Chess Podium
Manage chess tournaments from WordPress: players, Swiss pairings, results, standings, and exports. Free plan: up to 10 players per tournament.
Use with caution
Chess Podium works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. Is rated 5/5 and was last updated 4 months ago, and scores 56/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (<10 active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & supportDaily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Chess Podium stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| chess | #12 |
| pairing | #65 |
| standings | #61 |
| swiss | #61 |
| tournament | #34 |
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
About Chess Podium
From the official readme · v1.9.3Description
Chess Podium helps chess clubs organize tournaments directly from WordPress. Create tournaments, add players, generate Swiss pairings, enter results, and publish standings—all without spreadsheets.
Free plan includes:
* Up to 10 players per tournament
* Swiss pairing
* Round Robin and Double Round Robin
* Results and standings
* Public tournament page
* CSV export
* FIDE ID import
Upgrade to Pro for unlimited players, advanced exports, PGN pages, and more. Get Chess Podium Pro →
Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
This plugin may link to the plugin website’s legal pages. Ensure these URLs are valid and publicly accessible:
* Terms of Service: https://chesspodium.com/terms-of-service/
* Privacy Policy: https://chesspodium.com/privacy-policy/
If your site uses different paths, create the corresponding pages and update the links where the plugin references them.
External services
This plugin relies on the following third-party services to provide core functionality:
-
Chess Podium Pairing API (http://89.167.56.28): Used to calculate tournament pairings (Swiss System and Round Robin). The plugin sends tournament data (player names, ratings, and results) to this server to generate the next round’s pairings.
- Service provided by: Chess Podium.
- Data sent: Tournament IDs, player names, and scores.
-
FIDE Ratings (https://ratings.fide.com): Used to fetch and update player Elo ratings and titles based on their FIDE ID.
- Service provided by: International Chess Federation (FIDE).
- Data sent: FIDE ID (public identifier).
-
Stripe (https://api.stripe.com): Used to process payments for the Pro license.
- Service provided by: Stripe, Inc.
- Terms of Service: https://stripe.com/legal
- Privacy Policy: https://stripe.com/privacy
-
PayPal (https://api-m.paypal.com, https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com): Used to process payments for the Pro license.
- Service provided by: PayPal Holdings, Inc.
- Terms of Service: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full
- Privacy Policy: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full
Additional services (optional, depending on configuration):
- Chess Podium License API (chesspodium.com): Validates Pro licenses. Sends: license key, site URL. Ensure Terms and Privacy pages exist on your site (e.g. /terms-of-service/, /privacy-policy/) or use your own policy URLs.
- Lichess (lichess.org): PGN live feed for broadcast games. Fetched server-side; no user data sent.
- Wikimedia (Wikipedia REST API, Wikidata SPARQL — wikipedia.org, wikidata.org): Optional. Used only to resolve player profile thumbnail images when FIDE does not return a usable photo. Sends: player name and/or FIDE ID (public). No account data.
Note on shortcode names: This plugin uses the prefix chess_podium_ for all new shortcodes (e.g. [chess_podium_tournament], [chess_podium_manager_tornei]). Legacy shortcodes checkmate_manager_tornei, storico_tornei, and regina_torneo are kept only for backward compatibility; prefer the chess_podium_* equivalents for new installations.
Third-party software
For third‑party software licenses and external services used by this plugin, see THIRD-PARTY.txt in the plugin root.
Installation
- Install the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress, or upload the
chess-podiumfolder to/wp-content/plugins/ - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu
- Go to Settings → Permalinks and save changes (required for the tournament page)
- Open Chess Podium in the admin menu to create your first tournament
Frequently asked questions
What is the free player limit?
The free plan allows up to 10 players per tournament. Upgrade to Chess Podium Pro for unlimited players.
How do I display the tournament on my site?
Use the shortcode [chess_podium_tournament] on any page, or visit /torneo/ (or /currenttournament/) for the live tournament view.
Can I import players from FIDE?
Yes. Enter a FIDE ID to auto-import name, rating, and nationality from the official FIDE database.
Changelog
WordPress 7.0 ready. New tournament archive card block and shortcode for blog posts with standings preview and cover image.
1.9.3
WordPress 7.0
* Declared ready for WordPress 7.0 (Tested up to: 7.0). Gutenberg blocks use block API version 3 (chess-podium/tournament, chess-podium/tournament-archive-card) for compatibility with the iframed post editor rollout.
Tournament archive card
* New Gutenberg block chess-podium/tournament-archive-card and shortcode [chess_podium_tournament_archive id="X"]: cover image (gallery, venue photo, or logo), compact standings preview, and link to the live tournament page or published HTML export (rows, show_image, link="auto|live|archive").
* Admin Add to page screen: full shortcode documentation with examples, parameters, and Gutenberg notes (translated IT/FR/DE/ES).
Internationalization
* New and updated strings for the archive card block, shortcode, and admin documentation.
1.9.2
Public events calendar
* New shortcode [chess_podium_events]: month grid plus optional list of tournaments with dates (tournament row, brochure fields, or round dates).
* Shows past, current, and upcoming events; attributes include include_past, include_ongoing, thumbnails, show_list, month.
* List thumbnails follow the same preview rules as tournament cards (first gallery image, else brochure logo, else default).
* Admin Overview and brochure/Content fields for event dates and calendar visibility; brochure save keeps dates aligned with the tournament row; calendar_visible stored on the tournament.
Calendar presentation
* Day cells use text-only links (no thumbnails in the grid); past events use muted styling; tournament names are bold, slightly larger, and wrap in uniform cells.
Player profile shortcode
* [chess_podium_player_profile]: photo (directory avatar or roster/FIDE cache), country flag, and a clickable name (and image when linked) to the unified /player/{slug}/ profile when the player exists in the directory.
Internationalization
* New and updated strings for the calendar and profile shortcode across supported locales.
1.9.1
Unified player directory & public profiles
* Directory profile URL pattern: /player/{slug}/ with avatar, bio, external links (FIDE, Lichess, etc.), tournament history, and career statistics.
* Tournament context via ?cp_tournament={id}: “From this tournament” block with standings-style stats, round-by-round table, opponent names resolved from detailed pairings (with roster fallback), and game links only when archived round PGN exists or the pairing has non-empty live PGN (avoids empty boards).
* Routing resilience: if WordPress handles /player/{slug}/ as a normal page, the plugin falls back to parsing the request URI so unified profiles still render.
* FIDE ratings profile links use the official https://ratings.fide.com/profile/{id} endpoint; the FIDE ID in the header links there.
Career overview & charts
* Aggregate W / D / L share, rating vs performance sparkline (SVG), and per-tournament Elo change bars built from detailed pairing data where available.
Exports (published tournament folder)
* Player links target the unified WordPress profile and append cp_tournament when a directory player is mapped, keeping context from exports.
Admin
* Players (directory): upload and remove profile avatar image.
Internationalization
* Cleaned duplicate msgid entries in translation files (e.g. “Players”, “— Select —”, “Tournament history”) for reliable Poedit merges.
1.9.0
Partner hotels (Budget tab)
* Add partner hotels (name/city/stars) with a tournament share rate (€/presence/day).
* Assign each player to a partner hotel, with family members, days, hotel total and tournament share (auto-calculated: rate × (player+family) × days).
* New exports for hotel data: CSV and PDF (with HTML fallback when PDF engine is unavailable).
* Summary table: tournament income by hotel.
1.8.7
Players (admin)
* Fixed bulk save in Players tab (“Save all players”) when multiple actions were present (invalid nested forms prevented submissions in some browsers).
* Added manual player photo (global per player): select from Media Library or upload from computer; manual photo takes priority over FIDE/Wikipedia/generic avatar.
Published tournaments (HTML export)
* Export now uses SEO-friendly player profile URLs (e.g. name-surname.html). Legacy player-<id>.html files are still generated and redirect to the new URL.
* Exported player profiles now support the manual player photo override.
1.8.6
Published tournaments (HTML export)
* Fixed player name click in exported pages (links now open player-<id>.html reliably; no “click does nothing”).
* Improved export photo resolution: fetch and cache FIDE photos during export when available; safe fallback to generic avatars when FIDE has no real photo (avoids blank/placeholder images).
Printable material
* New Board cards (PDF): board number cards with tournament logo and name, optimized for cutting (6 per page).
For developers
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Best Chess Podium alternatives
All chess plugins →FAQ
Chess Podium: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 29, 2026
Is Chess Podium free?
Yes. Chess Podium is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Chess Podium safe to use in 2026?
Chess Podium works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. Is rated 5/5 and was last updated 4 months ago, and scores 56/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Chess Podium?
Chess Podium is active on <10 WordPress websites and has been downloaded 1,049 times since it launched in March 2026. It was downloaded 89 times in the last 30 days.
Does Chess Podium work with WordPress 7.1?
Chess Podium is officially tested up to WordPress 7.0.6, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does Chess Podium need?
Chess Podium requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Chess Podium last updated?
The latest version, 1.9.3, was released on May 22, 2026 (4 months ago).
Who makes Chess Podium?
Chess Podium is developed and maintained by Marco Belemmi.
What are the best alternatives to Chess Podium?
The most popular alternatives to Chess Podium are RPB Chessboard (1K+ installs), Embed Chessboard (600+ installs) and WP Shredderchess (200+ installs).
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