📖 ChessArena - Manual

1. Introduction

Sometimes at school or at the chess club it's just fun to play a quick chess tournament. In round-robin and Swiss tournaments, children have to wait after finishing their game until the next round starts, and that's naturally not what children want - they want to play chess.

ChessArena is a web application for organizing arena chess tournaments. With ChessArena, the main goal is that children wait as little as possible and preferably can start a new game immediately after finishing their game.

The app is specially designed for use on a digital whiteboard, projector, or computer in the classroom.

✨ Features

• 🌐 Multilingual (NL/EN/DE)
• 👤 Individual or 🛡️ Team tournaments
• ⏱️ Built-in timer
• 🏆 Automatic podium with confetti
• 💾 Save and load tournaments
• 🖨️ Print final standings
• 💻 No installation required (works in browser)

2. Installation

What do you need?

• A computer with a modern browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox)
• An internet connection
• Optional: a projector or digital whiteboard

Step-by-step

1. Start the computer
2. Open a web browser
3. Go to the webpage: schaaktools.schaakmaarraak.nl/schaakarena

3. Starting a Tournament

You can start a tournament in 2 ways:

1. Start a new tournament by clicking the 👥 Names button.
2. Continue a previously saved tournament by clicking the 📂 Load button.

3.1 Loading Players

Option A: Simple text file (recommended)

Create a file in Notepad with one name per line. Save it as .txt or .csv. That's it!

Jan
Piet
Klaas

Multiple names on one line? That works too, separated by commas:

Jan, Piet, Klaas, Marie, Sophie

1. Click 👥 Names
2. Select your .txt or .csv file and click Open

Option B: JSON file

Already have a JSON file? It still works. The file has the extension .json.

[
  {"naam": "Jan"},
  {"naam": "Piet"},
  {"naam": "Klaas"}
]

Option C: Load Tournament

1. Click on 📂 Load
2. Select a previously saved tournament file (.json)
3. The tournament resumes where it left off

3.2 Choosing Tournament Type

After loading the names, a pop-up appears:

Option	Description
👤 Individual	Each player plays for themselves
🛡️ Teams	Players are divided into teams

In Team Mode:

• Choose the number of players per team (e.g. 2, 3, 4, or 5)
• The app automatically distributes players across teams
• Teams get a color and name (Team 1, Team 2, etc.)

3.3 Setting the Timer

1. Click on the Min. field in the timer section
2. Enter the number of minutes (standard: 30)
3. Click ▶ Start to begin the timer and tournament

4. During the Tournament

4.1 Screen Overview

Left Column	Right Column
⚔️ Now Playing – Active games	🏆 Standings – Live ranking
⏳ Queue – Players waiting	🛡️ Teams – Team standings (if active)

4.2 Playing Games

1. The app automatically pairs players together
2. A row appears for each active game
3. Click the result buttons to end the game:

Button	Result
1-0	Player with white wins
½	Draw
0-1	Player with black wins

4. After input, players are returned to the queue
5. The app automatically creates new pairings

4.3 Managing the Timer

Action	Button
Start timer	▶ Start
Pause timer	⏸ Pause
Resume timer	▶ Resume

4.4 Viewing Standings

The standings show:

• # – Position with medals for top 3 (🥇🥈🥉)
• Name – Player (with team color if applicable)
• G – Number of games played
• Score – Points earned (1 = win, 0.5 = draw, 0 = loss)
• W/B – Number of times played White/Black

Tabs:

• 👤 Individual – Personal standings
• 🛡️ Teams – Team standings (only in team mode)

5. Team Mode

5.1 How It Works

1. Players are divided into teams of equal size
2. Each player plays individual games
3. Points are added up for the team total
4. Teams get a recognizable color

5.2 Team Indicator

Players in the standings and queue show a colored dot indicating their team:

Color	Team
🔴 Red	Team 1
🔵 Blue	Team 2
🟢 Green	Team 3
🟠 Orange	Team 4
🟣 Purple	Team 5
🔵 Turquoise	Team 6

5.3 Team Standings

The team standings show:

• Team ranking with medals
• Team name and color
• Names of all team members
• Total team score

6. Final Standings & Podium

6.1 Podium Screen

When the timer expires, the podium appears automatically:

• 🏆 Top 3 players with medals and crown for the winner
• 🛡️ Team results (if applicable)
• 📊 Statistics – Number of players, games, teams
• 🎊 Confetti animation

6.2 Podium Actions

Button	Action
🖨️ Print Standings	Opens a print-friendly version
✨ Play Again!	Closes podium without resetting

6.3 Printing Final Standings

The print version contains:

• Tournament date and statistics
• Individual standings (complete list)
• Team standings (if applicable)
• Professional layout for A4

7. Tips

7.1 Useful Buttons

Button	Function
💾 Save	Save tournament as JSON file
📂 Load	Load previously saved tournament
🔄 Reset	Clear all data and start over
🖨️ Print	Print current standings

7.2 File Format for Names

Simple (recommended) — one name per line in a .txt or .csv file:

Player Name 1
Player Name 2
Player Name 3

Or comma-separated on one or more lines:

Player Name 1, Player Name 2, Player Name 3

JSON (advanced) — file with extension .json:

[
  {"naam": "Player Name 1"},
  {"naam": "Player Name 2"},
  {"naam": "Player Name 3"}
]

7.3 Setting Language

1. Click on the language dropdown in the top right (NL/EN/DE)
2. Choose the desired language
3. The preference is saved for future sessions

7.4 Browser Recommendations

Browser	Recommended
Google Chrome	✅ Best support
Microsoft Edge	✅ Very good
Mozilla Firefox	✅ Good
Safari	⚠️ Some features limited
Internet Explorer	❌ Not supported