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Pairings and Tiebreaks
"How do the pairings work?" When a large number of players play 4 rounds of chess, a single player can only face a small fraction of the field. Tournament pairings are used to match up players in a way that allows a fair and balanced competition. The system used to do this is called the Swiss System. It determines whom you play and what color you get in each round. In the first round, the field is arranged by ratings, top to bottom, and the top half paired against the bottom half. In the next round, winners and losers are put in separate pools and paired top to bottom in each pool. This continues in the following rounds, with players of like scores paired against each other (sometimes scores may differ slightly). If you lose to a more experienced player in an early round, you should meet someone closer to your playing strength in the later rounds. "How do the tiebreaks work?" See a description of various tiebreak methods here. The tiebreak methods currently used by the NSCF, in order of priority, are Modified Median, Solkoff, Cumulative, Cumulative of Opposition. If two players are tied on the first tiebreak (Median), then the next tiebreak is applied (Solkoff). If still tied, move on to the third, and so on. Here's a sample section of a tournament result table showing tiebreaks: | ||
SwissSys Standings. Columbus: Championship
# Name ID Rtng Team Grd Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Tot TBrk[M] TBrk[S] TBrk[C] TBrk[O]
1 Spitzer,Jacob A 12821038 1567 QUAKE 5 L3 W8 W4 W2 3.0 8 8.5 6 20.5
2 Li,Edward 12924964 1185 ORANGE 6 W4 W6 W5 L1 3.0 7 8.5 9 21
3 Segall,Ethan R 12906644 1191 CIDER 4 W1 D5 D6 W7 3.0 6.5 7.5 7.5 19
4 Ayton,Treva 13032482 1269 IYMS 7 L2 W7 L1 W6 2.0 4.5 8.5 4 22
5 Rosenberg,Kevin 12933557 1419 WARD 3 W8 D3 L2 H--- 2.0 3.5 6.5 5.5 16.5
6 Warren,Justin N 12757651 1497 FARRA 8 W7 L2 D3 L4 1.5 6 9 5 22.5
7 Schwalbenberg,Matthew 12896706 1133 IONAG 7 L6 L4 W8 L3 1.0 4 7 2 16.5
8 Bogaty,Michael 12883771 1117 FOX 3 L5 L1 L7 B--- 1.0 3 6 0 14
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The column titles should be self-explanatory.
"ID" is the USCF ID; "Rtng" is the USCF rating as it is shown in the most recent official supplement. Note that in calculating the Modified Median tiebreak, the following rules are followed: (1) For players with positive scores (>2.0), the lowest opponent's score is dropped. (2) For players with negative scores (<2.0), the highest opponent's score is dropped. (3) For players with even scores (2.0), both the highest and lowest scores are dropped. | |||