Run a Swiss tournament

Settings

1. On the group's Tournaments tab press New tournament, or New ad-hoc tournament on My tournaments for typed names.
2. Enter the Tournament name and, if you like, the dates.
3. Format: choose Individual Swiss and enter the number of Rounds: 3 to 15, fewer than the players.
4. Choose the Time control: Standard, Rapid or Blitz.
5. Tie-breaks (in order): the default is BH-C1 BH SB DE WIN: Buchholz cut 1, Buchholz, Sonneborn-Berger, direct encounter, number of wins (FIDE C.07).
6. Press Create tournament.

Scoring: a win 1 point, a draw ½, a loss 0; the pairing-allocated bye (the player left over in an odd field) 1 point. The settings can change until round 1 is paired.

Players

A Swiss has 4 to 200 players.

• In a group tournament the roster is the group's players: add them on the group's Players tab first (see Adding players).
• Then add them on the tournament's Players tab: tick players under Add players from the roster and press Add selected, or type names in an ad-hoc tournament.
• There is no starting order to draw: pairing round 1 numbers the players by rating, then name (FIDE C.04.2).
• Players can still join after round 1. See Late entry.

Pairing

Each round is paired by the FIDE Dutch system (C.04.3), and every pairing is checked against the FIDE rules.

1. Open the Rounds tab and press Pair round 1, then confirm. This freezes the settings and the player list, numbers the players and draws the colour of player 1 by lot.
2. Check the round and publish it (see below).
3. When every result of the round is in, Pair round appears for the next round.

The next round can be paired only when the previous one is published and complete.

How Swiss pairings work, with score groups, colours and byes: Swiss system chess pairing.

Checking a paired round

A paired round is seen only by the organizers until it is published. Open it with Boards:

• Re-pair pairs it again by the FIDE Dutch system; any edit of the round is replaced.
• Edit pairings lets you change the boards, the colours and the pairing-allocated bye yourself. If your pairing breaks a rule (a rematch, a third game in a row with the same colour, a player left out …) you see a warning and must press Save anyway; the round is then marked "edited by an organizer". A player placed twice is never saved.
• A badge shows the pairing warnings our own checks found in a round from the program, if any.

While round 1 is the only round and not published, Reset to draft turns the tournament back into a draft with the same players.

Publishing and results

1. Press Publish in the round's row on the Rounds tab, or the publish button on the round's page.
2. Enter the results with Boards: choose each result and press Save results.

The standings and the crosstable go up to the last published round.

Requested byes

For a player who asks to sit a round out:

1. Open the Byes tab.
2. Under Record a bye choose the Player, the Round and the Bye: Half-point bye (½) or Zero-point bye (0), as your tournament rules allow.
3. Press Record bye.

Record it before the round is published. The player is not paired in that round, and a round that is already paired is paired again without them. Cancel removes the request.

Withdrawals

1. On the Players tab, under Withdraw a player, choose the player and the round they leave from (a round not published yet), press Review withdrawal, then Confirm withdrawal.
2. The player is absent (0 points) from that round on and is no longer paired; their earlier results stand. A paired round is paired again without them, and their bye requests for later rounds are cancelled.
3. Until that round is paired, Cancel withdrawal in the player list undoes it.

Late entry

A new player may join between rounds:

1. Publish the paired round first: players join between rounds.
2. On the Players tab, under Late entry, tick the player (or type the name in an ad-hoc tournament) and choose Joins in round.
3. For every round already paired they get an absence (0), or a half-point bye in the rounds you tick.
4. Press Add late entry. Everyone is numbered again by rating, then name.

Late corrections

A result changed after the next round has been paired is a late correction: it is recorded and counted, and the pairings made since stand. If the next round is paired but not yet published, the round page offers Re-pair round for it, so that it uses the corrected result. A result cannot be cleared once a later round is paired.

Finishing

After the last round, finalize the tournament. To stop earlier, the finalize page offers to end the tournament after its last complete round. See Ending a Swiss early and Finalizing.