ChessPairings — Tournament Showcase
Display chess tournaments managed on my.chesspairings.org directly on your WordPress site: standings, pairings, registered players, calendar.
Use with caution
ChessPairings works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. Was last updated 2 months ago, and scores 60/100 on our health check.
- Tested with the latest WordPress (7.1)
- Small user base (<10 active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where ChessPairings stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| chess | #17 |
| club | >100 |
| pairings | #62 |
| standings | #59 |
| tournament | #24 |
About ChessPairings — Tournament Showcase
From the official readme · v0.2.0Description
ChessPairings — Tournament Showcase is a “showcase” plugin that integrates tournaments managed on the SaaS platform my.chesspairings.org into your WordPress site.
The plugin does not manage tournaments inside WordPress: pairing generation, result entry, player management, Telegram notifications, auto-publishing to chess-results.com and everything else stays on my.chesspairings.org. The plugin simply displays your tournament data on your WP site, using native HTML that inherits your theme’s styles.
What you can do with the plugin:
- Show standings with tiebreaks
- Show pairings by round
- Show the registered players list (or teams + roster for team tournaments)
- Show the tournament announcement / regulations
- Add a “Register” button linking to the online registration form
- Publish a calendar of your tournaments or the community calendar (by federation)
- List all your tournaments with cards — status, dates, registration button
- Display a full tournament page with tabs (info / registered / pairings / standings)
- Select a tournament by name in Gutenberg, with a real editor preview
- Automatically show the current, next or most recently completed tournament
- Show the published round schedule and progress
- Search and sort frontend tables, print views and optionally auto-refresh them
- Download tournament dates in iCalendar format
- Keep showing the last valid data during temporary API outages
Advantages over an iframe or a screenshot:
- Native HTML that inherits the theme’s styles (fonts, colors, spacing)
- SEO-friendly (indexable content, not in an iframe)
- Mobile responsive by default
- Automatic caching to avoid overloading the API (configurable 30–300s)
ChessPairings account: the plugin requires a free account on my.chesspairings.org and a free API key generated from your profile. The SaaS platform is completely free.
Languages: the plugin is translated in 7 languages: English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Czech.
Available Shortcodes
Individual tournaments:
[chesspairings_torneo id="N"]— full tournament page with tabs[chesspairings_classifica id="N"]— standings only[chesspairings_abbinamenti id="N" turno="ultimo"]— pairings for a round[chesspairings_iscritti id="N"]— registered players list[chesspairings_turni id="N"]— published round schedule and progress[chesspairings_bando id="N"]— tournament announcement[chesspairings_iscriviti id="N"]— registration button[chesspairings_tornei]— tournament listing with cards (status, dates, registration)[chesspairings_calendario tipo="miei"]— tournament calendar (miei | community)
Team tournaments:
[chesspairings_torneo_squadre id="N"]— full team tournament page[chesspairings_classifica_squadre id="N"]— team standings[chesspairings_abbinamenti_squadre id="N" turno="ultimo"]— team pairings[chesspairings_squadre id="N"]— teams + roster[chesspairings_bando_squadre id="N"]— team tournament announcement[chesspairings_iscriviti_squadre id="N"]— team registration button
All shortcodes are also available as the Gutenberg block “ChessPairings Tournament“, including the tournament list. The block provides a searchable tournament selector, automatic selection modes, advanced filters and a real API preview in the editor.
To keep a page automatically connected to the most relevant event, use for example:
[chesspairings_torneo selezione="automatico" tipo="auto"]<h3>External services</h3>
This plugin connects to the ChessPairings API (my.chesspairings.org/api/v1) to retrieve tournament data (standings, pairings, registered players, calendar). All API calls are made server-side from your WordPress installation — no data is sent from your visitors’ browsers.
When data is sent: every time a page containing a ChessPairings shortcode or block is loaded (subject to local caching, configurable 30–300 seconds).
What data is sent: your API key (via Authorization header), the requested tournament ID, and the WordPress site URL (via User-Agent header).
No visitor personal data (IP address, cookies, browser info) is transmitted to the service.
This service is provided by Stefano Loberti (chesspairings.org):
Installation
- Upload the
chesspairingsfolder towp-content/plugins/(or install the zip from the WordPress admin panel). - Activate the plugin from the Plugins menu.
- Go to Settings → ChessPairings.
- Generate an API key from your my.chesspairings.org profile (API tab → Generate token).
- Paste the token in the settings page and click Verify connection.
-
Add a shortcode to any page or post:
[chesspairings_torneo id=”123″]
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a ChessPairings account?
Yes, it’s free. Register on my.chesspairings.org, create your tournaments there, then install the plugin to display them on your WP site.
Can I customize the look of the tables?
Yes, in two ways: 1. The plugin uses CSS variables that auto-adapt to the theme. You can override them with custom CSS. 2. Every template is override-able from the theme: copy a file from chesspairings/templates/ to your-theme/chesspairings/ and modify it.
How heavy is the API load per page view?
Responses are cached for 60s by default (configurable 30–300s). So even with 100 visits per minute, the API receives ~1 call per minute per shortcode.
Can I show private tournaments?
Yes, as long as the tournament belongs to the API key owner. Visibility (public/private) only controls whether it appears in the community calendar.
What happens if my.chesspairings.org is temporarily unreachable?
With resilient cache enabled (the default), the plugin displays the last valid response for up to 24 hours and marks it with its update time. If no previous response exists, it shows an inline error message. The rest of your WP site is unaffected.
Does the plugin send data to my visitors?
No. The plugin calls the API server-side from WordPress — no client-side JS fetch. No cookies, no trackers.
Changelog
Adds the improved Gutenberg workflow, automatic tournament selection, round schedules, resilient cache, frontend tools, calendar downloads and diagnostics.
0.2.0
- Added: searchable tournament selector and real API preview in the Gutenberg editor.
- Added: Gutenberg views and controls for tournament lists, round schedules, filters, limits, layouts and initial tabs.
- Added: automatic selection of the current, next or most recently completed tournament.
- Added:
[chesspairings_turni]round schedule shortcode for individual and team tournaments. - Added: progressive frontend search, sortable tables, print controls and optional timed refresh.
- Added: signed iCalendar downloads and SportsEvent structured data.
- Added: resilient 24-hour last-known-good cache for temporary API failures.
- Added: shortcode generator and API/cache diagnostics in Settings.
- Security: editor REST endpoints require editing permissions and never return the API key.
- Compatibility: all enhancements retain a complete server-rendered fallback for WordPress 5.8+.
0.1.2
- Fixed: public and registration links now use the complete tokenized URLs returned by the API.
- Fixed: registration buttons respect the online-registration setting and fail closed on API errors.
- Fixed: team registration and announcement blocks now use their team-specific endpoints.
- Fixed: team match scores support both current and legacy API response shapes.
- Fixed: public links preserve the WordPress site language.
- Fixed: tab and round navigation no longer collides when multiple tournament blocks share a page.
- Security: API messages are rendered as text in the admin page and cache keys hash the complete API token.
- Changed: Gutenberg asset versions now match the plugin version.
0.1.1
- Fixed: inline scripts now properly enqueued via wp_enqueue_script.
- Fixed: text domain aligned to plugin slug.
- Added: external services section with Terms of Service and Privacy Policy links.
0.1.0
- First release: 12 shortcodes + Gutenberg block + overridable templates + 7 languages.
Screenshots
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FAQ
ChessPairings — Tournament Showcase: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 30, 2026
Is ChessPairings free?
Yes. ChessPairings is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is ChessPairings safe to use in 2026?
ChessPairings works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. Was last updated 2 months ago, and scores 60/100 on our health check.
How many websites use ChessPairings?
ChessPairings is active on <10 WordPress websites and has been downloaded 379 times since it launched in May 2026. It was downloaded 69 times in the last 30 days.
Does ChessPairings work with WordPress 7.1?
Yes. The developer has tested ChessPairings up to WordPress 7.1.2, the latest release. It requires WordPress 5.8 or newer.
What PHP version does ChessPairings need?
ChessPairings requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was ChessPairings last updated?
The latest version, 0.2.0, was released on August 15, 2026 (2 months ago).
Who makes ChessPairings?
ChessPairings is developed and maintained by stefanoloberti.
What are the best alternatives to ChessPairings?
The most popular alternatives to ChessPairings are RPB Chessboard (1K+ installs), Embed Chessboard (600+ installs) and WP Shredderchess (200+ installs).
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