Chess Tournament & Event Admin - User Manual

Table of Contents

  1. Getting Started
  2. Tournaments Tab
  3. Schedule Tab
  4. Excluded Dates Tab
  5. Events Tab
  6. Settings Tab
  7. Best Practices & Workflow

Getting Started

Logging In

When you first access the admin panel, you'll see a login screen. Enter your username and password to access the system. Once logged in, you'll see five tabs at the top of the page:

Year Navigation

Throughout the system, you'll see Previous Year and Next Year buttons. These allow you to toggle between the current year and next year. This is important because:

The year you select affects what you see across multiple tabs, keeping everything in sync.

Tournaments Tab

What This Tab Does

The Tournaments tab is where you define and manage all your recurring and one-time tournaments. Think of this as your tournament library - you're not scheduling dates here, just setting up tournament templates that can be scheduled later.

Scheduling Statistics

At the top of the tab, you'll see:

Color coding helps you:
  • Red background = No days available
  • Orange background = Less than 3 days available
  • Normal = Plenty of days available

This helps you see at a glance if you can fit all your tournaments into the remaining calendar.

Tournament List

Below the statistics, you'll see a table of all tournaments with these columns:

Column Description
Order The scheduling priority. Lower numbers get scheduled first (1, 2, 3, etc.)
Name Tournament name with a green dot indicator if it has scheduled dates in the selected year
Location Where the tournament is held
Days How many days the tournament runs (1 day, 2 days, etc.)
Recurrence One-time, Weekly, or Consecutive
Status Active or Inactive
Actions Edit, Activate/Deactivate, Delete buttons

Adding a New Tournament

Click Add New Tournament and fill out the form:

Required Fields:

Optional Fields:

Setting Up Recurrence:

For One-time tournaments:

  1. Leave "Recurring Tournament" unchecked
  2. Select the Day of Week from the dropdown at the bottom
  3. This tells the system which day of the week to schedule this tournament on

For Recurring tournaments:

  1. Check "Recurring Tournament"
  2. Select recurrence type:
    • Weekly (Same Day): Repeats every week on the same day (e.g., every Thursday)
    • Consecutive Days: Multi-day tournament on back-to-back days
  3. For weekly, select the day of week

Editing Tournaments

Click Edit to modify any tournament details. Changes don't affect already-scheduled dates until you delete the edited tournaments scheduled dates and regenerate it’s schedule.

Activating/Deactivating Tournaments

Important: When you deactivate a tournament, it only removes schedules for the year you're currently viewing. If the tournament is scheduled in multiple years, other years are unaffected.
Pro Tip - Quick Schedule Clearing: Need to reschedule a tournament? Instead of deleting dates one at a time in the Schedule tab (which is time-consuming), simply deactivate then immediately reactivate the tournament in the Tournaments tab. This clears all scheduled dates for the viewed year instantly, allowing you to regenerate the schedule with new settings or a different date.

Deleting Tournaments

Click Delete to permanently remove a tournament. This deletes the tournament AND all its scheduled dates for the currently viewed year. The tournament itself is completely removed from the system.

Schedule Tab

What This Tab Does

This is where you actually create the calendar schedule for your tournaments. You've defined your tournaments in the Tournaments tab - now you're assigning them actual dates.

Generate Schedule

Schedule Type:

Month: Select which month to start scheduling from

Year: Choose the year (current year or next year)

Start Date (Optional): If you want to start scheduling from a specific date instead of the beginning of the month/year, enter it here

How It Works:

  1. The system looks at all Active tournaments
  2. Schedules them in Order Number sequence (1, 2, 3, or 1, 4, 7, etc.)
  3. Respects the Day of Week you set for each tournament
  4. Skips any Excluded Dates you've marked
  5. Avoids double-booking (won't put two tournaments on the same day)
Important Limitation:
  • Tournaments already scheduled for a year cannot be rescheduled again that year
  • The system will show an error listing which tournaments are already scheduled
  • To reschedule existing tournaments, you must first delete their current scheduled dates
  • You can delete schedules individually (Schedule tab → View & Manage) or by deactivating then reactivating the tournament
Important Notes:
  • Generating a schedule only adds NEW schedules - it doesn't replace existing ones
  • Tournaments without a day of week set will be skipped (you'll see a warning)
  • The system tries to fit all tournaments but may extend beyond the month or year if needed to schedule all required tournament dates, or due to excluded dates

View & Manage Scheduled Tournaments

Use the navigation controls to browse by month and year:

You'll see tournaments grouped by name with their scheduled dates. Each date shows:

Use this to:
  • Review your schedule
  • Remove individual dates if needed
  • Check for conflicts or gaps

Excluded Dates Tab

What This Tab Does

Mark dates when the club is closed or tournaments can't be held (holidays, maintenance, special events, etc.). The scheduling system will automatically skip these dates.

Year Navigation

Use Previous Year and Next Year buttons to view excluded dates for different years. The year syncs with the year you selected in the Tournaments tab.

Adding Excluded Dates

  1. Click the Date field and select a date from the calendar
  2. Enter a Reason (e.g., "Christmas Day", "Club Maintenance", "Building Closed")
  3. Click Add Excluded Date

The date will appear in the list below with the date and reason. The year is automatically extracted from the date you selected.

Important: If you have tournaments already scheduled on a date you exclude, the system automatically reschedules them. The tournament is shifted forward to the next available date (typically one week later), and if that date is occupied, it cascades and shifts other tournaments as needed. You don't need to regenerate the schedule - the rescheduling happens instantly when you add the excluded date.

Managing Excluded Dates

The list shows all excluded dates for the selected year. Click Delete next to any date to remove it from the exclusion list.

Viewing Different Years

When you add an excluded date for a future year (say, adding Christmas 2026 while viewing 2025), the list will automatically switch to show that year so you can see the date you just added.

Events Tab

What This Tab Does

Events are different from tournaments - they're one-time special occasions that appear on the calendar but aren't part of your regular tournament schedule. Use this for:

Adding Events

Click Add New Event and fill out:

Events show up on the public calendar alongside tournaments but are managed separately. HTML markup may be used in the event title or description to add formatted text.

Managing Events

The events list shows:

Click Edit to modify event details or dates. Click Delete to permanently remove the event.

Settings Tab

Change Password

For security, you can update your admin password here.

  1. Enter your Current Password
  2. Enter your New Password (minimum 8 characters)
  3. Confirm the new password
  4. Click Update Password

You'll be automatically logged out after changing your password and will need to log in again with the new password.

Best Practices & Workflow

Recommended Setup Process

1. Set Up Excluded Dates First

2. Create Your Tournaments

3. Generate Your Schedule

4. Review and Adjust

5. Add Events

Tips for Order Numbers

Think about how you want tournaments to be scheduled:

The system schedules in order, so Order 1 gets first pick of dates, then Order 2, and so on. A scheduling order such as 1, 3, 6, and so on is also permissible and offers more flexibility.

Monitoring Unscheduled Tournaments

Pay attention to the Days Needed for Unscheduled metric (shown in red):

  • If it shows 0, all active tournaments are fully scheduled for that year
  • If it shows a number, you have active tournaments that have not yet been scheduled
  • This includes partially scheduled tournaments (e.g., a 2-day tournament with only 1 day scheduled shows as 1 unscheduled day)
  • Use this to know when you need to generate or regenerate schedules

Managing Multiple Years

When to View Different Years:

Remember:

Handling Schedule Changes

If you need to cancel a single tournament date:

  1. Go to Schedule tab
  2. Navigate to that month
  3. Click View Schedule
  4. Find the date and click Delete
  5. The statistics (including Days Needed for Unscheduled) update immediately to reflect the change

If you need to reschedule everything:

First, understand that tournaments already scheduled for a year cannot be rescheduled until their existing dates are deleted. Here's the process:

1. Delete existing schedules:

Quick Method (Recommended):

  • Go to Tournaments tab
  • Click Deactivate on each tournament you want to reschedule (this deletes all scheduled dates for the viewed year)
  • Click Activate to turn them back on
  • This is much faster than deleting dates one at a time

Manual Method (If you only need to remove specific dates):

  • Go to Schedule tab
  • Use View & Manage Scheduled Tournaments
  • Navigate to each month with scheduled tournaments
  • Delete individual dates one at a time
  • Note: This method is time-consuming if you need to clear many dates

2. Update tournament settings:

  • Make sure excluded dates are current
  • Adjust tournament order numbers if priorities changed

3. Regenerate the schedule:

  • Go to Schedule tab
  • Generate schedule for the affected period
  • The system will now create new schedules for the tournaments you cleared

If you're adding a new tournament mid-year:

  1. Add the tournament:
    • Add the tournament in Tournaments tab
    • Set its order number (consider where it should fit in priority)
    • Make sure it's set to Active
    • Assign a day of week
  2. Clear space if needed:

    Quick Method (Recommended):

    • Go to the Excluded Dates tab → Create an Excluded Date for each currently scheduled date needed (automatically reschedules all future scheduled dates forward) → Delete the Excluded Dates just created (creates open dates on the calendar) → Schedule the tournament on the dates created
    • This is faster than deleting and rescheduling tournaments

    Manual Method:

    • If the new tournament has a higher priority (lower order number) than existing tournaments, you may need to reschedule existing tournaments
    • Tournaments already scheduled cannot be rescheduled until their dates are deleted
    • Options:
      • Accept the placement: The new tournament will be scheduled after currently scheduled tournaments on that day
      • Clear and reschedule:
        • Quick way: In Tournaments tab, deactivate then reactivate affected tournaments (deletes all their dates for the year)
        • Manual way: In Schedule tab, delete individual dates one at a time (time-consuming)
        • Then adjust order numbers if needed and regenerate
  3. Generate schedule:
    • Go to Schedule tab
    • Generate schedule from the current month forward
    • Only the new tournament (and any others you cleared) will be scheduled
  4. Review the results:
    • Check the schedule to see where the tournament was placed
    • If it didn't get scheduled, check for error messages (missing day of week, no available dates, etc.)

Understanding the Green Dot and Statistics

The green dot next to a tournament name means it has at least one scheduled date in the currently selected year. This helps you quickly see:

The Days Needed for Unscheduled metric (in red) gives you precise information:

Year Transitions

As you approach the end of the year:

  1. Review next year's excluded dates - Add holidays and closures for the upcoming year
  2. Check tournament settings - Make sure all tournaments are still relevant and have correct settings
  3. Check tournament names – e.g., change 3rd Annual to 4th Annual, 2025 Championship to 2026 Championship
  4. Generate next year's schedule - Switch to next year and generate the full yearly schedule
  5. Review and adjust - Check for any conflicts or issues

When January 1st arrives, the year toggle automatically shifts forward (e.g., from 2025/2026 to 2026/2027). The system always allows toggling between the current year and the next year only - you cannot go backward before the current year or forward beyond next year.

Common Scenarios

"I deleted one day of a multi-day tournament and Days Needed for Unscheduled changed"

  • This is correct behavior - the metric shows the actual number of missing days
  • Example: A 2-day tournament with 1 day scheduled shows "1" unscheduled day
  • If you delete that one remaining day, it shows "2" unscheduled days
  • This helps you track exactly how many tournament days still need scheduling

"I tried to generate a schedule but got an error saying tournaments are already scheduled"

  • You cannot reschedule tournaments that already have dates for that year
  • To reschedule them, first delete their existing scheduled dates:
    • Fastest method: Go to Tournaments tab → Deactivate the tournament → Reactivate it (deletes all dates for the viewed year)
    • Manual method: Go to Schedule → View & Manage and delete each date one at a time (time-consuming if many dates)
  • After deleting, you can generate a new schedule

"I added a tournament but it's not appearing on the calendar"

  • Make sure it's set to Active
  • Make sure it has a day of week assigned
  • Generate the schedule for the period you want

"The statistics show red (no days available)"

  • You may have too many tournaments for that day of the week
  • Consider moving some tournaments to different days
  • Or deactivate lower-priority tournaments

"I excluded a date but tournaments are still scheduled on it"

  • This shouldn't happen - the system automatically reschedules tournaments when you add an excluded date
  • Try refreshing the Schedule view to see the updated dates
  • The tournament should have shifted forward by one week (or more if that date was also occupied)

"I deleted a tournament but it's still on the calendar"

  • Deleting only removes schedules for the currently viewed year
  • If it's scheduled in other years, switch to those years and delete there
  • Or the tournament may have been deleted but you haven't refreshed the schedule view

Getting Help

If you encounter errors:

Quick Reference

Tournament Tab Actions

Schedule Tab Actions

Excluded Dates Tab Actions

Events Tab Actions

Settings Tab Actions

Remember: Changes you make in the Tournaments tab don't affect the calendar until you generate or regenerate the schedule. The Schedule tab is where tournament definitions become actual calendar dates.

Chess Tournament & Event Admin - User Manual