4 sections; 3 have an odd number.

[Smythe_Dakota]

@ppwchess

… If it’s a tournament with many sections and the lower rated player wins there’s always the option of putting the result in a section that neither of them is playing but both are eligible for. Give them the bye in their respective sections. So if the 1500 beats the 1800, put the result in the Open or Under 2000 section. This way both players will see that the result is somewhere, and it won’t mess up the order in their own sections.

Yeh, I like that solution (except you need to change 1800 to 1700 in your example, otherwise the 1800 will already be playing in the under-2000 section).

If an A plays a B, put the result in the Expert section, and give both a bye in their respective sections.

I just don’t like extra-games wall charts, and will gladly use any reasonable trick in the book to avoid them. But if there’s no way out, then go ahead with the extra-games wall chart, if necessary to be fair to the players.

Bill Smythe

[ppwchess]

@Smythe Dakota

@tanstaafl

… The case I was trying to cover was when the bottom score group (for awarding a bye) IS the group with 1 point. … Then the player that had received the bye previously will look like he is due a bye (unless he’s won another game in the mean time).

That’s true. But as a practical matter, the odds of having to give a bye to a 1-pointer AND having the original byed player win no further games are slight. I’d be willing to take the chance.

And if it did happen, I’d simply try to give the bye to a different player (by overriding the computer pairings, if necessary).

Bill Smythe

You obviously have not directed a tournament when I’ve had one of my bad days or weekends. Otherwise you wouldn’t say chances are slight.

I played in a one section tournament where the field was strong and I was the lowest rated player. I got the bye in the 1st round. They found a house player who was lower rated then me that I lost to. Second round I’m given the bye again. I complained, but the TD said “you played first round so you didn’t really get a bye.” He finds another house player again lower rated then me and I lose again. (I probably should have gone home at that point, but I don’t drop out because I’m losing.) At this point I tell the TD that I did not enter this tournament to continually get paired against house players. He made sure I did not get any more byes by changing the computer generated pairings.

[chessoffice]

I never use an “extra games” wallchart and usually have the game count only in the higher of the two sections, with the lower section player getting a point in his section. The higher player hardly ever objects to this, and I feel it is more challenging to have a game that counts than to get a free point. Both players entered to play games that count, and if the game can’t count for both players, better one than zero.

Frequently the higher player objects to playing the lower player at all, but rarely is the objection based on the game counting. Any odd player who doesn’t wish to play should be given a free point.

I don’t agree that the player with nothing at stake but rating is likely to play strangely. I believe that such players almost always play normally and usually want to win to improve their rating.

If the higher player objects and says he will play only if also given a point, I either choose a different house game or give both players a point and add both to the wall chart of a higher section to score the game- for example, U2000 bye vs. U1800 bye posted in the U2200 Section.

On occasion, especially in the later rounds, I use a method already described here- when two adjacent sections are both odd, enter the bye from the lower of the two sections in the higher section and pair normally. That player is listed on the lower pairing sheet as something like “Bye in Under 1600, see Under 1800 for rated game” and on the higher pairing sheet it looks like a normal pairing.

Note that in Swiss-Sys for Windows at least, if not other programs, the TD can (and should) indicate that a player who has faced an opponent not in the section should not be eligible for future byes.

Bill Goichberg