1.0 Introduction

    A player entering a competition has a right to know the rules and conditions governing that competition.   What follows, therefore, is an exposition of NSWCA Inc tournament procedures as they are currently in practice.   The most significant features of a tournament should be noted in the advance publicity and posted prominently at the tournament site.   These features include such matters as round times, rate of play, pairing variations, prize fund, etc.   Players should understand, however, that last-minute circumstances can sometimes force revisions of earlier plans, though conscientious organizers and directors do all they can to avoid changes in announced plans for competition.

The most common types of tournaments are the Swiss System and the Round Robin.  Some of the rules for their conduct are discussed below.

2.0 Variations and Exceptions

a. Any variation from these published standards, including variations discussed in this handbook, must be made known to all competitors.

b. In remarks before the start of the first round, the Director of Play (DOP) should note any changes from standard procedures to be employed in the tournament.   DOPs should also note and display or circulate copies of their procedures so that no player faces a surprise when the pairings are posted or prizes are distributed.

3.0 The Swiss System Tournament

    The Swiss System was first used at Zurich in 1895 and is credited to Dr. J. Muller.  Outside of Switzerland the system was not widely used until introduced into the United States at the 1943 Pennsylvania Championship. This system became so popular that by 1974 the number of Swiss tournaments being conducted in the United States passed the 2000 mark. The major appeal of the Swiss is that it can accommodate a large number of players in a relatively short number of rounds.

    Presented here is only a brief description of the Swiss System.  For a full discussion of the Swiss System rules refer to the FIDE Swiss Rules, as approved by the FIDE General Assembly of 1987 and amended by the 1988 and 1989 General Assemblies.   Registered DOPs may obtain copies from the NSWCA Inc.

    A Swiss  tournament should ideally have a number of rounds adequate to reduce the number of players with perfect scores to one.   This result is guaranteed by limiting entries to a number no more than two raised to the power of the number of rounds.   For example, a five-round Swiss can handle up to thirty two players, a six-round up to sixty four, and so on.   In practice, in the hands of an experienced DOP, a Swiss System can often produce no more than one perfect score from at least double the theoretical number of players.   It cannot, however, guarantee a clear winner.

3.1 Basic Principles of Swiss System Tournaments

a. The number of rounds to be played is declared beforehand.

b. Two players may play each other only once.

c. Players are paired with others of the same score, or nearest score.

d. Within score groups, the top half is paired against the bottom half.

e. Players receive alternate and equal colours whenever possible.

f. The final ranking order is determined by the aggregate of points won: 1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss. A player whose opponent fails to appear for a scheduled game receives one point.
 

3.2 Swiss System Pairings, Procedures

a. Pairing Cards.
Before the first round, the DOP prepares a pairing card for each player, noting the player's name and rating on the card.   The cards are then ranked in descending ratings sequence and numbered sequentially starting with the highest-rated player as number 1.   These numbers are the players' "pairing numbers" for use during the tournament.

b. Ratings of Players.
The rating entered on each player's pairing card is the most recently published Australian Chess Federation (ACF) rating.

c. The First Round.
The DOP tosses a coin to determine choice of colour on the first board, the higher- or lower-rated player.   After putting all the cards in order of rating,  the DOP splits them into half, pairing the highest player in the top half against the highest player in the bottom half, second highest in the top half against second highest in the bottom half, etc, alternating colours down through the pairings (ie if the coin toss determined that the higher-rated player on board one received white, the higher-rated player on board two must receive black, and so on).   If there is an odd number of players in the tournament, the lowest-rated player receives a one-point bye.

d. Byes.
In any round, if the total number of players in a tournament or section is uneven, one player is given a one-point Bye. In the first round the Bye is given to the player with the lowest ACF rating.   In subsequent rounds it is given to the lowest-rated player in the lowest-score group. A player who has won a point by default may not subsequently be awarded a Bye.

e. Scoring.
The DOP records the results of the games on the pairing cards. These results should also be posted as soon as convenient, on wall charts that are prominently displayed. If a player fails to appear within one hour of the start of the round, the game is scored as a loss for him and a win for his opponent. That player should then be dropped from the tournament, unless he presents an acceptable excuse to the DOP. His subsequent rounds are also scored as zero. Unplayed games are not rated by the ACF.

3.3 Swiss System Pairings, Subsequent Rounds

a. Score Groups and Rank.
The terms 'score group' and 'group' refer to players having the same score, even if there is only one player within a group.   Individual rank is determined first by score (the greater the number of points, the higher the rank within the tournament) and then by rating within a score group (the higher the rating, the higher the rank).

b. Order of Pairing Score Groups.
In general, the DOP pairs the score groups according to rank, starting with the highest and working down.

c. Method of Pairing Each Score Group.
In the second and subsequent rounds, players are paired as follows:
1. If there is an even number of players within a group, they are placed in order of rank, divided in half, and the top half is paired against the bottom half, in as close to consecutive order as possible.
 
2. Transpositions are made in the bottom half of the group, in order to avoid players who have already played each other and to give as many players as possible their due colours.   To this end, it is permissible to make an interchange between the bottom of the top half and the top of the bottom half.

d. Rules on the Odd Man.
1. If there is an odd number of players in a score group, the lowest-rated is ordinarily treated as the odd man and paired with the highest-rated player he has not met in the next-lower group.   Care must be taken in doing this that the remaining members of the score group can all be paired with each other, and that the odd man has not played all members of the next-lower group.   In either of these cases, the next-lowest rated player is treated as the odd man.   After determining the odd man, the DOP pairs as above.
 
2. It is sometimes necessary to jump over an entire score group to find an appropriate opponent for an odd man.   For example, group 1 has only one player with a perfect score.   He has already played both members of group 2.   He must, therefore, play the highest-rated player in group 3 that he has not yet played in the tournament.
 
3. It is occasionally possible that there will be two odd men.   In the example above, if both players in group 2 had already met, they would both be odd men.   They must be paired with the highest-rated players in group 3 whom they have not played before. The odd man is normally paired with the highest-rated player he has not met from the next-lower group.   It is acceptable to pair him against a somewhat lower-rated player to equalize or alternate colours.

e. Colour Allocation.
The DOP assigns colours to all players.   His objective in a tournament with an even number of rounds is to give white and black the same number of times to as many players as possible.   In an event with an odd number of rounds, each player should receive no more than one extra white or black above an even allocation.   In addition to his task of equalizing colours, the DOP, after the first round, tries to alternate colours, by giving as many players as possible their due ("correct" or expected) colour, round by round.

f. Due Colours in Succeeding Rounds.
As many players as possible are given their due colours in each succeeding round, so long as the pairings conform to the basic Swiss System laws.   Equalization of colours takes priority over alternation of colours.   For example, if a player with WWB in the first three rounds is scheduled to play a player with BBW, the second player would receive white and the first would receive black.

g. Equalization, Alternation, and Priority of Colour.
As many players as possible are given the colour that equalizes the number of times they have played as white and as black.   After that the DOP takes into consideration that as many players as possible are given alternate colours to those they had in the previous round.   These are called the "due" colours.   When it is necessary to pair two players who are each due the same colour, the higher-ranked player has priority in receiving the due colour.   When each of these has the same score in the tournament, the higher-ranked player is the higher rated.   When the tournament scores are unequal, priority goes to the player with the higher score in the tournament.

h. Colours in a Series.
Inevitably, some players will have to play the same colour in two successive rounds.   Under no circumstances should a player be assigned the same colour in three successive rounds.

i. Unplayed Games.
Unplayed games, including byes and forfeits, do not count for colour.

j. Recommendation.
Some disparity in colour allocation is inevitable in the Swiss-System, for the simple reason that pairings are done by score group and white wins more games than black.   Tournaments with an even number of rounds cause the most problems, because when a disparity exists, it is larger.   Tournaments with an odd number of rounds are, therefore, apt to keep more players happy because it is easier to maintain the expected 3-2 or 4-3 colour allocations.

3.4 Computer Pairing Programs

The Australian Chess Federation has followed FIDE and endorsed the following computer programs for use in Swiss Tournaments:
GMB Swiss by Glenn G. M. Bordonada of the Philippines, and
PROTOS by Christian Krause of the Federal Republic of Germany
 

4.0 The Round Robin Tournament

    A Round Robin (or All-Play-All) System of pairing is accepted as offering the most accurate final standings in a tournament. This is especially true if it is a double round event in which players have both white and black against each other.

    A round robin tournament is easily paired by assigning numbers (by lot) to the players and reading pairings from special tables published for the purpose.   A set of such tables is included in Appendix A of this handbook.   Scoring is as in the Swiss System, except that players withdrawing before half the scheduled number of rounds are completed shall be scored as not having competed at all (games completed, however, are still to be rated).

5.0 Prizes

a. Announcement of Prizes.
Prizes to be awarded and the methods used to allocate them should be clearly advised to all players.   If it is not possible to do this in the pre-tournament publicity, it should be done by posting notices and by announcement at the tournament site.  The following guidelines are presented in the interest of avoiding disputes over this sensitive issue.

b. Cash Prizes, Distribution.
No winner should receive more than one of the cash awards for which he is eligible.   The award may be one full cash prize (if he is a clear winner), or parts of two or more cash prizes (if he ties with others).   Prizes such as "Best Game", "Brilliancy", etc may be excepted from this rule. A clear winner of more than one cash prize should be awarded the greatest prize for which he is eligible.   Tied winners of place prizes or tied winners of Category prizes should be awarded all the cash prizes involved, summed and divided equally, but no more than one cash prize should go into the division for each winner.  If winners of Category prizes tie with winners of place prizes, all the cash prizes involved should be summed and divided equally among the tied winners, with no more than one cash prize to go into the pool for each winner, unless the Category prize winner(s) would receive more money by winning or dividing only the Category prize(s).

c. Cash Prizes, Payment.
An announced Category prize should be awarded, even if only one player in that Category completes his schedule of games. Prizes advertised as guaranteed must be paid promptly and in full.

d. Noncash Prizes.
No player should receive more than one noncash prize, the most valuable to which he is entitled.

6.0 Breaking Ties

    There is no perfect tie-break system.   Each of the various systems in use has its faults.   Where it is necessary to break ties, it is essential that the system has been announced in advance.  There are several tie-break systems that provide good and objective methods for DOPs to break ties in tournaments.   Frequently, one tie-break method alone will not break the tie, and it is necessary to go to a secondary and sometimes even a tertiary method before the tie is broken.   Thus, at least first and second tie-break systems should be made known in advance, at least before the start of the first round.  Discussion of several tie-break systems follow.   Which system to choose may depend on the traditions of the tournament, the ruling of the organizers or the DOP, or some other factor(s).

a. Tie-breaks for Swiss-System Tournaments.

1. The Median System.
The Median System (named also for Kenneth Harkness, its inventor) evaluates the strength of a player's opposition by summing the final scores of his opponents and then discarding the highest and lowest of these scores.   These scores are adjusted for unplayed games, which count 0.5 points each, regardless of whether they were byes, forfeits, or simply games not played after an opponent withdrew.   So an opponent who won his first two games, lost the third, withdrew and did not play rounds four and five would have an adjusted score of 3 points.  The median method removes the extremes from the data, but it also reduces the number of data points.  Thus it is effective only for tournaments with at least six rounds. The standard Median disregards the top two and the bottom two scores in tournaments of nine to twelve rounds, and the top and bottom three for longer tournaments.

2. Solkoff.
The Solkoff System is just like the Median, except that the highest and lowest opponent scores are included.   It is preferable to the Median in tournaments of fewer than six rounds.
 
3. Cumulative.
To determine the cumulative tie-break score for a player, simply add up the cumulative (running) score for each round.   For example, if a player's results were win, loss, win, draw, loss, the wall chart would show his round-by-round cumulative score as 1, 1, 2, 2.5, 2.5.   His cumulative tie-break total is 9.   If another player scored 2.5 with a sequence 1, 2, 2.5, 2.5, 2.5, the tie-break points scored would be 10.5.   The latter player gains higher tie-break points because he scored his points earlier and presumably had to compete in higher score groups against tougher opposition for the remainder of the event.  This system is fast and easy to use, making it ideal in large events.   Another advantage is that  last-round scores need not be included in calculating cumulative tie-break points, since they have no effect on breaking the tie. One point is subtracted from the sum for each unplayed win or 1-point bye.
 
4. Average Opposition.
This system averages the ratings of players' opponents, the higher tie-break score going to the person who played the most high-rated opponents (on average).
 
b. Tie-breaks for Round Robin Tournaments.
The most common method is the Sonneborn-Berger System, also known as the partial-score method.   For each player in the tie, add the final scores of all the opponents he has defeated and half the final scores of all the opponents with whom he drew.   Nothing is added for games lost or unplayed.   If the tie still remains, the results of the game(s) between the players involved in the tie are used.

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