Getting Started

Welcome to TournaChess. This guide walks you through creating your account, setting up your profile, and getting ready to participate in or organize chess tournaments. By the end, you will know how to sign up, link your chess ratings, manage player profiles for family members, and join your first club.

What is TournaChess?

TournaChess is a modern web platform for chess club organization and tournament management. It brings together the tools that clubs, tournament directors, and players need into a single, streamlined experience.

Who is TournaChess for?

Club organizers who want to create and manage a chess club online, handle membership, and coordinate events
Tournament directors who need to create tournaments, generate Swiss pairings, enter results, and export data for USCF submission
Players who want to register for tournaments, view pairings and standings in real time, and track their results across events
Parents and guardians who manage tournament participation for their children through a single family account

Key capabilities

Club management with role-based permissions for owners, admins, tournament directors, and members
Tournament creation and operation supporting Swiss and manual pairing formats with configurable sections, time controls, and tie-break rules
USCF and FIDE rated events with automatic rating lookups, membership validation, and results export for official submission
Grand Prix series that track cumulative standings across multiple tournaments with configurable scoring, and custom bonus points for special achievements
Online registration and payments through Stripe, with support for entry fees, early-bird pricing, and in-person payment tracking
Recurring tournament series for weekly, biweekly, or monthly club events
Live venue displays with auto-refreshing pairings and standings for TVs and projectors, complete with QR codes for players

Creating Your Account

You can create a TournaChess account using either an email address with a password or your Google account.

Navigate to the TournaChess registration page.
Enter your first name, last name, and email address.
Choose a password.
Select a username (see requirements below).
Click Sign Up to create your account.

Click Sign in with Google on the registration page.
Select your Google account and authorize TournaChess.
Your account is created using the name and email from your Google profile.
You will be prompted to choose a username to complete your profile.

Tip: Signing up with Google automatically verifies your email address, so you can skip the verification step and start using all platform features right away.

Email verification

After signing up with an email and password, you will receive a verification email with a confirmation link. Click the link to verify your email address.

Until your email is verified, you can still browse public tournaments and register as a participant. However, creating clubs, creating tournaments, and joining clubs require a verified email. The verification link expires after 3 days, but you can request a new one from the banner that appears when you are logged in.

Choosing your username

Your username is your unique identity on TournaChess. It appears in URLs and is how other users can identify your account.

Must be globally unique across the platform
Can contain letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores
You can change your username later in your account settings, as long as the new name is available

Linking Your Chess IDs

After creating your account, you can link your chess federation IDs and online accounts to your TournaChess profile. This step is optional but highly recommended if you plan to participate in rated tournaments.

Adding your USCF ID

Go to Settings from the navigation menu.
Find the USCF ID field in your profile settings.
Enter your USCF member number.
TournaChess validates your ID against the USCF database and retrieves your current rating.

Once linked, your USCF rating is automatically displayed when you register for tournaments. Tournament directors can see your rating in entry lists and pairings, and it is used for Swiss pairing seeding.

Tip: If you do not have a USCF membership, you can still participate in unrated tournaments. For USCF-rated events, your tournament director can help you get set up.

Adding your FIDE ID

Go to Settings from the navigation menu.
Find the FIDE ID field in your profile settings.
Enter your FIDE ID number.

Your FIDE ID is used for FIDE-rated sections and dual-rated (USCF+FIDE) events. If you need a FIDE ID, your national federation can assist with the registration process.

Linking your Chess.com account

TournaChess supports linking your Chess.com account through a secure OAuth connection.

Go to Settings and navigate to the Security section.
Click Link Chess.com Account.
You will be redirected to Chess.com to authorize the connection.
Once authorized, your Chess.com username is automatically saved to your TournaChess profile.

Your Chess.com username stays in sync. If you change your handle on Chess.com, it updates on TournaChess the next time you sign in with Chess.com.

Note: If you already have a TournaChess account, always sign in with your existing credentials first, then link Chess.com from Settings. This ensures your accounts are connected correctly.

Why linking matters

Linking your chess IDs provides several benefits throughout the platform:

Automatic rating display: Your current USCF or FIDE rating appears on entry lists, pairings, and standings without any manual entry by you or the tournament director.
Faster registration: When you register for rated tournaments, your rating information is pre-filled.
Player identification: Tournament directors and the Grand Prix tracking system use your chess IDs to identify you consistently across events, even if your name varies slightly between registrations.
Title display: If you hold a chess title (NM, FM, IM, GM, or other FIDE titles), it is displayed alongside your name throughout the platform.

Managing Player Profiles (Family Accounts)

TournaChess allows a single account to manage multiple player profiles. This is designed for parents who register their children for tournaments, coaches managing students, or anyone who handles tournament participation on behalf of others.

How it works

Your main account represents you as a player.
You can create additional managed profiles, each representing a separate player (such as a child or student).
Each managed profile has its own name, optional USCF ID, optional FIDE ID, tournament history, and ratings.
When registering for a tournament, you choose whether to register yourself or one of your managed profiles.

Creating a managed profile

Go to Settings from the navigation menu.
Navigate to the Managed Profiles section.
Click Add Profile.
Enter the player's name and, optionally, their USCF ID and FIDE ID.
Save the profile.

Registering managed profiles for tournaments

When you open a tournament registration form, you will see the option to select which profile you are registering. Choose the appropriate managed profile, and the registration is created under that player's name and ratings. The managed profile accumulates its own tournament history, separate from your personal results.

Tip: Managed profiles are ideal for families with multiple players. Instead of creating separate accounts for each child, one parent account can handle all registrations, payments, and tournament tracking in one place.

Managed profiles

Finding and Joining a Club

Clubs on TournaChess are invite-only. There is not currently a public directory of clubs. In most cases, it is not necessary to join a club to participate in a tournament. If you need to join a private tournament, or need to have special permissions (like a Tournament Director role), you will need to be a member of the club that organizes the event. A club admin can invite you to join the club in that case.

How to join a club

A club owner or admin invites you by entering your email address on the club's member management page. You must already have a TournaChess account registered with that email address for the invitation to be created. Once the invitation is sent, it appears on your home page when you sign in.

Accepting an invitation

Sign in to TournaChess and go to your home page.
Pending club invitations appear in the My Clubs section, highlighted in orange.
Review the club name, the person who invited you, and the role you have been assigned.
Click Accept to join the club, or Decline to dismiss the invitation.

Once you are a member, you can see the club's tournaments, register for events, view the member list, and access the club's tournament history. Your club organizer may later promote you to a Tournament Director or Admin role if needed.

Note: Invitations expire after 30 days. If you do not accept in time, the club admin will need to send a new invitation.

Your clubs

After joining one or more clubs, you can view all your clubs from the Clubs page in the main navigation. Each club shows its upcoming tournaments and recent activity. You can be a member of multiple clubs simultaneously, with a separate role in each.

Club invitation

Next Steps

Now that your account is set up and you have joined a club, here is where to go next depending on your role:

Playing in tournaments? Read the Player Guide for everything you need to know about registering for events, viewing pairings, understanding standings, and getting the most out of your tournament experience.
Starting a club? The Club Management guide covers creating a club, inviting members, and configuring settings.
Running tournaments? Start with Creating Tournaments for setup, then Running Tournaments for pairings, results, and round management.
Managing a club? The Club Management guide covers club settings, member management, Stripe payment setup, and role administration in detail.

Still have questions? Visit our Contact page to get in touch with TournaChess support.