Background Information

Pairing Systems

Swiss pairing systems

There are numerous different Swiss pairing methods. The main ones are:

• FIDE Swiss pairing rules
   
• Dubov system (also recognised by FIDE)
   
• BCF Swiss pairing systems
   
• Kaps pairing system (not sure or the origins of this system)

Tournament Director for Windows uses the BCF Swiss pairing system.

All Play All pairing systems

Each of these generates different pairing combinations for all play all. The best known is the Berger system.

• Berger tables
  Calculation for Berger pairings
   
• Cyclic and First Fit
   
• Polygon method

Tournament Director for Windows use the Cyclic all play all pairing system.

Tie break systems

The main Tie Break systems are defined on these pages.

• FIDE recognised tie break methods
   
• A Complete list of tie break methods

Grading Systems

Tournament Director for Windows implements the FIDE and BCF grading systems. The BCF grading is main to the system and the system includes the automatic submission of the results for BCF Grading.

• BCF Grading system
  This is an excellent explanation of the BCF Grading system and its workings.
   
• FIDE Rating system
  Here is an explanation of the FIDE rating system
   

Here is additional background to the ELO system on which FIDE Rating system is based.

As an aside here is details of the Scottish grading system

Links

Chess related websites and other tournament organisation software is given on the links page