| Tiebreak system For determining the seeding order of the eight players in the final, plus alternates if necessary, three tiebreak systems will be used, in order of precedence: 1 Median: the total score of all your opponents. Each win is worth one point, and each draw is half a point. Games played as a "house opponent" (see below) do not count, although games played against a house opponent do count. Voluntary byes count as zero points. Involuntary byes are counted as half a point each. 2. Cumulative: Your score after round one, plus your total score after round two, plus your total score after round three, are added together. This rewards the player who wins earlier in the tournament. The reasoning here is that winning earlier tends to result in more difficult opponents in later rounds. 3. Cumulative scores of opponents: The sum of the cumulative scores of all your opponents, using the restrictions listed in "Median." If the above methods fail to resolve a tie, a coin toss will determine which player is seeded before the other for the elimination session or as an alternate. A lower seed value corresponds to a higher ranking; e.g. first seed is the top seed Top six places For determining the top six places at the end of the tourney, the following methods will be used for tiebbreaks, in order of precedence: 1. Repeat Game: if a draw occurs during the elimination session, the players will play a repeat game with the other player moving first, and with the time adjusted to finish within the hour allotted for that round, or 15 minutes per player, whichever gives more time. Next round pairings which are not affected by this game may proceed immediately. This may affect the time control for later games, if the allotted hour for that round is overstepped. If this would lead to less than 50 minutes for subsequent rounds, then the lower value seeded player will advance instead. If the final game is a draw, if less than 40 minutes remains for Twixt, either finalist has the right to insist that the champion be determined by tiebreak. Otherwise, the finalists will play again with the other player moving first, with the time control adjusted if necessary to finish on time. If this second game is a draw as well, the winner of that match will be determined by the tiebreak criteria listed below. (This method is based on the verified rarity of draws in Twixt.) 2. Drawn games in the elimination session count as half a point.For example, if a player draws in the first round and advances to the semifinals without playing a repeat game, and loses in the semifinal round, that player would be ranked lower than another player who won the first round game but lost in the semifinal round. Or, if a player draws in the first round, wins the repeat game, and loses the semifinal game, that player would be ranked higher than a player who won the first round and lost the second (semifinal) round. In any event, both finalists will always be ranked higher then both the semifinalists who did not advance, and they in turn would be ranked higher than those players who did not advance past the first round. 3. Playing the champion or runner up: If there were no drawn games in the elimination session, and you lost to the eventual champion, your place would be 2nd, 3rd, or 5th, depending on the round in which you were defeated. If you lost to the runner up, your place would likewise be 4th or 6th. Swiss pairing criteria Before each Swiss session begins, players will be ranked according to their AREA rating, or by any established Twixt rating system for online play, if they have such a rating. The list of players will be divided into an upper half (list A) and a lower half (list B.) For the first round, The top player in list A will play the top player in list B, and so on down the line. If there are an odd number of entrants, the GM may elect to pair the odd player with a "house opponent," someone who is not playing in that Swiss session but is willing to play a rated Twixt game. In all likelihood, this house opponent will be either the GM or his assistant. Color assignment for the top board will be determined by a coin toss. Color assignment for the remaining boards will alternate in sequence from the top board. For example, if the top A player moves first, then so do the 2nd B player, the 3rd A player, etc. For the next two rounds, pairings will be determined by the following criteria, listed in order from most important to least: * The same players must not play each other twice during the Swiss portion. Of course, they may very well play each other again during the elimination session. One possible exception to this is if two players both enter the first Swiss session, play each other, and then withdraw and re-enter the second Swiss. In that case, they will both be treated as new entrants, and may wind up playing each other again. * Players with the same score will be paired against each other as much as possible. If players with different scores play each other, the difference in their scores should be as small as possible. * No player should receive the same color assignment for all three rounds if it is possible to avoid. * Within the same score group, players will be ranked the same as they were before the session began, and this group will again be divided into sections A and B. The top A player should play the top B, etc. as much as possible, while still conforming to the above criteria. * Players should generally alternate color assignment in successive rounds. An involuntary bye is worth one point, the same as a victory. Any such bye would be awarded to a player in the lowest score group only. Elimination session pairing 1 indicates the top seed. The table below should be familiar to anyone who watches tennis on television. First round initial color assignment is indicated by the white and black dots. For the semifinal and final rounds, color assignment is determined by these criteria, in order of precedence: 1. The same player should not receive the same initial color for all three rounds. (Repeat games are not counted here.) 2. Players should alternate initial color assignment each round. If both players are due the same color, the lower seed value player has precedence. Return to WBC Twixt page |
 |