Setting up a tournament in Lichess is very easy. Any Lichess user can do it while they are logged into the system. Like everything else on Lichess it is absolutely free.

How to do it

Log into your Lichess from your Computer. (You can set up a tournament from your phone but then you won’t be able to choose your own name for the tournament)

Go to PLAY on the menu and select TOURNAMENT

You will taken to a screen with “CREATE A NEW TOURNAMENT”

On this screen you will setup the tournament. It is very easy.

Click on “Private” unless you want everyone to enter your tournament. Clicking on private gives you greater control over who can play.

Password – This will be the password all players use to enter the tournament. No one can enter the tournament unless they have the password.

Select a name for your tournament – You can use Africa Chess.  Be careful here if you are using another name. Anything slightly inappropriate can get banned by LiChess.

Variant – Leave as Standard (This is the type of chess)

Starting position – Leave as Initial Position

Mode – Will most likely be Rated

Time control – Determine the time control here including the increment. We have been using mostly 3+1

Duration – This is the duration of the whole tournament. For our main tournament we have been going with 80 minutes.

Time before tournament starts – Give your players at least 30 minutes before the tournament starts to enter.

DOUBLE CHECK DETAILS

Once you are done go over the details again. This is very important. There is no way to fix any mistakes you have made. If you are satisfied that all details are correct, then click on CREATE NEW TOURNAMENT. Share the link on the next screen with the players.