Eight teams and two courts is the classic one-day club tournament: every team plays the other seven, and the day still ends with a final. This page opens with that set-up: seven rounds of four games, each round split into two time slots, 14 slots in all, every game with its court and slot.
Timing the day
| Game length | Play time for 14 slots |
|---|---|
| 10 minutes | 2 h 20 min |
| 15 minutes | 3 h 30 min |
| 20 minutes | 4 h 40 min |
Add a few minutes per slot for changeovers and the break you want at lunch. If the day is too long, shorten the games rather than cutting rounds: a round robin only works if everyone plays everyone. With a third court nothing changes, because the fourth game of each round still needs its own slot; a fourth court halves the day to seven slots.
On the day
Print the schedule before you start and pin it by the courts: each round shows Slot 1 and Slot 2 with each game’s court and the empty score boxes. Enter scores on a phone as games end; Standings updates at once, so teams can see where they stand between slots. The pairings follow FIDE’s Berger table for eight, which also balances home and away: four and three for every team, the first-named team taking first serve or kick-off if your sport needs a home side.
Finishing with playoffs
After round 7, the top four go into the bracket maker in the order they finished. Semifinals on both courts and the final make two more slots, so plan 16 slots for the whole day. Share result sends the final table to the teams that went home early.