Run a knockout tournament

Formats

• Single elimination (knockout): 4 to 128 players. The loser of each match is out. Seed 1 meets the lowest seed in round 1, and seeds 1 and 2 can meet only in the final. When the number of players is not a power of two, the top seeds have a bye in round 1.
• Double elimination: 4 to 64 players. A player who loses a match moves to the losers bracket and is out after a second lost match. The winners of the winners bracket and the losers bracket meet in the grand final.

FIDE leaves the knockout format to each event's own rules. These settings are announced on the tournament's public page.

Settings

1. On the group's Tournaments tab press New tournament (or use the full form of an ad-hoc tournament; the quick tournament has no knockout).
2. Format: choose Single elimination (knockout) or Double elimination, and choose the Time control.
3. Games per match: 1, 2, 4 or 6 regular games, with alternating colours (default 2). Only these games are rated.
4. Seeding: Seed rating (highest rated is seed 1), My own order or Drawing of lots (random; the drawn order is kept).
5. Tie-break plan: up to five stages of 1 or 2 games each, with a time control you type (for example 15+10), and the Sudden-death game time control. The default is 2 games at 15+10, 2 games at 5+3, then sudden death at 3+2.
6. Single elimination: tick Match for third place (the semifinal losers play in the final's round) if you want one. Double elimination: Grand final reset (a second final when the losers-bracket winner wins the first) is on by default.
7. Press Create tournament.

The settings change only while the tournament is a draft.

Players and seeding

1. Add the players on the Players tab, as for the other formats: in a group tournament tick them under Add players from the roster and press Add selected, in an ad-hoc tournament type each name and press Add player.
2. Open the Starting order tab. With seed rating it shows the order now: rating in the tournament's time control, then name. With your own order give every player a position and press Save order. With lots press Draw lots now, or the lots are drawn when round 1 is paired.

The order becomes seeds 1, 2, 3 … when round 1 is paired.

Pairing

1. Open the Bracket tab and press Pair round 1. This fixes the settings, the players and their seeds. The colours of game 1 are drawn by lot.
2. Publish the round with Publish in its row. A paired round is seen only by organizers.
3. When every match of the round is decided, press Pair round 2, and so on. The match for third place is paired with the final.

In a double elimination each round holds every winners-bracket and losers-bracket match whose two players are known. If the losers-bracket winner wins the grand final and the reset is on, one more round decides the champion.

Reset to draft takes round 1 back while it is the only round and no game has a result.

Games and results

1. On the Bracket tab press Games next to a published round.
2. Choose the result of each game, in order. It is saved as soon as you choose it.

A match ends as soon as one player cannot be caught: the games it no longer needs are removed. A result that would change who advances is refused once that player's next match has a result: clear that result first.

Tie-breaks and sudden death

1. A match level after its regular games goes on with the first stage of the tie-break plan. Its games appear on the round page, named with their stage and time control.
2. A stage that ends level opens the next stage.
3. After the last stage comes one sudden-death game: a win wins the match, a draw sends the player with Black through.

A stage's first game and the sudden-death game take the colours of regular game 1, a stage's second game the other way round. If the players drew the colours differently, press Swap colours before entering the result. Tie-break and sudden-death games are not rated.

Withdrawals

1. On the Players tab choose the player under Withdraw a player.
2. Check the review and confirm.

The player loses their current match by forfeit at once: each remaining game, tie-break games included, until the opponent wins it. Without a current match they lose their next match when it is paired. A withdrawal cannot be undone. There are no late entries and no requested byes in a knockout.

Finalizing

1. When every round is published and every match is decided, open the Finalize tab.
2. Press Finalize.

The final ranks come from the bracket: the players eliminated in the same round share a rank, and each player's matches won are kept with it. In a single elimination the match for third place gives ranks 3 and 4; without it both semifinal losers are 3rd. In a group tournament only the regular games change the ratings. After finalizing, a round's results can still be corrected with Save corrections, as long as every match keeps its winner. See Finalizing.

Public pages

Once round 1 is published, the tournament's public page shows the bracket instead of standings:

• the format, the seeding method and the tie-break plan;
• the bracket of the published rounds, with the scores and who advances; a paired round shows no result until it is published;
• the seeds and, once finalized, the final ranks;
• a page per round with every game of each match: regular, tie-break and sudden-death games.

A knockout has no standings, crosstable or TRF export. See Public pages.