Byes for late entries

Running Chess Tournaments
1

If nothing is said in the pre-tournament publicity, what options does the TD have in assigning byes for players who enter in the middle of a tournament?

If I’m using a house player under 28M1, I’ll give up to two half-point byes to the player so that the pairing might be more appropriate, but what latitude do I have here, and also what if someone comes in in the third round, say, and wants to pay an entry fee and compete in the tournament, i.e. not just when I’d otherwise have an odd number?

Alex Relyea

2

The TD has virtually unlimited discretion about this, but he has to use common sense. You can’t let someone in with a score that might win a prize by itself. In one of the earlier editions of the rulebook, there was a statement that players should not be given a “just because they entered late,” but that’s long obsolete. My own policy is that no one gets more than two half-point byes.

3

My own policy is no more than one half-point bye unless the tournament will be exceeding 6 rounds, and on a case by case basis I may not even allow the one half-point bye (a possible example might be a late entry by a 200 rated player when the next lowest player is over 1000).

There is only one case where I gave a full point to a late entry. That was in our local multi-week/one-game-per-week club championship (around 30 players) with only a plaque for a prize. The highest rated player in the club happened to have his wife go into labor on the first day of the tournament. Even then I put some thought into the situation before deciding to do that, and my own ranking as the second highest rated player in the tournament may have been the final thing to sway me to award it and avoid the appearance of trying to gain a personal edge in the tournament.

4

Alex,

A 2000 rated player wanted to play in the last 2 of 5 rounds in my tournament last weekend. We brought him into the 4th round with 2.5 points (two full and a half point bye) with the understanding that he would not be eligible for prizes, would not play in the 5th round if it caused an odd number of players and this would cost him nothing, since he was essentially a house player. This put him in a score group that was appropriate for his skill level, as allowed for in the rules for house players. It turned out that this gave us an even number of players for the last two rounds and there were no complaints.

Hope this helps,

Mike Swatek

5

22C Half-point byes. For the convenience of the players, the director may allow half-point byes for missed rounds.
22C1 Availability. Half-point byes may be offered during the first half of the tournament or the middle round of a tournament with an odd number of rounds, with or without advance notice.

28K Late entrants. The director may accept and pair entrants after the announced closing time for registration, but late entrants shall forfeit any round missed if it is inconvenient or too late to pair the players for play, or may take a half-point bye (22C) if the tournament offers them for that round.

Note the words “if the tournament offers them for that round.”
You, the organizer and director should have already determined if the event offers the option, so that it can be applied equally to all.
The usual method of offering a half-point bye is in pre-tournament publicity. Though this is not required in 22C1, it is customary to do so.
However, a director is not required to give the half-point even if offered by the tournament. There is a difference between registering (on time) with a requested half-point and showing up late and expecting a half-point.

(There are cases when a half-point is available in round one and registration is still open (announced), those players come after the start of round 1 but are not “late” registrants as this option was announced in advance.)

For consistency it is my policy NOT to award a half-point bye for a late registrant. The registrant is LATE, why reward him/her with a half-point? In fact, I stress to the player that they are lucky that I allow them to enter at all. The registration time ended at X:00 and its only out of the “goodness of my heart” that I am allowing him/her to register with a loss forfeit (0 point bye) in round 1 (and 2…). {well… in actual fact, it is out of greed…. I want that player’s entry fee!}

But that is MY policy. Yours, or the organizer, may have a different policy, and still be within the guidelines of the rule.

By the way, regarding a House Player… Alex’s approach is absolutely correct. The house player should be paired with an approximate expected score (or slightly lower) so as not to cause a serious mismatch. These are not “byes” in the strict sense of the word, in that the player is not rewarded (elegible for prizes) based on that score.
Typically, though, I try to avoid using a house player who is likely to be in the top half of the tournament, as some of the top prize winners may be effected.

David

6

Well, I have to agree. I’d be very reluctant to give ANY house player 2.5 points in three rounds (even just for pairing purposes) as that would almost definitely involve him playing people who were in contention for place prizes. I would think that this would cause serious problems since the “real” players are playing for potentially a lot of money, but the other player (who hasn’t done anything to show that he is playing well during this tournament) doesn’t have any such incentive, and is only playing for fun.

This is a problem that I would prefer to avoid, as it seems hard enough to explain to players fighting for class prizes why they are paired with someone much stronger than their competition. I’d hate to have to do it for place prizes, but that’s just me.

Alex Relyea