Any thought on which is the better program: Swissys or WinTD. I run a small scholastic club and will want to run 10? small club tournaments per year. Maybe one or two larger tournaments each year open to the scholastic public. Occassional USCF rated, but mostly club rated using Chess Club Manager. My club has about 20 members.
Our club is new, so in a year or so we might have more volume and functionality.
Thanks in advance. JD
I use WinTd, as do most, if not all, of the National Scholastic tournaments, I believe.
No exp. w/ SwissSys.
If only a few of your events are rated, I’d just do manual pairings w/ cards, unless you’re going to have more than 16 players in a 4-rd swiss, or 32 in a 5-rd. Manual pairings are only a bit slower for an exp. TD, and why spend the money for a program if you don’t plan on many rated events? If you’re a new TD, you should learn to do the pairings by hand anyway before moving to the program.
The real advantage of the program lies in the fact that you can run large events very quickly, and you can quickly send rating reports to USCF at a reduced cost, but if the attendance is small, the rating fee discount (if any) will be minimal. Also, if most events will be unrated, no reason to use the programs other than for large events.
BUT, in summary: I’d bet that WinTD probably has more users, and I see no reason to switch.
Hope this helps.
-Terry
I’ve been using SwissSys as I only have 3 round events every Monday (QUADS or OCTOS) and only one or two events per month are rated.
If you limit yourself to 3 rounds for now, you get to use all the features of the program for free to get used to it. Also, I use Linux and I got SwissSys to work in Linux. So I would recommend SwissSys.
However, I’ve not used WinTD.
Regards,
AJG
Most of events in the Midwest use WinTD as that is where the author is from. The large National Scholastics have been using WinTD, as well. Swiss Sys has been around much longer than WinTD and so there are a lot of TDs around the country that are using that one. Both programs do a great job in running tournaments but it is important for a TD to learn how to do pairings themselves as a TD needs to review the results of the computers pairings, especially in the later rounds. At times the programs because of their optimization routines do not give the “best” pairings in later rounds because of the complications involved. The pairings given are certainly “legal”, but may need to be revised to be “optimal”. Even though I have just said this, I need to suggest that one should make changes only rarely, as a TD would then be open to charges of being “biased” in some way. So… Learn how to be a TD by reading the new Rules Book, choose one of the programs, and become proficient with it. The programs do all the tedious work, especially by producing the wallcharts. It doesn’t matter which one you choose as these two are the best around and are about equal in capabilities and strengths… Good luck
I also use WinTD. I have never used SwissSys, but I can say that WinTD is very easy to use. It also allows you to add-in the Rating Supplements easy and also make the USCF reports needed to put on disk.
I guess I should reply here too. I use Swiss-Sys, and many of the tournament directors in my area (Northern Virginia) do too. I’ve tried WinTD too, and it works well. Both have demo versions available, so try both and chose which one works best for you.
Don
Both of them have strengths and weaknesses. WinTD is has better support for team events, and for some rare functions like cross-round pairings. SwissSys gives you much more control over the output – you can set the font and point size of each field individually, whereas WinTD can only enlarge everything by the same amount. I believe SwissSys is also a bit faster in processing entiries (WinTD requires an extra click to import from the database), though of course this makes operator error slightly more probable. Both make satisfactory pairings as long as you use the latest version. The pairings should always be checked, however – there is no substitute for a competent director.
Thnks to all of you for your experienced opinions ! I appreciate it very much as this question is important to me right now.
Mr. Hillery , thnks for all that you do for chess in So. Cal. 
I guess most people use Windows so I see a lot of references to Swiss Sys and WinTD, but take a look at Vega (vegachess.com/en/index.htm). The software is free and runs on both Windows and Linux.
Regards.
Steve
This program is definitely worth a look, but note that its pairing method uses a number of significant variations from the USCF standard, which would have to be announced at the start of the tournament (at least).
If a TD is using an old version of a pairing program, is it possible that the pairings it produces are not in conformance with the new rulebook?
If so, should TD’s have to announce at each event what version of which pairing program they’re using? 
Possibly, if you wanted to insist on the letter of the rules. In practice, however, changing the pairing when someone points out that it’s wrong is usually adequate. However, the Vega program uses a number of “European” rules which would probably require the TD to redo the parings from scratch to match U.S. practice. (E.g., it sorts players within a scoregroup by average rating of opponents rather than player rating.)
The real question is how many of these are “minor variations,” which should be announced at the start of the tournament, and which ones are “major variations which might affect a player’s decision to play in the tournament,” which have to put in the TLA. (An example of the latter is the policy of one major organzer not to adjust within a scoregroup for color, just pair top against bottom.) I’ll leave that decision to the Rules Committee.
Hello,
The “free” version of Vega (Linux and Windows) uses the Dubov system for pairing. The algorithm is in the documentation for the software and also on the FIDE site. However, the Pro Version (free for Linux) incorporates the USCF pairings from the 5th edition rulebook. The pro version is available for Windows but I believe there is a fee.
Steve
Hello,
You are right. In fact Vega include the FIDE Dubov system that it is completely different from USCF system.
Recently I’ve included the USCF system (rule book 5th edition - 2003) in a pro version (free for linux and little charged for windows in future). Only two real minor variations should be announced and are explained in the user manual.
The program is still alpha and I would like to receive feedback from experienced USCF TDs. Who is interested to test/evaluate the program and receive a free full functional windows version can contact me.
Thank you very much,
Luigi Forlano
Vega Pro is commercial but free for Linux?
I’d like to try that next year when my club starts up in school again! One thing though, can I import the USCF Database and output USCF tournament results in the *.dbf file format with Vega as I do now with SwissSys?
SwissSys it good, however it is clunky to use with WINE on Linux. Also, my club is poor, so to pay nearly US$100 to be able to pair 4 or more rounds is rediculous. We’ve been limited to 3RR and 3SS all year as a result! If I can use Vega instead, I will!
Thanx,
AJG
Yes.
You can import (read the user manual) but not export because I don’t know the format of these file… at least not now. If somebody knows it please contact me.
Luigi
I love SwissSys. I’ve tried WinTD a little bit, and it’s O.K., but I don’t think it’s as good as SwissSys.
Well, I can pair 3RR, 3SS, 4SS, 5SS, etc. by hand. I don’t need a pairing program for that.
What I need software for is to import and export the db files so the USCF doesn’t charge me double! When you submit results on paper it costs a lot more to rate the tournament than if you submit the results on disk with the results already in an electronic format that USCF can use!
Please implement this feature!
TIA,
AJG