Round Robin Generator

How to use the round robin generator

1. Type or paste the players, one name per line. You need 3 to 20.
2. The order of the list gives each player a number, which is what a Berger table works from. Press Shuffle to draw the numbers at random, the way tournaments draw lots for them.
3. Turn on Double round robin if everyone plays everyone twice.
4. Read the pairings round by round. The first name on each board has White. Print the schedule, or copy the share link and send it to the players.

How a round robin works

In a round robin every player meets every other player once. With an even number of players there is one round fewer than there are players, and everyone plays in every round. With an odd number there is one round per player, and in each round one player sits out.

The number of games is the number of players times one fewer, halved: 28 games for 8 players (8 × 7 ÷ 2) and 45 for 10. A double round robin plays every pairing twice, once with each colour, which doubles both the rounds and the games.

How Berger tables assign colours

Before the first round each player gets a number. A Berger table then says, for every round, who plays whom and who has White. FIDE publishes the tables for 3 to 16 players in its Handbook (section C.05, Annex 1), and this generator gives exactly the same pairings and colours.

All the tables follow one rotation. The highest number stays on board 1 and switches colour every round. In round 1, player 1 meets the highest number, player 2 the next highest, and so on towards the middle. Each round after that adds half the table size to every number but the highest, and a sum that passes the second-highest number comes back round by taking that number off. With 8 players, round 1's 2-7 becomes round 2's 6-4, since 7 + 4 = 11 and 11 - 7 = 4. For 17 to 20 players the generator carries the same rotation on.

The Berger table for 5 or 6 players

The first number on each board has White. With 5 players, whoever is paired with number 6 has the bye.

Colours come out as evenly as one cycle allows. Nobody gets the same colour three rounds in a row. With an odd number of players everyone has White and Black equally often. With an even number, each player plays an odd number of games, so half the field gets one extra White.

Byes with an odd number of players

An odd field uses the table for the next even number, with the highest number standing for an empty seat. In FIDE's words, "the highest number counts as a bye". So 7 players use the table for 8, and whoever is paired with number 8 sits that round out.

Every player sits out exactly once per cycle, and the generator writes each round's bye under its pairings, so nobody has to work it out at the board.

Double round robin

In a double round robin the field plays the whole table twice. The second cycle repeats the pairings of the first with the colours reversed, so every pair meets once with each colour and every player ends with as many Whites as Blacks.

FIDE adds one recommendation: play the last two rounds of the first cycle in reverse order, to avoid three consecutive games with the same colour. FIDE did exactly that at the 2026 Candidates Tournament, where rounds 6 and 7 of the table were swapped and round 8 repeated round 1 with the colours reversed. The generator does the same.

Running the event

• Print the schedule and pin it up beside the boards. The print shows the player numbers and every round, without the rest of this page.
• Send the share link to the players. The names travel inside the link itself, so nothing is stored on our side.

Short of clocks? The online chess clock runs on any phone laid beside the board.

Once the games are played, import them for a free engine review.

Round robin FAQ