Custom Registration Questions

Custom questions collect information that is not part of ChessRoster’s standard player fields—for example, school, team, grade, meal choice, or a request for accommodations. Add them under Tournament Details → Registration Questions in the tournament editor.

Question Types

For an Autocomplete question, you can upload a CSV or text list with Code and Name columns. ChessRoster uses it as the searchable suggestion list while still allowing a player to enter a value that is not listed.

Upload Team Codes for SwissSys

Use an uploaded Team list when you want SwissSys to use your existing team codes instead of generating abbreviations.

1. In Tournament Details → Registration Questions, click Add Question or expand your existing Team question.
2. Set Question Type to Autocomplete and SwissSys Export Field (Optional) to Team.
3. Click Upload Team/Club List and choose a .csv or .txt file with Code and Name columns. Comma-separated and tab-separated files are supported; headers can also be Team Code and Team Name, in either order.
4. Check the entries loaded count, choose the question’s Apply to Sections, and save the tournament. Leave Apply to Sections empty to use the question in every section.

For example:

Code,Name
LINCOLN,Lincoln School
MAPLE,Maple Middle School

The file may contain up to 500 data rows. Codes may contain up to 20 characters, and names up to 100 characters. Rows missing a code or name are skipped. Quote names containing commas, such as "Lincoln School, North Campus".

Players search for and select the team name, not its code. A matching uploaded name exports with your supplied code, trimmed and uppercased, and the uploaded name remains the display name. For example, lincoln,Lincoln School exports the code LINCOLN with the name Lincoln School. The same team uses that code in every section. Matching ignores differences in letter case and leading, trailing, or repeated spaces.

Autocomplete also allows a player to type a name that is not listed. Those answers use generated codes. Generated codes are shared across the tournament and cannot collide with uploaded codes or codes generated for different teams. To ensure a player uses your code, ask them to select the matching name from the list.

Resolve Conflicting Team Codes

For questions mapped to Team, use one unique code per team and the same code for the same team across all sections and Team lists:

• Codes are compared after trimming and uppercasing: SM and sm are the same code and cannot identify different teams.
• Names are compared without regard to case, leading/trailing spaces, or repeated spaces. Equivalent names cannot have different codes.
• Equivalent duplicate rows with the same code and name are reduced to one entry, keeping the first row.

If an upload, save, or export reports a conflict, correct the codes in the affected lists. For an export error, the message names the registration questions and sections to edit. Expand those questions, use Download if you need a CSV copy of an already-loaded list, correct and re-upload the files, save the tournament, then retry the export.

See Downloading Registrations for the export steps.

Required and Section-Specific Questions

• Turn on Required when registration cannot be completed without an answer.
• Leave Apply to Sections empty to ask the question in every section.
• Select one or more sections when the question applies only to those players.
• Reorder questions to control how they appear during registration.

Test the registration flow after changing required questions, especially when a tournament has sections with different requirements.

Public and Private Answers

Answers are private by default. Turn on Public only when it is appropriate for the response to appear with the player on public rosters or standings.

SwissSys Export Mapping

Optionally map a question to one SwissSys field so the response lands in the right column when you export registrations:

• Team
• Club
• City
• State
• Zip
• Age
• Grade

Use the mapping only when the response has the meaning and format expected by that SwissSys field.

Reviewing and Editing Answers

Open Registrations from the organizer toolbar or the full tournament management console. Staff can review custom answers when viewing or editing a registration, including answers entered through Add New Player.

Tournament directors may have restricted editing permission for tournament structure. If the custom-question controls are read-only, ask an organizer administrator to make the change.

Related Topics

• Creating Tournaments
• Managing Participants
• Registration Tiers & Section Pricing