Organising a chess tournament: approval, venue, equipment, software

Whether you are preparing a club's internal tournament, a Sunday rapid or an international nine-round open, the steps are the same; only the scale and the deadlines change. This page follows chronological order, based on the FFE's Arbiter's Handbook (August 2026 edition) and the FIDE regulations.

The timeline for organising a chess tournament

The application is made online from the “Mon compte” area of the FFE website. A late application is still possible by ticking the box provided, but its acceptance is not guaranteed and the fixed share of the fees is doubled. Any application commits the organising club to paying that fixed share, even if the tournament is cancelled. FIDE, for its part, imposes a few constraints: a tournament cannot last more than 30 days, the date of each game must be shown, and the schedule must not exceed 12 hours of play per day. Any foreign player must have a FIDE ID.

How much does tournament approval cost?

The FFE's approval fees, as set out in the Arbiter's Handbook (official rates set in 2022), have two parts:

Departmental and regional qualifying tournaments for the French Youth Championship are exempt. The invoice appears once the results file has been sent, and the organiser must pay it within 7 days of the end of the tournament.

Tournament regulations and the arbiter

Every approved tournament must have its own regulations, prepared by the arbiter and the organiser, published before the tournament and posted in the hall. It is also the first thing a player reads in a tournament announcement. At a minimum it must specify:

• a description of the tournament, the organiser and the reference club;
• the rating for which it is approved (FFE rapid Elo, FIDE standard, rapid or blitz);
• dates and times: check-in, rounds, rest days, prize-giving;
• the pairing system and software;
• tiebreaks and the prize distribution;
• the name and status of the arbiters, and the appeals committee if there is one;
• the default time and the bye conditions;
• special rules: phones, anti-cheating, limits on draws by mutual agreement.

The arbiter must hold the title suited to the tournament; for a FIDE-rated tournament, the chief arbiter must be accredited by FIDE, which is possible from the Federal Club Arbiter title upwards. For a norm tournament, a FIDE Arbiter or an International Arbiter is required. The titles and the arbiter's role are covered on the page about the arbiter and tournament rules.

Pairing software

In France, the reference software is Papi, developed for the FFE: it handles registrations, Swiss-system pairings and tiebreaks, and produces the results file (the “boule Papi”) that the arbiter sends to the federation, which recalculates the approval fees each time a file is sent. Swiss-Manager, approved by FIDE, is the reference in many European countries and publishes directly on chess-results. The national arbitration directorate lists other tools for small events and online management, such as Sharly Chess, ChessEvent or MAMI. At the end, the arbiter marks the tournament as finished on the federal server and sends in the technical report.

Equipment: what to plan for 50 players

For 50 players, you need 25 playing tables. Each must be equipped with:

Staunton pattern pieces are the competition standard. Le Palais des Échecs offers tournament-size Staunton chess sets as well as complete board-and-piece sets, handy for equipping a club in one go. For clocks, its guide helps you choose a digital chess clock for a club: a tournament with an increment requires electronic clocks able to handle the Fischer time control (see the clock in tournaments).

The venue, finally, must be quiet, well lit and large enough for the arbiter and the players to move between the tables. Spectators stay at a distance, and a wall clock shows the tournament's official time if no countdown is displayed.

On the day: unforeseen events and good practice

The FIDE Laws of Chess and the commentaries in the Arbiter's Handbook cover the most common incidents. It is best to know them before the first round:

• Faulty clock. The arbiter replaces it, working out as best they can the times to display (Article 6.10). The Handbook recommends noting the times and the number of moves about every 30 minutes during the round, and setting aside any faulty clock.
• Setting error. If it emerges during a game that a clock was set wrongly, it is stopped, the arbiter sets it correctly and adjusts the times, after noting the displayed times and the number of moves played.
• Interruption. In the event of a fire alarm or incident, the arbiter pauses the clocks and decides when play resumes (Article 6.11).
• Players with disabilities. If the position of the clock hinders a player, the Arbiter's Handbook recommends turning the board rather than moving the clock. The FFE devotes a section of the Handbook to accommodating people with disabilities.
• Late arrivals. The default time announced in the regulations applies from the official start of the round; displaying a countdown or a wall clock avoids disputes.

Prizes, entries and communication

Entry fees and the prize list are set freely, but must appear in the regulations. Many organisers waive fees for titled players to raise the standard, and offer prizes by rating band to reward every level. The announcement on the FFE calendar is made from the tournament management area, where the arbiter can also upload a poster. To attract players from beyond the club, nothing beats the consistency of an annual fixture: the big chess opens in France return on the same dates year after year.