I am going to be purchasing chess pairing software I was wondering how WinTD compares to SwissSys? From what I have gathered they seem virtually the same. Is one better than the other? Any personal experience from these programs can someone relate?
Why do these cost so much?
The second one is easy. They’re expensive because there’s such a small market. The creators have to charge more for each item because they can’t expect to make it up on volume.
Both programs are satisfactory, and it’s really a matter of personal taste. Swiss-Sys gives you more flexibility in output, if you want to take pains over the appearance of your wallcharts/pairing sheets/web pages. I think it’s also a little faster in importing entries from the database (one mouseclick instead of two). WinTD has better support for team events, and there is some evidence that it produces slightly better pairings in hard cases. Pick one, learn it, and stick to it.
Compared to what?
I think both WinTD and SwissSys have trial versions which are basically the same as the full program with some limitations. I think the limitation with SwissSys is that you can only pair 3 rounds.
If my memory is correct, the limitation with the trial version of WinTD is that you can’t save.
As far as cost goes, the savings on uploading 100 games (4 rounds and 50 players in a single tournament) in the TD/A versus mailing it in would pretty much pay for one of them.
As far as speed goes, I’ve done multi-hundred player tournaments on cards (no dinosaur comments please) and have been told I looked a bit like a Mississippi riverboat gambler based on how quickly I get them set, but the pairing programs win on speed hands-down (using WinTD at the 2007 HS blitz in Kansas City I set the pairing validation level four to ten times higher than the other TDs would have dreamed of doing for a section with more than 300 players, and nobody noticed any delay in doing the pairings for each round).
It’s been more than a decade since I touched SwissSys, so I don’t know how its charts look (I’ve heard they are better than WinTD’s), but the selectable font and tailorable wall-chart, cross-table, prize-list, pairing list, team paring list, and extremely flexible player list in WinTD have satisfied my needs.
I chose between the two based on what other people in my area were using, so I’d have someone to ask questions and help me learn. It also makes sharing files easier, if that would be of any advantage.
As complicated as the pairing logic must be in the programming, and as reliable as they both are, I’d say either one is a bargain.
Grant Neilley
I like the appearance of Swiss-Sys on the screen when I’m working with a tournament. I find the font on the win-td screens is too small, and I don’t like how the charts and pairing forms appear on the computer.
I prefer Swiss Sys but both are good.
If I had to choose today, I would pick SwissSys but only because that is what the TDs in the area are using. So I can talk to them and get help from them if needed. If I lived in another part of the state that most used WinTD, then I would get WinTD.
Personally, I use SwisSys.
Most national events use WinTD, I think that may be because it does a bit better job on team issues and most of the national events are things like the Spring Scholastics, which are individual/team events.
I think WinTD also may have better features for events that have many sections and more than one computer in the pairing room.
I highly recommend Vega (vegachess.com).
I used it when I was running a club for a couple of years and even though it may not have all the frills of SwissSys or WinTD, it does a great job pairing, can import the DB and create the report files. And you can beat the price. It’s fully featured and free for tourneys under 30 players, and $35 for more players than that.
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Is that the version used to pair the US Open in Hawaii?