For school chess coaches
Scholastic chess management without the spreadsheet.
Student rosters with parent contacts, USCF rating tracking, attendance you mark in one click, and tournament sign-ups parents can actually fill out from their phone.
Free for clubs up to 30 members — covers most after-school programs. Discounts for non-profits and schools beyond that.
The school-coach workflow
You're juggling four things at once.
Weekly meeting attendance. The kid whose USCF rating just changed. The parent who didn't get the email about Saturday's tournament. The new fifth-grader who showed up at the second meeting and isn't on any roster yet. Generic membership tools don't handle any of it natively — and the spreadsheet doesn't email anyone.
Rook Ready is built for the way a school chess program actually runs: students with linked guardians, USCF-friendly custom fields, attendance that drops into a kid's record automatically, and announcements that target just the parents when you need them to.
What's in it
The pieces a school coach actually needs.
Parent / guardian links
Every student can have one or more linked guardians. Announcements that mention the kid go to the parent's inbox; the parent can RSVP for tournaments without setting up their own login.
USCF rating tracking
USCF ID and rating as custom member fields, and when a kid enters an event their rating is pulled from their USCF ID automatically — no quarterly re-typing. Rating history lives with the kid's record, so you can see at a glance who's eligible for which section. Guide →
Accessibility, handled automatically
A parent flags what their kid needs at sign-up — a step-free table, a seat near an exit, a quiet spot away from the noise, a large-print board. You mark which tables in the gym have what. Then every round, Rook Ready seats those kids at a table that works for them and prints it on your pairing sheet. No parent has to ask at the door, and nobody has to ask again after lunch. How it works →
Attendance for weekly meetings
Recurring "Tuesday practice" events. One-click attendance during the meeting; the streak / participation summary builds automatically for end-of-year reports. Guide →
Rated tournaments, start to finish
Run the formats scholastics actually use — quads for a rated club night, a Swiss open, or a team match between schools. Registration captures section, USCF ID, grade, and parent contact; sections carry grade/age/rating windows; parents follow live standings and the wallchart from the bleachers; and you export the USCF (or FIDE) report when it's over. See tournaments →
School / non-profit pricing
We have a discount for school programs.
Pawn is free forever for up to 30 students. If your program is bigger, drop us a note — we have discounted Rook for K–12 chess programs and 501(c)(3) non-profits.
Discount details →Try it
Run your scholastic chess club without the spreadsheet.
Free for up to 30 students. No credit card.