Round Robin Chess Tournament: How to Run One

A round robin is the simplest chess tournament there is: everyone plays everyone once, and whoever scores the most points wins. No luck of the draw, no knockouts, no arguments about who should have played whom. It is perfect for a small club night, a family event or a group of 4 to 8 kids. This guide shows how many rounds and games you need, how long it takes, how to make the schedule, and how to break a tie.

1 What Is a Round Robin Chess Tournament?

In a round robin, every player meets every other player exactly once. A win scores 1 point, a draw ½ and a loss 0. After the last round, the player with the most points is the winner. Because everyone faces the same opponents, a round robin is the fairest format chess has. That is why the world's top invitation events, like the Candidates Tournament, are round robins.

The catch is size. Every extra player adds a round for everyone, so round robins work best with small groups. For a quick look at every format side by side, see chess tournament formats.

2 How Many Rounds and Games Do You Need?

Two simple rules cover every round robin:

• Rounds: with an even number of players, one less than the number of players. With an odd number, the same as the number of players, because one player sits out each round.
• Games: players × (players - 1) ÷ 2. So 6 players play 6 × 5 ÷ 2 = 15 games in total.

Players	Rounds	Boards per round	Total games
4	3	2	6
5	5	2 (1 sits out)	10
6	5	3	15
7	7	3 (1 sits out)	21
8	7	4	28
9	9	4 (1 sits out)	36
10	9	5	45
12	11	6	66

The formula works backwards too. If a round robin had 36 games, it had 9 players, because 9 × 8 ÷ 2 = 36.

3 How Long Does a Round Robin Take?

Multiply the rounds by the time each round needs. A round lasts as long as its slowest game, plus a couple of minutes to write down results. These slots are realistic for a casual event:

Players	Time control	Rounds	Playing time
4	10+5	3	about 1 hour 30 min
6	10+5	5	about 2 hours 30 min
8	5+3 blitz	7	about 2 hours 20 min
8	10+5	7	about 3 hours 30 min
10	15+10	9	about 7 hours 30 min

That last row is why big round robins are rare. For one evening, keep it to 6 players at 10+5 or 8 players at blitz. The free tournament duration calculator works out any size, and a free chess clock set to 10+5 runs on any phone if you are short of clocks.

4 Make the Schedule

First give every player a number. Draw lots for the numbers so nobody can say the schedule was rigged. Then follow a ready table, where the first player named has White. Here is the standard table for 6 players:

Round	Board 1	Board 2	Board 3
1	1 v 6	2 v 5	3 v 4
2	6 v 4	5 v 3	1 v 2
3	2 v 6	3 v 1	4 v 5
4	6 v 5	1 v 4	2 v 3
5	3 v 6	4 v 2	5 v 1

Every pair meets once and every player gets White 2 or 3 times. Tables like this are called Berger tables. You do not have to work them out by hand: the free round robin generator makes one for any number of players, and there are printable schedules for 4, 6, 8 and 10 players.

Odd number of players?

Add an empty seat as the last number and call it the bye. With 5 players, use the 6 player table and treat number 6 as the bye: whoever is paired with 6 sits out that round. Everyone gets exactly one bye. Decide before round 1 whether a bye scores 1 point or nothing, and tell the players. Our guide to a chess tournament with an odd number of players explains the options.

5 Breaking a Tie

Ties are common in small events. The usual Buchholz tiebreak does not help here: in a full round robin everyone has played the same opponents, so it cannot separate anyone. Use these instead, in this order:

1. Sonneborn-Berger: add the full score of every opponent you beat and half the score of every opponent you drew. Beating the strong players counts for more. See Sonneborn-Berger explained for a worked example.
2. Head to head: if two players are still level, the one who won their game goes ahead.
3. Most wins: a player with more wins and fewer draws goes ahead.
4. A playoff: for a trophy, a quick blitz game at 3+2 is more fun than any formula.

The free chess tiebreak calculator works out Sonneborn-Berger for you.

6 When a Player Drops Out

A round robin is a web of games, so a player leaving halfway touches everyone. Pick one rule and announce it before round 1:

• Count what was played. Their finished games stand, and every game they miss is a win for the opponent. Simple and quick for a casual night.
• The rated-event rule. If they played fewer than half their games, all their results are removed so nobody gains or loses from meeting them. If they played half or more, their missing games count as wins for the opponents.

For no-shows and late arrivals, see chess tournament forfeit rules.

7 Round Robin or Swiss?

Use a round robin when you have 4 to 8 players and the time to play everyone. From about 10 players, switch to a Swiss, where players on the same score meet each other: 20 players need only 5 Swiss rounds instead of 19. Another option for a bigger group is to split it into small round robins of 4 by strength, called chess quads. Still not sure? Our guide to round robin vs Swiss has a quick picker.

8 Running It With ChessHost

ChessHost is free chess tournament software that runs in a browser. A round robin takes a few taps:

1. Create the event: "New Tournament", give it a name and pick a time control.
2. Pick the format: open "Edit Tournament" (the pencil on the event card) and choose Round Robin. Do this before round 1, while the event is still a draft.
3. Players join by QR code: open "Invite Players" and put the QR on the table. Players join from their phone, no app and no account.
4. Rounds are set for you: one less than the number of players, or the same number with an odd field, with a fair bye each round.
5. "Start Tournament" draws round 1 with balanced colours. Enter each result by tapping the winner, or "Draw".
6. Standings use Sonneborn-Berger, then head to head, so ties are broken the round robin way, and the "TV Display" link shows them on any screen.
7. Certificates at the end: "Finish Tournament", then "Share Options" and "Certificates" makes one for every player.

The games are played on real boards. ChessHost runs the schedule, colours and standings: it does not time the games or give ratings.