Sunday, March 3, 2013

Example of 4-Round Swiss Chess Tournament


Swiss System Chess Tournament Basic Rules

- players with the same score are ranked according to rating
- Top half is paired with the bottom half
- Same two players cannot play twice
- Color alternates in succeeding rounds
- Winners versus winners
- Losers versus losers
- Ties are broken with Swiss tie-breaking systems


Number of Rounds


The number of rounds in a Swiss Chess Tournament is predetermined beforehand. In most occassions, it depends on the rules of the organizer and number of players. As a sample (for illustration purposes only):
up to 20 players --> 5 rounds
20 to 40 players --> 7 rounds
40 to 80 players --> 9 rounds


Number of Games in Tournament


To determine the total number of games (ideally) in the tournament:

Number of Games = [ Number of Players/2 ] x Number of Rounds

Example:


Given:
Number of players = 8
Number of rounds = 4

Using the formula,
Number of Games = 8/2 x 4
Number of Games = 4 x 4
Number of Games = 16 games


Scoring Point System


Win = 1 point
Draw = 0.5 point
Loss = 0


Pairing Procedure

Round 1:

- Pairings drawn randomly
- Pairings according to Chess Rating
- Pairings based on last year's performance.
- Pairings generated by Computer Pairing Software

Round 2:

- Winners in Round 1 play against winners
- Losers in Round 1 play against losers

Subsequent Rounds pairing rules:

- No player faces the same opponent twice
- Players play with opponents with the same or almost the same score
- Players play an equal number of games with the White and Black pieces
- Players' color of pieces alternate in each round
- Same color 3 times in a row is not allowed


Tie-Breaking

- after the last round, players are ranked by total score points
- if there is a tie, it is broken using the Buchholz chess rating (sum of all their opponents' scores) or other chess tie-breaking methods in Swiss system tournaments such as Solkoff, Median (Harkness System), Modified Median, Cumulative, and so on.


---- PAIRING ----

Prepare Table of Players sorted by Rating (descending)


Rating   List of Players for Tournament (Masters & Grandmasters Championship)
2650     Players 1
2600     Players 5
2550     Players 2
2500     Players 6
2450     Players 3
2400     Players 7
2350     Players 4
2300     Players 8

Divide the list in two groups (or many groups)


Top Half: (Group I)
2650  Player 1
2550  Player 2
2450  Player 3
2350  Player 4

Bottom Half: (Group II)
2600  Player 5
2500  Player 6
2400  Player 7
2300  Player 8

Standard Swiss System Pairing

Round 1:


Player #1 versus Player #5, Player #1 wins
Player #2 versus Player #6, Player #2 wins
Player #3 versus Player #7, Player #3 wins
Player #4 versus Player #8, Player #4 wins

Winners in Round 1
Players 1
Players 2
Players 3
Players 4

Losers in Round 1
Players 5
Players 6
Players 7
Players 8


Round 2:


Winners vs. Winners
Player #1 plays Player #3, Player #1 wins
Player #2 plays Player #4, Player #2 wins

Losers vs. Losers
Player #5 plays Player #7, Player #5 wins
Player #6 plays Player #8, Player #6 wins

After two rounds, the score standings are:

Player #1: 2-0  (2 wins, no loss)
Player #2: 2-0
Player #3: 1-1  (1 win, 1 loss)
Player #4: 1-1
Player #5: 1-1
Player #6: 1-1
Player #7: 0-2  (no win, 2 loss)
Player #8: 0-2


Round 3:


Winners against Winners
Player #1 against Player #6, Player#1 wins
Player #2 against Player #5, Player#2 wins

Losers against Losers
Player #3 against Player #8, Player#3 wins
Player #4 against Player #7, Player#4 wins

Score sheet after three rounds:

Player #1: 3-0  (3 wins, no loss)
Player #2: 3-0
Player #3: 2-1  (2 wins, 1 loss)
Player #4: 2-1
Player #5: 1-2  (1 win, 2 losses)
Player #6: 1-2
Player #7: 0-3  (no win, 3 losses)
Player #8: 0-3


Round 4:


Winners versus Winners
Player #1 vs. Player #2, Player#1 wins
Player #3 vs. Player #4, Player#3 wins

Losers versus Losers
Player #5 vs. Player #6, Player#5 wins
Player #7 vs. Player #8, Player#7 wins


If the number of rounds established is 4, then Round 4 is the Last Round. A final scoresheet and final crosstable is prepared to declare the clear winner. If there is a tie, and there is no split in the prize fund, then the tie will be broken through Swiss system tie-breaking methods in chess.

On the final round, the final scores are:

Player #1: 4-0  (4 wins, no loss) --> Winner (Champion)
Player #2: 3-1
Player #3: 3-1  (3 wins, 1 loss)
Player #4: 2-2
Player #5: 2-2  (2 wins, 2 losses)
Player #6: 1-3
Player #7: 1-3  (1 win, 3 losses)
Player #8: 0-4

In this example of a 4-round Swiss Chess Tournament,
the winner or champion is Player #1.


---- Example of Chessmaster software Swiss Tourney ----

Example of a 4-round Swiss Chess Tournament Results (Chessmaster 9000):


Name                Wins    Draws   Losses  Games   Score   OPS   Bye
Aidan                  4       0       0       4     4.0    1454   
Niko                   3       0       1       4     3.0     927   
Ben                    2       0       2       4     2.0    1747   
Petra                  2       0       2       4     2.0    1284   
Tex                    2       0       2       4     2.0     898   
Manny                  1       0       3       4     1.0     879   
Chessmaster            1       0       3       4     1.0     630   
Alekhine               1       0       3       4     1.0     490   


Tournament Crosstable results


Name        1       2       3       4       Total
1.Aidan        W3:1    B8:1    B7:1    W4:1    4.0/4
2.Niko        W6:1    B3:0    W5:1    W8:1    3.0/4
3.Ben        B1:0    W2:1    B8:0    W7:1    2.0/4
4.Petra        W8:1    B5:0    W6:1    B1:0    2.0/4
5.Tex        B7:0    W4:1    B2:0    W6:1    2.0/4
6.Manny        B2:0    W7:1    B4:0    B5:0    1.0/4
7.Chessmaster    W5:1    B6:0    W1:0    B3:0    1.0/4
8.Alekhine    B4:0    W1:0    W3:1    B2:0    1.0/4


Games


=== Round 1 ===
    Chessmaster vs      Tex -- Black is Checkmated - Game 1
          Petra vs Alekhine -- Black is Checkmated - Game 2
          Aidan vs      Ben -- Black is Checkmated - Game 3
           Niko vs    Manny -- Black is Checkmated - Game 4

=== Round 2 ===
       Alekhine vs       Aidan -- White is Checkmated - Game 5
          Manny vs Chessmaster -- Black is Checkmated - Game 6
            Tex vs       Petra -- Black is Checkmated - Game 7
            Ben vs        Niko -- Black is Checkmated - Game 8

=== Round 3 ===
    Chessmaster vs       Aidan -- White is Checkmated - Game 9
          Petra vs       Manny -- Black is Checkmated - Game 10
           Niko vs         Tex -- Black is Checkmated - Game 11
       Alekhine vs         Ben -- Black is Checkmated - Game 12

=== Round 4 ===
            Ben vs Chessmaster -- Black is Checkmated - Game 13
            Tex vs       Manny -- Black is Checkmated - Game 14
           Niko vs    Alekhine -- Black is Checkmated - Game 15
          Aidan vs       Petra -- Black is Checkmated - Game 16

2 comments:

  1. In round 3, why do you have 1v5 and 2v6 as the pairings? It should be 1v2 since they are the only two players with a score of 2-0.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And if you have only 6 players registered for a 4 round swiss?

    ReplyDelete