Tournaments ·
Watch from the rail
A club can now let anyone signed in to Castle Gambit watch its tournament: a Spectate button beside Accept the gambit, straight to the bracket.
The short version
- Organizers choose “Who can watch” when they make a tournament: the players and the club’s members, as always, or anyone signed in
- Where it’s open, the tournament’s gambit page has a Spectate button that goes straight to the bracket, through sign-in if you need it
- Spectators see names and results, never a rating or a board number, and the page tells them the organizers and the TD can see who’s watching
- The TD console shows “Watching” and who, for the TD and the club’s organizers
- It opens only before anyone enters, so nobody’s name goes further than they signed up for
Every tournament has a few people who aren’t playing in it: the friend who came along, the partner who drove, the regular from the club across town who wants to know how the top board went. Until now the bracket was for the players and the club’s members. Now a club can open it wider.
Who can watch
On New tournament, beside “Who can enter”, there’s “Who can watch”: the players and the club’s members (the default, and how every tournament so far has worked), or anyone signed in to Castle Gambit. The TD can change it later on the console’s Players tab, with one rule: it opens up only before anyone has entered. People entered on the promise that their name was for the players and the members, and a promise is a promise. Closing it back down is always fine.
Spectate
Where watching is open, the tournament’s gambit page has a second button beside Accept the gambit: Spectate. It goes straight to the bracket (or the pairings, for a Swiss). Signed out, it takes you through sign-in or sign-up and brings you back to the bracket, so you’re watching before the next round goes up. You see who plays whom, the results and the places. Never anyone’s rating, and never which board they’re at.
The page says “You’re watching”, and tells you the club’s organizers and the tournament’s TD can see who’s watching. They can: the TD console shows “Watching” with a count and the names, so the club knows who’s following along. Nobody else at the club sees that list, and it’s gone 30 days after the tournament ends. Changed your mind about sitting it out? While entries are open, the line has a way in.
Members-only tournaments stay members-only, and watching never comes with an entry, a report button or a hand to raise. You’re on the rail, and the rail has the best view of board one.