Byes

Sorry to put this in another thread, but a totally different topic:

I had a high rated player prior to round 1 request a bye(s) in rounds 2 and 5. As the tournament finished, this player finished with 4 points. I looked in the rulebook and couldn’t find anything saying this was illegal.

I ran a 5 rd swiss, and had a few players complain about it, since he only played 3 games and got a 2nd place prize.

From a senior TD who happen to be playing, he said it was up to the TD’s discression, but I was wondering if there is a specific rule? I went ahead and gave him the 2nd place prize (there was a 3 way tie), and will figure it out later.

You might want to review:

28L3. Players inelgible for full-point byes. A player must not be given a full-poiint bye more than once, nor should one be awarded to a player who has won an unplayed game due to the opponent’s failure to appear.

You might also review 22C. Half-point byes.. It is often very helpful to both the players and the TD to announce and post any special arrangements for byes.

22C(1): “If half point byes are allowed for any rounds during the second half of a tournament, they should be mentioned in pre-tournament publicity. An exception may be made in the event of emergency.”

It’s important to be reasonable about this. If a player who has no perceptible chance of winning a prize wants a bye, you might as well give it to him. In my opinion, players should never be allowed to use half-point byes tactically – but other directors may disagree.

You have to use discretion here, Dave. Players certainly can abuse 1/2-pt Byes, as John said, “tactically”. And I agree with John in his opinion.

You have to decide how you want to handle these requests, and be consistent with it in all of your future tournaments.

Announcing these policies in a TLA can increase the cost of your TLA, so just make a decision about what your requirements will be, and post them at all your events. After awhile, your players will come to know your policies. As the first part of 22C1 says, in the absence of policies in pre-tournament publicity, players may contact the organizer to inquire. Of course, when you send out flyers or publish the ads on the web, it is good to publish your policy.

I have been allowing players to take one 1/2-pt bye for any round, subject to advance notice during registration. I have heard a few players discussing the tactics surrounding 1/2-pt Byes. I always warn them that I can refuse them if I believe they are trying to manipulate the pairings and prize distribution. Other than that, I’ve had no problems.

-Terry

PS) How was your attendance? Did everything else go ok?

We had 33 show up, I was very pleased with the tournament, and it ran without any problems (I really don’t consider this a problem).

Back to the BYE issue:

This actually happened in a state championship a few years back where another player did something similar, and he took a 4th round bye which again, tactically allowed him to win the championship. I suppose the reason why they take the bye is irrelevant, (and none of my business)

I actually thought about this last night after posting this, and this player brought another player, so if I think about it, if he didn’t show up with this other player, it would have cancelled out the prize money I’m going to send him…

But thanks for your posts guys!

Can understand the problem with a bye, as it can cause a great deal of problems with the prize funds. Say you have a tournement with 20 (a even number event) players, and one player wants to take a bye on round 2 – the player gets a 1/2 point bye in the round and then you have to give someone a bye in the event. As this other person did not ask for a bye you give this person a full point bye. So for the two people if they did play with each other would have to break or take the one point get 1.5 points for the missed game. When this happens it does give a problem in the prize fund as the score is off 1/2 point that could effect prize funding.

It would be nice to have a house man, or even be the director and the house man to take care of this one game. In Michigan if a person askes for a bye on the last round it is not given, as the player can look at the score and see if he/she only needs a 1/2 he could win a prize. Some tournaments you can get a half point bye for every round accept the last round, some you can only get a few half point byes. For some it is a tactical move to take a half point bye, like the first round were you know as the lower rated player in a open have a slim chance to win the game. Then have the problem if you play someone with a 1 point or 0 point in the next round, as draws are very few in the first round.

Earnest,
Douglas M. Forsythe, Local TD
12313120

One sensible bye strategy is to permit them in rounds 4 and 5 only if committed to before the start of round 2. That permits schedule accommodation without allowing strategic byes.

Byes are ok to hand out if you know you are going to get around 100 people in a tournament. If you only have a one day event, the idea of given a bye sounds strange between rounds. Handing out byes are ok if it is going to be a 2 or 4 day event, as some people can not make it during that time.

Douglas M. Forsythe, Local TD
12313120

It is important, I think, to decide on a SENSIBLE bye policy at the time the tournament is planned, and then to enforce it uniformly and without exception.

By sensible I mean a policy that all your TDs can readily accept, and will not hesitate to enforce. Requiring that all byes be requested before the close of registration might NOT be sensible, because registration is a rushed time and somebody might ask for a late-round bye sometime in the middle of the first round.

The policy should be designed to foil tactical bye requests. That way, you don’t have to worry about using judgment to refuse such requests. A bye requested tactically will then be at least as likely to backfire as not.

Here is an example of what I would consider a sensible half-point bye policy in a 5-round event:


  1. A half-point bye may be requested for any round.

  2. No limit on the number of half-point byes.

  3. Rounds 1-2: Must be requested 30 minutes before the start of the round (or may be assigned to players registering late).

  4. Round 3: Must be requested before the start of round 2.

  5. Rounds 4-5: Must be requested before the start of round 3.

Deadline for un-requesting a previously requested bye: Same as above.


You may want to change some of the above slightly, depending on the nature of your tournament. For example, if there is a prize likely to be won by a player with a minus score (e.g. a D prize in a single-section event), you may wish to limit the number of byes (at least for D players).

As I said, the important thing is to adopt a sensible policy at the time the TLA is written, inform all your TDs, and do not make exceptions. In big-money events, the policy should be announced in the TLA and all other pre-tournament publicity. In smaller events, a notice posted before registration opens may suffice.

Bill Smythe

You seem to be assuming that a player can request a half-point bye after the pairings have been made. This should never be allowed. A player who tries this gets a zero (and then we discuss whether he gets paired in the following round). In the case you’re describing, the full-point bye should go to the lowest-ranked player, not the opponent of the scofflaw. I agree that having a house man plug in for forfeits is a good idea, but it has little to do with byes.

In Michigan, it is common practice that a player can ask for a half-point bye in all rounds except the last round were the player gets zero. The Michigan Chess Association has over the years have made the rules more clear on the rules of chess – were the 4th edition did not state the standard format at a tournament. Even that my tournaments are not a Michigan Chess Association official event, do still take in membership to the Michigan Chess Association, also use the Michigan Chess Association web page to inform the public. It is common practice in Michigan to give 1/2 point byes in a event except the last round were the player would get zero points, but need to inform the tournament director before the start of the second round.

If on my case with a requested bye and a person that would get a full point bye. If there is 20 players in the event that gives 10 boards, would be given during the round that 10 points will be granted, if it is 4 rounds would know that the tournament would give out 40 points, if all the games are played. If someone ask for a bye, that person would get 1/2 points, now the person that would need to get a draw would get a full bye. It might not be the person that he could have been pared with but the person with the lower rating that is not a new (unknowed rating) player. If this happens then the round would award 10.5 points not the 10 point award, therefore the tournament will award 40.5 points then the 40 points.

Now a bye like this would or could cause a problem. It could make someone in a tie or win a prize fund. Social and ethical problems can happen with byes when it comes to a prise fund.

Earnest
Douglas M. Forsythe, local td

Okay, but if you adopt that policy, you are creating the problem yourself. If you are willing to deal with the consequences, fine, but the solution is don’t do it that way in the first place.

The problem with this was I believe the player used strategy (which he later admitted) to get the prize so he didn’t have to play someone 400 points higher rated than he was last round. With a very even number of players (33 total) and the tourn was 5 rounds, he was ranked 2nd.

Since that point, I have put a bye restriction on the last 3 rounds.

Yes can understand that if a person ask for a last round bye is not ethical. If a person has 4 points after 4 rounds and ask for a bye in round 5 would give the person 4.5 points for the event. As it is very clear who a person is going to play in the last round when the top players have perfect scores or close to the same score. Lets say there are two players with perfect scores at 4 points going into the 5th round and next in line is 3 points after 4 rounds, if he knows the other 4 point person is say 300 points higher then himself the risk of lose the game is great and leave the event with 4 points. With a 1/2 bye would give him 4.5 points and knowing the next people have 3 points and only can get out of the event 4 points. This would give the person the right to come in second place without spliting the prize fund.

This is the reason that the Michigan Chess Association wants to make it clear that a person cannot take a last round bye. And that to ask for a bye must be done before the start of the second round, now some directors would ask that a player make the choice before the start of the event or the third round, or limit the amount of byes for one or all except the last round. It is up to the director, then again that has to be told to the players before they come to the event.

Earnest,
Douglas M. Forsythe, local td

Not sure that I’m adding anything new here, but adding weight to what has already been said. Here is my $.02 :

I allow unlimited 1/2-point byes before the tournament unless an even or negative result has a decent shot of winning a prize; in that case, I explain apologetically that none are allowed. (I will always collect the entry fee of anyone who wants four 1/2-point byes in my four-round tournament, for example.)

To anyone who has zero chances of winning a prize, or will agree to forgo any prizes won, I will consider half-point byes once the tournament has started. (If they cheat me, I suppose I would pay out extra and remember.)

To anyone else who can’t figure out where they are going to be for the duration of the tournament once it has started, I feel no obligation to reward them with 1/2-point byes, act-of-God emergencies being a potential standard exception.

Ben Bentrup

Oh, and to anyone that cares to re-enter the tournament after losing the first round (after paying the EF again), or to anyone who couldn’t get out of bed in time to make the first round, I will always happily give first-round byes. No one can really claim a tactical advantage from this: indeed, the extra 1/2 point could easily be a last round handicap with a much harder pairing for the person receiving the early bye (class tournaments, and 3-rounders perhaps withstanding). There are no sure swiss-gambits with properly structured 1/2 point bye policies.
Ben Bentrup

It was just a way for him not to play someone 300 points over his rating. He admitted it at the next tournament, but with every tournament I have a BYE restriction so it wont happen again.