Clubs & Tournaments

How to run an online (or over-the-board) chess club

Whether your club is online-native or meets in person, here is how to set it up, invite members, schedule events, and run ladders and tournaments.

Chess in 3-D includes full club management, so you can run a club the way a real one works — whether your members meet online, over the board, or both. This guide covers setting one up, bringing people in, and keeping it active with events and tournaments.

Create your club

From the Clubs area, create a club with a name and a short description, and choose whether it is open to join or request-based. You become the owner. Members carry roles — owner, admin, and moderator — so you can share the day-to-day running without handing over everything.

Invite members

Invite people by email or by sharing a link. Invitations show up as a notification (and, if the member has it enabled, an email), and each member's role controls what they can do — post announcements, schedule events, moderate, and so on. For clubs with younger players there are safeguarding controls, including consent handling for minors, so you can run a junior section responsibly.

Keep the club active

• Announcements keep everyone posted; important ones can be pinned.
• Events put meetings and sessions on a shared calendar with RSVPs.
• Ladders let members challenge each other and climb an ordered rung list — a low-pressure way to keep games happening between events.

Run tournaments

When you want something more structured, run a tournament in any of four formats — Swiss, round-robin, arena, or team battle — with automatic pairings, standings, and tie-breaks. Not sure which to pick? The companion guide, chess tournament formats explained, breaks down how each one works and when to use it.

Ratings and results

Each club keeps its own internal rating pool, separate from the global ladder, so club results are measured among your own members. Online games played from a club pairing can be recorded automatically, so standings and ratings update without manual bookkeeping.

What does it cost?

Club management — members and roles, announcements, events, ladders, tournaments, and the internal rating — is free. Members only need a paid plan if they want to play in mixed reality or VR; everything else works on the free plan.