Free tool
Prize fund splitter
How it works
Enter your total prize fund and a percentage for each place, such as 50/30/20 for three places. The splitter rescales the percentages to sum to 100, rounds each place down to a whole currency unit, and gives the small rounding leftover to the first place that has a share, so the amounts add up to the fund exactly. It does not decide what happens when players tie. The worked tie examples below show two ways to handle that, and your event’s published rules decide which one applies.
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Percentages sum to 100%.
Shares are rounded down to the nearest whole unit, or to the nearest hundredth when the fund has a fractional part. Any remainder is added to the highest place with a share, normally 1st, so the amounts sum to the fund exactly. Illustrative only; check your event regulations before publishing a prize structure.
ResultUpdates as you type
| Place | Share | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 50.0% | $1,250 |
| 2nd | 30.0% | $750 |
| 3rd | 20.0% | $500 |
How it works
The method behind the numbers
Formula
Place amount = floor(fund x share / total of all shares); the rounding leftover goes to the first place that has a share
A percentage structure such as 50/30/20 is easy to publish and to compare across events of different sizes, and it rescales on its own if the entry count and the total fund change close to the event.
Here is the exact rule this tool follows. It is this tool’s rule, not a FIDE rule and not a convention every organiser uses. A whole-number fund is rounded down in whole currency units, such as whole dollars. A fund with one or two decimal places is split in hundredths, so the amounts keep at most two decimals. Whatever is left after rounding goes to the first place that has a share above zero, so a place set to 0% never receives it. Worked example with a hypothetical fund of $777 at 50/30/20: the three places come to 388.5, 233.1 and 155.4 before rounding. Rounded down they are 388, 233 and 155, which add up to 776. The leftover $1 goes to first place, so the payout is $389, $233 and $155, and the total is $777.
If the percentages do not add up to 100, the splitter rescales them in proportion before it calculates anything. Example with a hypothetical $1,000 fund and shares of 50/30/17, which total 97: the shares become about 51.55%, 30.93% and 17.53%. The amounts rounded down are 515, 309 and 175, which add up to 999. The leftover $1 goes to first place, so the payout is $516, $309 and $175, which add up to $1,000.
Do tied standings mean shared prize money? Not automatically. The tie-break order ranks the players, and the prize policy says what tied players are paid. FIDE’s tie-break regulations say the tournament regulations should state whether tied players share the same place or, if they do not, how the tied players are ranked (Article 2.1, retrieved 2026-10-16). So the answer is whatever your published event rules say, and this tool does not apply it for you.
Rounding can bite when more players tie. If three players tie for first on a hypothetical $1,000 fund over three places, the pooled amount is 1,000 / 3 = 333.33 each. Equal shares of 1/1/1 in this tool give $334, $333 and $333, because the odd dollar goes to the first row. Your rules should say who takes it, for example the player with the best tie-break, or that every share rounds down and the odd dollar stays with the organiser.
Category prizes need decisions the arithmetic cannot make. Write down four answers before the event: which pool pays category prizes, the main fund or a separate one; whether one player can win an open place and a category prize; if not, which prize is paid and whether the other passes to the next player; and what happens to a category prize nobody qualifies for. This tool splits one pool at a time, so run the open places and each category pool separately.
Entry fees and prize limits for rated events come from your national federation or regional association, not from this page. The organising guide covers where to check them.
Worked example
The steps with real numbers
Illustrative figures, worked the way the tool works them. Put the same numbers into the tool above to check.
Back to the toolTwo policies on one hypothetical case. The fund is $2,000 at 50/20/15/10/5, so places 1 to 5 are worth $1,000, $400, $300, $200 and $100. Two players tie for second. Under a pooled policy they share places 2 and 3: 400 + 300 = 700, so each gets $350, and 4th and 5th are unchanged. The payouts add up to 1,000 + 700 + 200 + 100 = $2,000. To check the split here, enter 700 with two equal shares and you get 350 and 350. Under a rank policy the tie-breaks put one player second and the other third, so they receive $400 and $300. Both policies are local choices, not a universal rule. Pick one and publish it before round 1.
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Questions
Frequently asked questions
Where does the rounding leftover go?
To the first place that has a share above zero. Every place is rounded down first, which almost always leaves a few units over. This tool gives them to first place so no amount is fractional and the total equals the fund. If first is set to 0%, the leftover goes to the highest place with a share. This is how the tool works, not a rule from FIDE or any federation.
My percentages add up to 97%, not 100%. What happens to the missing 3%?
The splitter rescales every percentage in proportion so the shares sum to 100 before it works out the amounts. The missing 3% is spread across all places in line with their shares. It is not left unpaid and it is not added as a separate line. On a $1,000 fund, shares of 50/30/17 pay $516, $309 and $175.
How do I split a prize when two players tie?
Follow your published event rules. Under a pooled policy, add the prizes for the places the tied players cover and divide by the number of tied players. Two players tied for second on a 50/20/15/10/5 split of $2,000 share 400 + 300 and get $350 each. Under a rank policy the tie-breaks decide who is second and who is third, and each is paid that place’s prize. Neither is a universal rule.
Should special prizes, like best under-1400 or best junior, come out of this fund?
That is an event decision, not a calculation. Some organisers carve category prizes out of the main fund before splitting the open places, and others fund them separately. Decide it, and whether one player can win two prizes, before the event. Then split each pool on its own here.
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