A plain-language guide for parents. No math needed. If this is your family’s first tournament, start here.
Try the pairing demoNo. Most scholastic tournaments use the Swiss system: every player plays every round, win or lose. A win is worth 1 point, a draw ½ point, and a loss 0. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.
Before each round, players are sorted into score groups: everyone with the same number of points. Inside each group, players are listed by rating, and the top half plays the bottom half.
Example: eight players each have 2 points. Player #1 plays #5, #2 plays #6, #3 plays #7, and #4 plays #8. The strongest players don’t meet too early, and the leaders end up facing each other in the last rounds.
Two players never meet twice in the same tournament, and the program also tries to balance white and black.
Ten made-up players, five rounds. Make the pairings, play the games, and watch what happens when a score group has an odd number of players.
Round 1 of 5
0 points10 players
Press “Make pairings” to see who plays whom.
Everyone starts with 0 points, so round 1 is one big score group: the top half plays the bottom half.
Because a score group had an odd number of players. One player is left over and gets paired with someone from the group just below. Directors call this floating. Under US Chess rules, the lowest-rated player in the odd group moves down to play the highest-rated player available in the next group.
This is normal and happens every round. We ran 1,000 computer simulations of a 357-player, 8-round tournament:
So floating is common across the tournament but rarely lands on the same child more than once. The rules also try hard not to float the same player in back-to-back rounds.
The program tries to give everyone white and black about equally and to switch colors when it can. But matching scores comes first: playing someone with the same score matters more than getting the “right” color. The same color twice in a row is allowed. Three in a row is avoided whenever possible.
If the tournament has an odd number of players, one player has no opponent that round and receives a bye, which usually counts as a win (1 point). It goes to a low-scoring player and never to the same player twice. Many tournaments also let you request a bye in advance if your child has to miss a round; those are usually worth ½ point or 0. Check the event’s rules for the exact values.
It’s a fair question, and you are allowed to ask it. Here’s what protects every player:
Two different pairing programs can sometimes produce slightly different pairings that are both correct. The rules also give directors some room to make changes, for example to keep brothers and sisters or teammates from playing each other when the event announces that policy, or to fix a result that was entered wrong.
Find a tournament director before the round starts, with your child’s name and the round number. Ask calmly: “Can you help me understand this pairing?” Most questions take a minute to answer. If you’re still not satisfied, ask how to make a formal appeal. Please don’t approach other players or their families about pairings.