Chess tournaments, perfectly paired
Forget manual Swiss pairings and handwritten draw sheets. PlayMetric handles rating-based seeding, board assignments, and tiebreakers so you can run a fair, well-organised event every round.
Sound familiar?
Running chess tournaments shouldn't be this hard
Swiss pairings are tedious and error-prone
Calculating correct pairings each round — avoiding repeat opponents, balancing colour allocation, and respecting rating differences — is a manual nightmare. One mistake cascades through every subsequent round.
Board assignments and time control tracking are chaotic
Assigning 20+ boards, ensuring clocks are set correctly, and managing byes and forfeits requires constant attention. Players miss their board, clocks run wrong, and disputes eat into playing time.
Tiebreaker calculations are a spreadsheet burden
Buchholz, Sonneborn-Berger, progressive scores, and direct encounter — computing these by hand or in a spreadsheet after each round is slow, error-prone, and holds up the next round.
How it works
Three steps to a better tournament
Set up your tournament
Choose Swiss system, round robin, or knockout. Configure the number of rounds, time controls (classical, rapid, or blitz), and tiebreak rules. Set available boards and the rating system.
Players register with their rating
Share a registration link. Players sign up, enter their rating (FIDE, national, or club), and pay online. PlayMetric seeds the draw automatically based on ratings.
Run each round with automatic pairings
After each round, enter results and PlayMetric generates the next round pairings. Board assignments, standings with full tiebreakers, and cross-tables update in real time.
Formats
Every chess format, covered
Swiss System
The standard format for large chess events. Players with similar scores are paired each round, avoiding repeat matchups. Ideal for events with many participants and limited rounds.
Round Robin
Every player faces every other player. Used for smaller elite events and club championships. Produces the most decisive and fair final standings.
Knockout (Single Elimination)
Direct elimination with two-game matches (one as white, one as black) and tiebreak games. Fast and dramatic, used for world championship-style events.
Team Swiss
Teams of 4–6 players compete in Swiss rounds. Board pairings follow team standings and individual board order. The standard format for inter-club and Olympiad-style events.
Arena / King of the Hill
A time-limited format where players pair freely and play as many games as possible. Points accumulate across all games. Popular for casual club events and online-style in-person blitz.
Built for chess organisers
Whether you're running a local club night or a regional championship, PlayMetric adapts to how you organise chess.
- Club championships and rated events — Chess clubs running monthly or annual Swiss tournaments with 20–80 players, FIDE-rated or club-rated, with proper pairings, time controls, and full tiebreaker standings.
- School and junior tournaments — Scholastic events with 50–200 students across multiple age and rating sections. Swiss pairings keep matches competitive and the event running on schedule.
- Inter-club team competitions — League or cup events where clubs field teams of 4–6 boards. Team standings, individual board results, and match points are tracked across rounds.
No app install. No special hardware. Just a browser.
FAQ