define the prize list: category (overall, age group, women's, rating group, custom list), place and description. The order of the list is the assignment priority: prizes are not cumulative, and those already awarded are skipped (the app indicates this). In case of a perfect tie on a prize the app does not decide: you choose the winner and the choice is recorded in the log.

Printouts and publication

Reports tab:

• List of players (by number or alphabetically);
• Pairings and Board cards for a round: the cards are four per A4 page, to be cut and folded into a tent on the table;
• Standings after a round, also by age group; Crosstable; Prizes;
• HTML page to publish: standings and last round in a file to upload to the club website;
• tournament export (JSON, TRF 2016, TRF 2026), see Import and export.

Printouts use the language and header chosen in the tournament details. They are printed with the browser's print function (including "Save as PDF").