SwissTour — User Manual

File → New Tournament

What it does: creates an empty tournament of the chosen system and asks for a file name straight away.

How to do it

1. File → New Tournament (or New). With unsaved changes the program asks Save / Don't Save / Cancel.
2. Choose the system: Swiss Individual, Berger Individual, Scheveningen Individual, Team Berger, Team Scheveningen, Team Swiss or Cup Individual (Knock-Out).
3. For Chess960 tick Chess 960 and choose whether the position is drawn automatically when a round is paired or set by the arbiter.
4. OK, then choose folder and file name (extension by system: .swt Swiss, .rrt round robin/Scheveningen, .trt team round robin/Scheveningen, .tst Team Swiss, .kot cup).
5. Tournament Data opens by itself.

Check

• The system (changeable later in Tour Tools → Tournament Type, but only before round 1).
• Time Control Type in Tournament Data: a new tournament starts as Rapid.

File → Open Tournament...

What it does: opens a saved tournament.

How to do it

1. File → Open Tournament; with unsaved changes the program asks first.
2. Choose the file. With paired rounds Enter Results opens, otherwise Tournament Data.

File → Save (Ctrl+S)

What it does: writes the tournament to its file and keeps a backup of the previous version.

How to do it

1. File → Save, the Save button or Ctrl+S. Without a file name Save As opens.
2. The status bar shows “Saved at …”.

Check

• If it says “Not saved (licence)”: demo mode (at most 10 players) or a version newer than your update right – Help → Account and Licence.

File → Save As...

What it does: saves under a new name or folder; from then on the program works with the new file.

How to do it

1. File → Save As, choose folder and name, Save.

File → Import from TRF...

What it does: reads a tournament from a TRF file (TRF-2026, TRF16, TRF06): players, rounds, results, and teams for a team file.

How to do it

1. File → Import from TRF; choose the file.
2. Read the message (players and rounds imported, notes on records the program does not use).
3. Immediately File → Save As.

Check

• Names without a comma in the TRF go wholly into Last Name – the message lists them; split them with Players → Edit.
• Tournament Data (system, rounds, tie-breaks).

File → Export to TRF-2026...

What it does: writes the whole tournament in FIDE's newest format, for rating and for the PTC (record details in section 18).

How to do it

1. File → Export to TRF-2026, choose the file, Save; “Exported to …” confirms.

Check

• All results entered; name, place, dates, chief arbiter, rounds and FIDE IDs correct; the right Time Control Type.

File → Export to TRF16 (older)...

What it does: the same in the older TRF16 format, for programs that cannot read TRF-2026. For FIDE use TRF-2026.

File → Printer Setup...

What it does: chooses the printer, paper (A4/Letter) and margin (0–40 mm) every print preview starts with.

How to do it

1. Choose printer (or system default), paper and margin, Save.

File → Exit

What it does: closes the program.

How to do it

1. File → Exit (or the window's X, or Alt+F4).
2. With unsaved changes the Unsaved Changes question appears: Save (saves, then closes; without a file name Save As opens first), Don't Save (closes without saving) or Cancel (the program stays open). With everything saved it closes at once.

Entry → Tournament Data...

What it does: all data of the tournament in six tabs: General, Tiebreak Criteria, FIDE Titles, Arbiters, Prizes, Links.

How to do it

1. Entry → Tournament Data (or Tourn. Data); move between the tabs.
2. OK writes the changes of all tabs. Numbers and dates are checked: a value outside its range (0 rounds, a negative rating, 31/02/2026) is corrected and a message lists what changed; the program also warns when the end date is before the start. The characters < and > are removed from all text.
3. Cancel or X discards all changes; Help opens this manual; Copy Tournament Data is not implemented yet (it only says so).

Tournament Data → General

What it does: basic data and the pairing settings.

How to do it

1. Name and subtitle, Comments (tick “Show on chessresults.rs” to show them on the site), organizers, website, e-mail, Time Control text (with a reminder of FIDE's minimum for standard rating).
2. Chief Arbiter, Deputy and Arbiters (several separated by commas; end a name with the FIDE ID to fill the data from the FIDE list).
3. Federation, Location, FIDE event code, Rounds (1–99; set automatically for round robins and cups), FIDE mode and Acceleration (Baku; individual Swiss only), start and end date, Points for Unpaired Player (the pairing-allocated bye, default 1).
4. Right side: Sort / Pairing Rating (which rating orders the starting list; for FIDE events International rating), Pairing Based On, Time Control Type (which FIDE rating is used), Variant, Requested Absence (points for Don't Pair Player: 0, ½ or 1, default 0; and whether an excluded player may get a score for the round after round 4).
5. Team Swiss: Team Pairing Rules (C.04.6, colour preference type A/B, value of the bye, initial colour).

Check

• Time Control Type – a new tournament starts as Rapid; for a standard event switch to Standard.
• Rounds before round 1 (the engine uses it); end date after start date.

Tournament Data → Tiebreak Criteria

What it does: the order in which players on equal points are separated (codes in section 16).

How to do it

1. The table shows the chosen criteria; the top one decides first. Default: Direct Encounter, BH/C1, BH, SB, wins.
2. Choose a criterion in the list and Add; Up / Down / Remove in the table.
3. Treat forfeits as normal played games is FIDE's /P; below it how fully tied players are placed and the Koya limit (KS/Lx).

Check

• That the order is the one in the tournament regulations. A round robin gets the usual round-robin order when the schedule is generated – check it afterwards.

Tournament Data → FIDE Titles

What it does: settings for title-norm checks (rating given to unrated opponents, minimum games 9/8/7, organizing federation, at least two federations) and the buttons Export FIDE Title Norm List, Create Excel File of FIDE Titles, FIDE Title Norm Check for a Player.

Tournament Data → Arbiters

What it does: links the arbiters' names to the FIDE list (FIDE ID, federation, arbiter title), needed for the norm reports.

How to do it

1. Under Input From choose the role (chief, deputy, arbiter).
2. Search (optionally Only search for arbiters in FIDE list), pick the person, Accept; someone not in the list: Enter manually.
3. Repeat for every role shown in red as “Still unresolved”.

Tournament Data → Prizes

What it does: number and amounts of prizes, special prizes and how tied places share money (results in Lists → Prize List).

How to do it

1. Number of overall prizes, Currency, the amount per place (blank/0 = no money).
2. When places are tied on points: full amount by tie-break place, equal split, or the Hort system.
3. + Add Special Prize (best woman, junior, rating band…); Edit / Remove.

Tournament Data → Links

What it does: links (live games, organizer's site…) and documents shown on the tournament's chessresults.rs page.

How to do it

1. Add Link, name and address (https:// is added when missing; a row without an address is dropped at OK).
2. Documents & Photos... opens the same window as Export → Export....
3. OK, then Internet → Publish.

Entry → Players...

What it does: add, edit and remove players; search the downloaded FIDE list by name or FIDE ID.

How to do it

1. Type “Lastname, First” (e.g. Tasic, V) or a FIDE ID, Enter or Search FIDE Database, then Add at the right player: name, title, sex, federation and the standard, rapid and blitz ratings are filled in.
2. Manual Entry: fill in the fields and Add Player.
3. Edit → change → Save Changes (or Cancel); Remove deletes a player who has never been paired.
4. At the bottom choose how names are written (Lastname Firstname, LASTNAME Firstname, LASTNAME FIRSTNAME); Close.

Check

• The FIDE list is downloaded (Rating Lists → Update Rating Lists). FIDE ID: digits only, at most 10; names at most 80 characters; in a FIDE-rated event basic Latin letters only. The same FIDE ID cannot be added twice.
• The starting rank follows the rating; unrated players come last, alphabetically.

Entry → Teams...

What it does: for team events: teams, number of boards, base roster, team rating and the teams' starting order.

How to do it

1. Set the number of boards; + Add Team (type name and federation) or Import from Excel... (a chess-results.com “Starting rank list” export: teams created, players placed by board, FIDE IDs checked).
2. Roster...: the team's players and board order. Arrows ↑ ↓ set the starting number, or Number the teams by rating.
3. Rating of a team: average of all or of the N highest, at least one woman, a missing rating from the other lists, a fixed value for unrated (see section 17).
4. Exclude / Reactivate a team; Remove deletes it (its players stay in the player list). The WRTC line-up check is a switch here.
5. Done.

Entry → Round Dates...

What it does: date and time of every round (lists, TRF, the site).

How to do it

1. Round 1 starts on the start date; enter its time. One-day event: Fill Remaining Rounds copies round 1 to all rounds, then correct the times. Several days: enter each round by hand.
2. OK – every round needs a date and a time.

Entry → Enter Results...

What it does: enter the results board by board, in any paired round.

How to do it

1. It opens at the first round with a missing result. Click a board row, then 1 - 0, ½ - ½, 0 - 1 or the forfeits 1F - 0F, 0F - 1F, 0F - 0F. Faster: keys 1, 2, 3. The selection then jumps to the next board without a result.
2. MORE shows the rest: “special” results (½-0, 0-½, 0-0), not rated games (U) and ADJOURNED; EMPTY clears a board; LESS hides them again.
3. Round -1 / Round +1; Print Blank Sheet prints the pairings with an empty result column; Done, then Ctrl+S.

Check

• Every board has a result – the next round cannot be paired before.

Pairing → Pairing Menu... (F6)

What it does: pairs the next round. The program writes the tournament so far into a TRF file, the pairing engine (bbpPairings) pairs it, and the answer is turned back into boards with colours.

How to do it

1. 1. Starting Rank List: if a player is not in place (for example a late entry), Sort Starting Rank List is highlighted – click it. Show Player List opens the list.
2. 2. Players with a special status: excluded players (Reactivate), late entries (Don't Pair) and those sitting out (Pair Again); Don't Pair Player... and Exclude Player... open the same windows as the menu items.
3. 3. Options: for round 1 the colour of board 1 (Random = drawn by lot by the program, C.04.2; White; Black). Shown below: Baku acceleration on/off, number of forbidden pairs, players and boards to be paired.
4. Start Pairing Round N (an hourglass shows while it works). Afterwards: Pairing List, Enter Results, Manual Pairing.

• The odd player gets the pairing-allocated bye (Points for Unpaired Player, default a win).
• Players who have already met are never paired again (C1); the same colour three times in a row is avoided (C3). In the last round the top scorers may meet even with equal colour preference (art. 1.8).

Check

• Before: all results of the previous round, absences and withdrawals entered; the round is not beyond the scheduled number. After: a warning about a forbidden pair.

Pairing Menu for round robins, cups and teams

1. Berger: set the starting order (move players up/down), choose Single or Double round robin, Generate Schedule: all rounds by the FIDE Berger tables, with the round-robin tie-breaks.
2. Scheveningen: two equal groups; every player of A meets every player of B.
3. Cup: seeding order, Generate Bracket (2-game matches, rapid/blitz/Armageddon on a tie, match for 3rd place; with a number that is not a power of 2 the top seeds get a bye in round 1).
4. Team Berger / Team Scheveningen: schedule of the teams from Entry → Teams. Team Swiss: like the individual menu, paired by C.04.6.

Pairing → Set Up New Player...

What it does: adds a player who arrives after round 1 (late entry), placed in the starting list by rating and paired like everybody else from the round they join (C.04.2 2.4); the bye goes by the pairing rules, not automatically to the newcomer. Missed rounds count as zero-point byes for the tie-breaks (C.07 16).

How to do it

1. Enter the round they join (the proposal is the next, unpaired round).
2. The Players window opens: add the player, close.
3. F6 → Sort Starting Rank List if highlighted → pair.

Pairing → Exclude Player...

What it does: the player leaves the tournament: never paired again; their games stay in the standings.

How to do it

1. Exclude next to the player, confirm.
2. In rounds 1–4 you may give a score for the round they leave (½, 1 or 0; Cancel = none); after round 4 only when Tournament Data allows it.

Pairing → Don't Pair Player

What it does: a requested absence for the next round only, worth “Points for a Requested Absence” (default 0).

How to do it

1. Before pairing: Don't Pair next to the player, Close, F6.

Pairing → Reactivate Player...

What it does: brings an excluded player back into the pairing (also the Reactivate button in the Pairing Menu).

Pairing → Forbidden Pairings...

What it does: pairs of players who must not meet (family, same club). Pick the player on the left, tick the others on the right.

Pairing → Manual Pairing...

What it does: lets the arbiter override the engine in a paired round.

How to do it

1. Enter the round. In FIDE mode the program asks for confirmation and marks the round as changed by hand.
2. Select a pair: Change swaps colours, Remove Pairing makes both unpaired.
3. Under Unpaired Players select two (first = White) and Pair Selected, or one and Give Bye. Close.

Pairing → Team Knockout (WRTC Stage 2)...

What it does: WRTC 2026 Blitz Stage 2 (Art. 4.1.2.2) for 16 teams – see section 17.

Round → 0, 1, 2…

What it does: picks the round shown: Enter Results opens for it, and the status bar and Lists → Round List use it. 0 is the state before round 1.

Round → Delete Rounds...

What it does: deletes the pairings and results of the last rounds so they can be paired again.

How to do it

1. Save first. Tick the round to delete from – every later round goes with it. Delete, confirm.

Standings → Standings

What it does: ranks by points, then by the tie-breaks of Tournament Data in the order listed, then rating, then name.

How to do it

1. Open; tick Show Prizes column if prizes are set; Print.

Check

• All results entered; the notes under the table (unrated opponents for ARO/TPR, a withdrawn player in a round robin).

Standings → Crosstable

What it does: every result: opponent's starting number, colour and result per round. Print it in landscape.

Lists → Player List

All players, sorted A-Z, by Rating or Starting Rank; the tournament information (organizer, dates, arbiter, rounds, type, average rating) is printed above it.

Lists → Pairings List

Pairings and results of all rounds.

Lists → Round List...

Pairings of one round – the one picked in the Round menu, or the current one. Print it for the wall right after pairing.

Lists → Round Results (Detailed)...

Team events: the matches of a round with every board.

Lists → Match Cards...

Team events: one card per match with the boards and room for the captains' signatures.

Lists → Table Cards...

What it does: name cards that stand on the board next to each player, and cards for the tournament's arbiters. Each card is a paper “tent”: folded in half, with the upper half printed upside down, so the same text reads from the front and from the back. The organiser makes a template once (logo, tournament name, fonts, colours, what the card shows); the program then makes a card for every player and arbiter.

How to do it

1. Enter the players (Entry → Players) and the arbiters (Entry → Tournament Data → Arbiters).
2. Lists → Table Cards.... On the right is the first sheet at once: the first player's card and the chief arbiter's card.
3. Ready-made: detailed (logos, tournament name, two coloured lines, a row with federation, title and rating, a big name) or Ready-made: simple (name, flag and the three-letter federation).
4. Size: 2 tent cards per sheet (portrait, each half of the sheet is one card) or 1 large tent card per sheet (landscape).
5. Tournament name (empty = the name from Tournament Data) and a second line (place, date); Choose image... for the organiser's logo and a second logo (FIDE, sponsor); text at the bottom (website, sponsor).
6. Tick what the card shows (title, flag, federation, rating, starting number, club), how the name is written, the fonts and colours (one name colour for players, another for arbiters).
7. Folding: strips at the top and bottom edge, and the fold mark (a thin line, two small marks at the edges, or none).
8. What to print: players, arbiters or both, the order, and if needed only some starting numbers (e.g. 1-20, 35).
9. Print preview, then Print or Save as PDF. Cut each sheet along the dotted line and fold each card along the mark.

Check

• The number of cards and sheets under the picture before printing.
• The arbiters have their role (chief, deputy, arbiter); a title typed in front of the name (“IA Tasic Vladimir”) goes to the title, not the name.
• The paper in File → Printer Setup (A4 or Letter) is the paper in the printer.

Lists → Team Composition...

Team events: every team's players by board, with results.

Lists → Board Prizes (TPR)...

Team events: the players of the same board number compete by performance rating; enter the minimum number of games (WRTC: 8); equal ratings go by games played, then lots.

Lists → Colour Allocation Check...

Colour history of every player and a mark for three equal colours in a row; individual Swiss and round robin only.

Lists → Statistics

Summary (players, titled players, federations, rated players, average rating), results by round (white/black wins, draws, forfeits, byes, not played), players by title and federation.

Lists → FIDE Rating Statistics

Estimated rating change (Rtg+/-), performance (Rp) and initial rating estimates.

Lists → Prize List...

Winners with amounts by the Prizes tab; ties share money by the full, equal or Hort method.

Lists → FIDE Title Norm List...

Title-norm eligibility estimate for players (B.01).

Lists → Arbiter Norm Reports...

Norm check and IA1/FA1 report (Excel) for each arbiter linked in Tournament Data → Arbiters, and the IT3 tournament report (Generate Tournament Report). Only what one tournament shows can be checked.

Print preview

Choose font, size, columns, margins and portrait/landscape; click a row to force a page break there; Print uses the printer of File → Printer Setup; Save as PDF writes a PDF. In demo mode the printout says DEMO.

Export → Export...

What it does: despite the name, it opens Attachments (Documents & Photos): regulations, schedule, poster (PDF, DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX, JPG, PNG, up to 10 MB) kept in name.attachments next to the saved file. Those ticked On chessresults.rs are uploaded when you publish.

How to do it

1. Save the tournament first. + Add File(s)..., tick or untick On chessresults.rs, Open / Remove, Close; then Internet → Publish.

Export → Export to PGN...

The games of rounds From Round – To Round as a PGN file (headers, and moves where they were imported; Chess960 positions included).

Export → Import PGN...

Attaches the moves of a PGN file to the boards (by round and the names of White and Black); the message lists the games not matched.

Export → the XML items (Swiss-Manager)

What it does: players, player results, teams, team pairings and team compositions in Swiss-Manager's XML format, both directions (section 18).

How to do it

1. Individual event: Import Players (XML), then Import Player Results (XML), without reordering in between. Team event: Teams → Players → Team Pairings → Teamcompositions.

Tour Tools → Tournament Type...

What it does: changes the tournament system.

Tour Tools → Split Tournament...

What it does: splits all players by rating into two new tournament files (groups A and B); the open tournament is not changed.

How to do it

1. Rating cutoff: at or above → A, the rest (and unrated) → B; the preview shows the group sizes.
2. Group names (added to the tournament name), Create Split Tournaments..., save A, then B.
3. Open each file and run it as its own tournament.

Tour Tools → Sub-Tournaments...

What it does: for side events (blitz, rapid) run alongside: the ticked players go into a separate tournament file (Swiss or round robin). A player can be in several; the main list is not changed.

How to do it

1. Name (“Rapid”), Swiss or Round Robin, Add Sub-Tournament.
2. Tick the players (Shift+click fills a block).
3. Generate File and choose where to save.
4. Open the new file and set Time Control Type, rounds, schedule, time control and tie-breaks.
5. Late entries: tick them and Update File – only before the sub-tournament starts.

Split Tournament or Sub-Tournaments?

Tour Tools → Generator 960...

What it does: draws one of the 960 Chess960 starting positions (518 = the classical set-up) and assigns it to a round: Generate or type a number 0–959 and Show, choose the round, assign (or remove), Copy. In automatic mode the program draws the position when a round becomes current; manual positions are never touched. The position is printed above the round's pairings and written to PGN.

Rating Lists → Update Rating Lists...

What it does: downloads the FIDE standard, rapid and blitz lists from ratings.fide.com (Download Latest); the table shows what is downloaded. Offline: put the ZIP files into data/rating-lists/standard (rapid, blitz).

Check at start-up

• With no FIDE list on the computer the program asks at start-up whether to download one; Download now opens this window.
• With a list downloaded before the 1st of the current month (FIDE has published a newer one) it says so and offers the download; when a tournament that has not started is open, the message also says that its players' ratings should be updated.
• Later closes the message; it comes again at the next start.

Rating Lists → Update New Rating Players...

What it does: writes the standard, rapid and blitz ratings of the downloaded list to every player with a FIDE ID. It does not change titles, names or federations.

Internet → Publish to ChessResults

What it does: uploads the tournament to chessresults.rs: standings, all rounds, crosstable, teams, data, links and the ticked documents.

How to do it

1. Save the tournament; sign in once (Help → Account and Licence; the program opens it when needed).
2. Publish; the message shows the address.

Internet → Unpublish from ChessResults

Removes the tournament from the site after a confirmation; the file stays and can be published again.

Internet → View on ChessResults.rs

Opens the tournament's page in the browser.

Internet → Share link...

Copies the tournament's address for Viber, WhatsApp, e-mail; offers to open it. A tournament not yet published is reported, and nothing is copied.

Internet → LIVE broadcast...

Keeps the link of the live broadcast (Lichess or Chess.com) with the tournament. Once the tournament is published, its chessresults.rs page gets a LIVE tab with the boards of the Lichess broadcast, and a link to Chess.com. The way the games travel: e-boards → DGT LiveChess (or idChess) → Lichess or Chess.com → chessresults.rs.

1. New broadcast on Lichess opens lichess.org/broadcast/new (a Lichess account is needed): create the tournament and a round for every round. As the source pick the Broadcaster App (it watches the folder DGT LiveChess writes into; turn on Combine PGNs per round in DGT) or a PGN link such as a LiveChess Cloud link.
2. Copy players for Lichess: paste into the Lichess tournament settings (Replace player names, ratings and titles), so every player is shown with the right name, title and rating. Team events also have Copy teams for Lichess.
3. Save round pairings as PGN: the games of a round (names, board order, FIDE IDs) before they start.
4. Paste the broadcast link from Lichess into Lichess broadcast link, click Save and publish the tournament again.

Chess.com Events opens chess.com/events (Get Started; source: DGT Cloud link or PGN link); its event link goes into Chess.com event link and is shown on the site as a link. The same two links can also be typed in Tournament Data, Links tab. Only lichess.org and chess.com addresses are accepted.

Help → User Manual (F1)

This manual, in Serbian when the program is in Serbian, otherwise in English.

Help → FIDE Mode...

The list of section 19 with the live status of the open tournament; Check this tournament (PTC) pairs every round again and compares it with what was played; User Manual.

Help → Account and Licence...

Sign in with the chessresults.rs account, activate this computer, see the licence (customer number, updates and Online until, computer changes used); Remove this computer frees the activation.

Help → About SwissTour

Version and author.

Help → Language

English or Serbian. In FIDE mode the language is English and cannot be changed. Some windows and messages are in English only.

Help → Theme

Colours of the program, five themes: Light – Classic, Dark – Neon Green (the default), Royal Blue – Premium, Graphite Copper and Emerald. The change is immediate and is remembered for the next start.