Team Tournaments
This guide explains how to set up and run team tournaments in ChessMint, where teams of players compete board-by-board instead of individually.
What is a Team Tournament
A team tournament is a section whose competitors are teams rather than individual players. Two teams meet in a team match, and each match is played over a fixed number of boards. Board results produce board points (the usual 1 / 0.5 / 0), which are summed into a match result and then match points (league-style, for example 2 / 1 / 0).
This means a single team match can involve 4, 6, 8 or more individual games, and the team with the most board points wins the match.
When to Use
Enable team events for:
- Club leagues where teams play weekly matches.
- School championships with school teams competing.
- Inter-club matches between two or more clubs.
- National or regional team competitions.
For regular individual tournaments, keep the team event toggle off.
Setup
- On a tournament section, toggle Team Event on.
- Set Boards per Match (default is 4).
- Optionally enable Track Individual Standings if you want per-player results alongside the team table.
- Open the section's Teams tab.
- Create teams with clear names.
- Add players from the section participants to each team.
- Set each team's board order by dragging players into position. Board 1 is the top board.
- Optionally mark a team captain.
- Configure the stage format (round-robin or Swiss) and scoring system.
Each team's roster stays the same across all stages of the section. The same squad plays through the entire event.
Pairing
Team pairing reuses the individual pairing engines, with teams fed in as the competitors. Pairing is per stage and depends on the stage format:
| Format | How team pairing works |
|---|---|
| Round-robin | Teams are paired by the circle method. Board pairings are board-vs-board (Team A board 1 vs Team B board 1, and so on). Colors alternate across rounds. The full schedule is generated at once via Create Rounds & Pair. |
| Swiss | Teams are paired by the Dutch Swiss engine using team history. Generated one round at a time via Generate Round, after the previous round completes. |
When a round is generated, one team match is created per matchup. Each team's lineup is auto-seeded from its roster's board order, and the board games are created immediately so the round is playable right away.
If a roster cannot fill all boards, the match is left in draft for the captain or arbiter to complete the lineup manually.
Odd Team Counts
For odd team counts, a bye match is generated automatically. The team that would otherwise sit out receives the win match points. The bye match appears in the schedule as a non-expandable BYE row, and standings count the bye points correctly.
Match Scoresheet
Team matches appear in the stage's Matches tab, which replaces the individual Rounds tab for team-event stages. Matches are grouped by round.
- Tap a match card to expand it in place.
- If no lineup is set, the lineup picker appears. Choose the required number of players per team from the rosters, then submit the lineup. This creates the board games.
- With a lineup set, each board row shows the board number, white player, score box, and black player.
- Tap the center score box to open the result picker (1-0, 0-1, ½-½, forfeits).
- Board points and the rolling match score update live as results are entered.
You can edit the lineup later if needed.
Match Points
Board points are always the raw chess result: 1 for a win, 0.5 for a draw, 0 for a loss.
The match-point scheme is configurable per stage:
| Scheme | Win | Draw | Loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Football (default) | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Classic | 1 | 0.5 | 0 |
When all boards of a match are complete, the team with the higher board-point total wins the match. Match points are then awarded based on the stage scoring system. Until every board is scored, match points stay at zero.
Team Standings
Team standings are shown in the stage standings tab for team events:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| # | Rank (by match points, then board points) |
| Team | Team name |
| Played | Completed matches |
| MP | Match points — primary ranking |
| BP | Board points — tiebreak |
Every team is listed, even before it has played. Board points accumulate as boards are scored, and match points are added once a match completes. The top-ranked team gets a trophy icon.
Individual Standings
When individual standings tracking is enabled, a combined view shows the team table and a per-player table. The player table is computed from each player's board game results across all team matches. Use the Recalculate button to refresh individual standings.
Round Lifecycle
Team rounds use the same lifecycle and controls as individual rounds:
- Draft → Published → Completed, with revert and delete options.
- A completed round locks its matches. Scoresheets become read-only until the round is reverted.
- Completion is guarded: the system blocks finalizing a round if any team match still has incomplete board results.
- For Swiss stages, the next round can only be generated after the current round is completed.
Public Pages
Team standings and the match schedule are exposed on the public tournament page. Visitors can see team rankings, match results, and individual board outcomes without logging in.
Limitations
The following are not yet supported for team tournaments:
- Knockout team brackets (round-robin and Swiss are supported).
- Printable match protocols (per-board match cards).
- Team crest or logo on team pages.
- Sortable match-point and board-point columns (currently fixed match-points-then-board-points order).
Team Tournament Checklist
- Team Event is enabled on the correct section.
- Boards per match matches the competition rules.
- Teams are created with correct names.
- Rosters are filled and board order is set.
- Stage format and scoring system are correct.
- Captains are marked where needed.
- Individual standings tracking is enabled if required.
- Public sharing settings are reviewed before sending links.