Chess Podium is a WordPress plugin for FIDE-standard tournament pairing, live standings, and paid online registration. See features, pricing, and pros & cons.
Researched and fact-checked by Bartu Cavusoglu · Updated August 7, 2026
Chess Podium is a WordPress plugin built for chess clubs and organizers who want to run tournaments directly from their own website instead of relying on spreadsheets or third-party pairing software. It handles the full tournament lifecycle: creating events, managing player rosters, generating round pairings, recording results, and publishing live standings and pairing sheets on public, shareable pages.
Pairing and tiebreak logic follows FIDE regulations, using the same pairing engine as Swiss Manager (JaVaFo) and bbpPairings, and supports Swiss and Round Robin formats with configurable BYE points and Buchholz, Sonneborn-Berger, rating, and direct-encounter tiebreakers. Clubs can import player data via FIDE ID lookup or CSV files compatible with chess-results.com, export official FIDE TRF files for rating submission, and pull in external tournaments run on Vega or Swiss Manager.
The free tier covers core tournament flow, basic Swiss pairing for up to 10 players, a public standings page, a player/club directory, and live game analysis powered by Stockfish. The paid Pro Club plan (€79/year) removes the player cap and adds online registration with Stripe and PayPal payment collection, real-time game broadcasting from DGT electronic boards via the companion CP Connect Windows app, HTML/PDF exports, photo galleries, sponsor branding, and priority support. The plugin is available in English, Italian, German, French, and Spanish, and was created by Marco Belemmi, a FIDE-rated player and club organizer in Cattolica, Italy.
Key Features
Tournament management — Create tournaments, manage player rosters, generate rounds, and record results through an admin panel on your WordPress site.
FIDE-standard pairing engine — Uses the same pairing engine as Swiss Manager (JaVaFo) and bbpPairings, supporting Swiss and Round Robin formats with configurable BYE points.
Standings & tiebreakers — Automatic tiebreak calculations using Buchholz, Sonneborn-Berger, rating, and direct-encounter methods, with live public standings pages.
FIDE ID import & TRF export — Auto-populate player name, rating, and nationality from the official FIDE database, and export official FIDE TRF files for rating submission.
CSV import/export — Fully compatible with chess-results.com: import tournament data, player lists, and round results from Excel exports.
Player directory & club hub — Public profile pages for players with photo, bio, links, career statistics, and every tournament played with the club.
Printable pairings & round rollback — One-step generation of round pairing sheets for wall posting, plus the ability to undo and regenerate a round without losing data.
External tournament support — Integrate and display tournaments run on the Vega and Swiss Manager pairing programs.
Online registration & payments — Stripe and PayPal integration for paid tournament registration, with automatic player creation on payment.
Live DGT board broadcasting — Broadcast tournament games in real time from DGT electronic boards to the tournament website using the free CP Connect Windows companion app.
Tournament communications — Send HTML announcements to players with personalization placeholders and a GDPR-compliant opt-in system.
PGN games, galleries & HTML export — Upload and display games with an interactive board viewer, store event photo galleries, and generate a complete HTML export package of standings, rounds, games, and gallery.
Pros & Cons
Pros
FIDE-compliant pairing engine (JaVaFo/bbpPairings) with official TRF export for rating submission
Free tier is fully usable for small tournaments, not just a time-limited trial
Built-in Stripe/PayPal registration lets clubs collect entry fees without a separate payment tool
Runs on the club's own WordPress site rather than a third-party hosted platform
Live DGT board broadcasting and Stockfish analysis add real-time engagement for spectators
Cons
Requires a self-managed WordPress installation, so it's not a fit for clubs without WordPress hosting
Free plan caps tournaments at 10 players, pushing active clubs toward the paid tier
Live DGT board broadcasting depends on an additional Windows-only companion app (CP Connect)
Limited public information on the vendor beyond a single-founder background