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How to Organise a Tournament
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 | How to Organise a Tournament
from the Mind Sports For Schools initiative |
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CONTENTS
1 Tournament Formats and the Use of Clocks
2 All-Play-All Tournaments
3 All-Play-All Pairing Tables
4 Knockout Tournaments
5 The Swiss System
1 TOURNAMENT FORMATS AND THE USE OF CLOCKS
There are three main types of tournament: All-Play-All, Knockout and Swiss System. Which format you choose will depend on how many players there are and how many rounds you have time for in your tournament schedule. We describe each type of tournament below.
Some schools that have chess clubs may already own chess clocks (also known as game timers), which are used to time the players' moves and to ensure that each player is allocated the same total amount of time for their moves. Chess clocks are not only used in Chess tournaments - they are sometimes used for Go, Scrabble and a few other games.
A chess clock has two faces, each showing the time for one of the players. The faces on the older mechanical type of clock look very much like a normal clock or watch, with the addition of a small "flag". As the minute hand approaches the hour (the number 12 on the clock) the flag rises, and at the moment when the hour is reached the flag falls to indicate that the player's time is up. In Chess, if a player has not made the required number of moves within the allotted time the game is over - "lost on time".
The newer electronic type of Chess clock allows the exact number of hours and minutes (and seconds) to be displayed on each face of the clock. This means that, as they get short of time, the players know precisely, to the nearest second, how much time they have remaining.
If clocks are being used, the teacher should decide on the "time control". This could be a certain number of moves per hour by each player, for example 30, or it could be that each player has a certain amount of time in which to make all of their moves in the entire game. This second method makes it possible to fix a maximum amount of time for the game.
2 ALL-PLAY-ALL TOURNAMENTS
Each player plays against every other player. This type of tournament normally produces the most accurate result because no player can win the tournament through getting a "lucky pairing". Before the first round the players should draw lots for their pairing numbers that will determine who plays who in which round. Put the numbers 1 to whatever, written on folded pieces of paper, into a box or other suitable container, and allow each pupil to draw out their pairing number. This formality is a fun way to start the first round.
For each round of the tournament you will need to know which player plays against which opponent. Below we present pairing tables for all numbers of players up to and including 16.
The winner of a game scores 1 point and the loser 0, or if a game is drawn both players score ½. The player with the most points at the end of the tournament is the winner.
In an all-play-all tournament there is the possibility of a tie. It is therefore useful to have a method of tie-breaking. Different tie-breaking methods are possible - the one we recommend is called the Sonneborn-Berger system - add the scores of the players you have beaten and add half of the scores of the players you have drawn with. The player with the highest total wins the tie-break.
[NOTE: For Mini-Bridge we recommend a different tie-break system based on the winning margin in each match, i.e. the difference between the winning pair's score and that of the losing pair. For each pair simply add up all the winning margins and subtract all the losing margins. The pair with the biggest total wins the tie-break.]
Here are the pairing tables used for all-play-all tournaments with 16 players or fewer. [NOTE: For all-play-all pairings tables that allow for more than 16 players visit http://www.nagarajan.batcave.net/ where you can find the tables for up to 30 players.]
If there is an odd number of players in the tournament the highest pairing number is treated as a "bye" - whoever plays the bye in a round has a rest until the next round. In Chess or any other game where the first player to move has an advantage (or a disadvantage), the player with the first number in a pairing is the one who moves first. For example, in a 4 player Chess tournament, in the 1st round, player 1 has White against player 4 who has Black, while player 2 has White against player 3 who has Black.
3 ALL-PLAY-ALL PAIRING TABLES
3 or 4 players
1st round 1:4 2:3
2nd round 4:3 1:2
3rd round 2:4 3:1
5 or 6 players
1st round 1:6 2:5 3:4
2nd round 6:4 5:3 1:2
3rd round 2:6 3:1 4:5
4th round 6:5 1:4 2:3
5th round 3:6 4:2 5:1
7 or 8 players
1st round 1:8 2:7 3:6 4:5
2nd round 8:5 6:4 7:3 1:2
3rd round 2:8 3:1 4:7 5:6
4th round 8:6 7:5 1:4 2:3
5th round 3:8 4:2 5:1 6:7
6th round 8:7 1:6 2:5 3:4
7th round 4:8 5:3 6:2 7:1
9 or 10 players
1st round 1:10 2:9 3:8 4:7 5:6
2nd round 10:6 7:5 8:4 9:3 1:2
3rd round 2:10 3:1 4:9 5:8 6:7
4th round 10:7 8:6 9:5 1:4 2:3
5th round 3:10 4:2 5:1 6:9 7:8
6th round 10:8 9:7 1:6 2:5 3:4
7th round 4:10 5:3 6:2 7:1 8:9
8th round 10:9 1:8 2:7 3:6 4:5
9th round 5:10 6:4 7:3 8:2 9:1
11 or 12 players
1st round 1:12 2:11 3:10 4:9 5:8 6:7
2nd round 12:7 8:6 9:5 10:4 11:3 1:2
3rd round 2:12 3:1 4:11 5:10 6:9 7:8
4th round 12:8 9:7 10:6 11:5 1:4 2:3
5th round 3:12 4:2 5:1 6:11 7:10 8:9
6th round 12:9 10:8 11:7 1:6 2:5 3:4
7th round 4:12 5:3 6:2 7:1 8:11 9:10
8th round 12:10 11:9 1:8 2:7 3:6 4:5
9th round 5:12 6:4 7:3 8:2 9:1 10:11
10th round 12:11 1:10 2:9 3:8 4:7 5:6
11th round 6:12 7:5 8:4 9:3 10:2 11:1
13 or 14 players
1st round 1:14 2:13 3:12 4:11 5:10 6:9 7:8
2nd round 14:8 9:7 10:6 11:5 12:4 13:3 1:2
3rd round 2:14 3:1 4:13 5:12 6:11 7:10 8:9
4th round 14:9 10:8 11:7 12:6 13:5 1:4 2:3
5th round 3:14 4:2 5:1 6:13 7:12 8:11 9:10
6th round 14:10 11:9 12:8 13:7 1:6 2:5 3:4
7th round 4:14 5:3 6:2 7:1 8:13 9:12 10:11
8th round 14:11 12:10 13:9 1:8 2:7 3:6 4:5
9th round 5:14 6:4 7:3 8:2 9:1 10:13 11:12
10th round 14:12 13:11 1:10 2:9 3:8 4:7 5:6
11th round 6:14 7:5 8:4 9:3 10:2 11:1 12:13
12th round 14:13 1:12 2:11 3:10 4:9 5:8 6:7
13th round 7:14 8:6 9:5 10:4 11:3 12:2 13:1
15 or 16 players
1st round 1:16 2:15 3:14 4:13 5:12 6:11 7:10 8:9
2nd round 16:9 10:8 11:7 12:6 13:5 14:4 15:3 1:2
3rd round 2:16 3:1 4:15 5:14 6:13 7:12 8:11 9:10
4th round 16:10 11:9 12:8 13:7 14:6 15:5 1:4 2:3
5th round 3:16 4:2 5:1 6:15 7:14 8:13 9:12 10:11
6th round 16:11 12:10 13:9 14:8 15:7 1:6 2:5 3:4
7th round 4:16 5:3 6:2 7:1 8:15 9:14 10:13 11:12
8th round 16:12 13:11 14:10 15:9 1:8 2:7 3:6 4:5
9th round 5:16 6:4 7:3 8:2 9:1 10:15 11:14 12:13
10th round 16:13 14:12 15:11 1:10 2:9 3:8 4:7 5:6
11th round 6:16 7:5 8:4 9:3 10:2 11:1 12:15 13:14
12th round 16:14 15:13 1:12 2:11 3:10 4:9 5:8 6:7
13th round 7:16 8:6 9:5 10:4 11:3 12:2 13:1 14:15
14th round 16:15 1:14 2:13 3:12 4:11 5:10 6:9 7:8
15th round 8:16 9:7 10:6 11:5 12:4 13:3 14:2 15:1
4 KNOCKOUT TOURNAMENTS
This type of tournament is well known from many sports. All the major tennis championships such as Wimbledon are run on a knockout basis. So is the FA Cup - the most important soccer event in the calendar. The tournament format works well no matter how many players there are.
In its simplest form a knockout tournament works like this. Unless the number of players in the tournament is an exact power of 2, for example 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, …., the first round of the tournament is organised to reduce the number of players to the next lower exact power of 2. So if there are 20 players at the start of the tournament the first round will reduce the number to 16, which means that 4 players must be eliminated in the first round. The fairest way to do this is to choose 8 players by lot and pair them - the four losers go out, leaving 16 players to continue the tournament.
Once the number of players in the tournament has been reduced to an exact power of two the players draw lots to determine where they are placed in the tournament table. Here is an example of a tournament table for 8 players:
| ROUND 1 | ROUND 2 | ROUND 3 | WINNER |
|---|
| 1 ____________\ | } ____________\ | } ____________\ | } ____________ |
| 2 ____________/ |
| 3 ____________\ | } ____________/ |
| 4 ____________/ |
| 5 ____________\ | } ____________\ | } ____________/ |
| 6 ____________/ |
| 7 ____________\ | } ____________/ |
| 8 ____________/ |
Within each pairing the players can toss a coin to decide who moves first. (This is not necessary if there is no advantage or disadvantage in playing first.) If a game is drawn it should be replayed. Pairings for subsequent rounds are determined automatically from the above table.
This completely random method of pairing is good fun and gives the weaker players in the tournament a chance of progressing further than they might otherwise expect. For example, in an 8 player tournament if the 7th and 8th strongest players happen to meet in the first round, with the 7th strongest winning, and if the 5th and 6th strongest also meet in the first round with the 5th strongest winning, then the 5th strongest might be paired with the 7th strongest in the second round, allowing the 5th strongest to go through to the final if he wins. It may therefore be thought desirable to seed at least some of the players if the teacher has a good idea who are the strongest pupils.
The simplest way to seed players is to put them in different parts of the pairing table for the first round. For example, if the teacher has a fairly good idea of the strength of the four strongest in a tournament of eight, they could be given the following pairing numbers:
- Strongest = 1
- 2nd strongest = 8
- 3rd strongest = 5
- 4th strongest = 4
[NOTE that the pairing numbers of the 1st and 2nd add up to 9, as do those of the 3rd and 4th. By using this refinement the top players are kept apart for as long as possible, as is the system at Wimbledon.]
5 THE SWISS SYSTEM
The Swiss system had become a very popular method of organising tournaments in many Mind Sports and physical sports because it allows for any number of players to take part without anyone being eliminated from the tournament. Thus every player continues throughout the tournament no matter how badly they score in the early rounds. This gives the maximum enjoyment and practice to all players.
The basic principle of the Swiss system is that, in general, in each round a player will meet an opponent with roughly the same score as themselves. So those who win most of their games early in the tournament will play against others who have won most of their games, while those who lose most of their games early on will meet other players from amongst the weakest in the tournament.
The most important rule of all in a Swiss system tournament is that no-one may play the same opponent twice.
Another important principle, for games such as Chess where the first move confers an advantage, is that so far as is possible a player should end up having had the same number of Whites as Blacks. For this reason the pairing system attempts, in general, to alternate a player's colours from one round to the next, though this is not always possible.
Here is a simplified summary of how to do the pairings for Swiss system tournaments.
- Arrange players in order of estimated strength, from highest to lowest. The highest player is given the pairing number 1, and so on. These numbers should be written on the player's "pairing card" (a sheet of paper will suffice). The pairing card, in addition to showing the player's name and number, also shows the number of his opponent in each round, whether he had White or Black (if it makes a difference), the result of the game in that round (normally 1 for a win, 0 for a loss and ½ for a draw) and the player's total score so far in the tournament.
- For the first round divide the pairing cards into two piles. For example, if there are 30 players in the tournament (numbered 1-30) one pile will have players 1-15 and the other pile players 16-30. The top players in each pile play each other, then the second players in each pile play each other, and so on. (In this example 1 will play 16, 2 will play 17, … etc.) Toss a coin to decide which of the players in the higher numbered pile has White - the odd numbered ones or the even numbered ones.
- After the first round divide up the pairing cards by score groups (1, ½ or 0).
- Pair each score group as in step 2. If there are an odd number of players in a score group, the bottom person in the higher point group plays the top person in next score group. If there is an odd number of players in the lowest score group, the lowest player gets a bye and scores 1 point for that round. (No player may have the bye more than once in a tournament.)
- Where possible, players should alternate colour from one round to the next, or at least equalize their number of Whites and Blacks.(For example, at the end of round 4, all players ideally should have had two Whites and two Blacks.)
- A player may never play the same opponent more than once. If necessary, pair a player with someone in the next lower score group (i.e. treat that player's score group as though it has an odd number of players.)
If a tie-break is needed in a Swiss system tournament it is possible to use the same method described above for All-Play-All tournaments. An alternative is the sum-of-opponents'-scores (add up the scores of all your opponents - the highest total wins the tie-break).
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