Tournament Broadcast Guide - Introduction
This multi-part guide is for tournament organizers, administrators, and live game operators. It will cover Chess.com’s recommended procedures and best practices to implement a live game relay (also called a "broadcast") to showcase your event on Chess.com/events.
This includes explanations on how to relay live games to us, streamline your workflow, troubleshoot common issues, and, ultimately, how to present your event to our audience in the best possible way!
The first sections of the guide will deal with the methodology and best practices for relaying live games, while the later sections will discuss data structures—either live games or tournament data. As you’ll see, multiple solutions exist, but not all are ideal (or even supported). Following our recommendations will ensure the best outcome for everyone involved.
Note that all chess platforms, not only Chess.com, use similar methods to broadcast live tournaments. The technical implementation may differ in places, but the core methodology is the same. Our guidelines will typically ensure your broadcast is efficient, reliable, and consistent on other platforms as well.
Most chess tournaments rely on Swiss Manager and its website, chess-results.com, for tournament management. For live games, they use DGT hardware/software (electronic boards and LiveChess). These currently offer the best experience and are our recommended tools, and this guide will include several examples and tips specific to them.
While Swiss Manager/chess-results.com and DGT LiveChess are not requirements, they have features that significantly enhance the overall experience. Considering their popularity, we’ve worked hard to fully use these special features. We plan to support alternative platforms and software in the future, but the above are currently the best tools you can use, and this guide will explain why.
We strongly recommend that you use the most recent versions of Swiss Manager and DGT LiveChess (or any other tool). This will ensure compatibility and give you access to the most modern features. We’ll highlight and explain certain significant differences between versions throughout the guide.
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