CHESS

GUIDELINES AND GROUND RULES

The tournament shall be governed by FIDE Swiss rules and those stated in the following ground
rules:
1. Chess shall be played as a team competition: one team for the Boys and one team for the Girls
in the Secondary. A team shall consist of two (2) players and one coach. There shall be separate
championship for the Boys and Girls.
2. Board assignment of players shall be the prerogative of the coach.
3. A team with only one player in its lineup shall not be allowed to compete.
4. Each team is required to bring at least one chessboard to be deposited with and withdrawn
from the equipment storekeeper before and after each round.
5. Players annoying or causing disturbing acts, for example tapping the chess table or whistling,
etc., shall be given warning, and shall forfeit their games after they continue to commit such
disturbing act.
6. Players, coaches and spectators are not allowed to make post-game analysis, play against other
coaches/spectators/players with or without bets, or discuss finished or unfinished games within
10-meter radius of the playing area.
7. Players are not allowed to eat or drink at the playing area while the game is in progress. They
may ask the permission of the chess official to leave the playing area for this purpose on their
own time.
8. Players who have finished their games should leave the playing area immediately after signing
their score sheets and returning the equipment of the officials.
GAME RULES
1. TIME
2. GAME POINTS
A player earns 1 point for a win. .5 for a draw and 0 for a loss.
4. THE BREAKS
The sequence of the breaks after adjusted scores will be as follows:
Team
4.1 Scores of board 1 player
4.2 Match points in Team Competitions
4.5 Winner over the other (single tie)
5. PAIRINGS
WHITE BLACK
9 vs. 1
2 vs. 10
11 vs. 3
4 vs. 12
13 vs. 5
6 vs. 14
15 vs. 7
8 vs. 16
17 bye
5.2 Pairings in subsequent rounds will depend on the same score
groups.
5.3 For color allocation, the point of reference is the board 1 player.

The board 2 player of each team shall hold the opposite color of
board 1 player.
6. The defaulting time is 30 minutes on the chess clock of the concerned
player after game time.
7. Collatilla: All other matters not covered in these rules shall be decided
by the Chess Technical Committee.

TOURNAMENT REGULATIONS
The general FIDE LAWS OF CHESS with adopted new rules for the Swiss System
pairings, changes in scoring and tie - breaks implemented last 2008 shall be applied with their
supplements and interpretations as lay down by the FIDE Rules Commission and specific
regulations as prescribed by the Metropolitan Chess Club shall also be in force.
SYSTEM OF PLAY
The competition shall be divided into two (2) high school boys, and high school girls.
Each team for boys shall comprise of two (2) regular players, while each team for girls shall
comprise of two (2) regular players.
High school girls division, the contest shall apply the five - round Swiss System. For the high
school boys division, the five round Swiss System will be employed.
PAIRING RULES
For Swiss System new rules:
1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
2. In the second round, the winning teams in the bottom half will play with one another, the
losing teams in the bottom half will play with one another.
3. The standing after each round, according to the new procedure, is also the basis for the
pairings of each next round.
CONDUCT OF THE PLAYERS
1. Players must observe proper dress code while playing
2. A player is not allowed to use his/her cell phone while playing. A text or ring sound from
his/her cell phone will mean forfeiture of his/her game.
3. A player is not allowed to speak with his/her teammates while his/her game is in progress. A
player may speak only as permitted in the Laws of Chess and Tournament Regulations.
4. A player is not allowed to distract or annoy his/her opponent by creating noise.
5. A player is not allowed to make analysis of his/her game with his opponent after their match
has been ended.
6. A player having the move is not allowed to leave the playing area. He must make his move
first before leaving with the permission of the arbiter.

Tie-Breaks in Swiss Tournaments

Tie-break definitions

Tie-Breaks are used to rank players within point groups. In other words to break ties among players on the same
score.
There are many different tie-break systems, some of them popular, some rather obscure. Confusion has been caused
by the terminology as same systems are known under different names in different countries. This document attempts
to document all tie-break systems recommended by FIDE and USCF.
Sources:

1995 FIDE Handbook

USCF Chess Federation's Official Rules of Chess. Fourth Edition

Tie-break systems classified by their basic principle

Sum of Opposition's Scores

Player's Progressive Score
Opposition's Weighted Scores
Number of Wins
Opposition's Ratings
Other

Average Opposition
Berger
Buchholz
Cumulative
Cumulative of Opposition
Harkness
Kashdan
Median
Median Buchholz
Modified Median
Most Blacks
Number of Wins
Opposition's Performance
Opposition's Rating Sum

Index

Progress
Result Between Tied Players
Solkoff
Sonneborn-Berger

PRINCIPLE: Sum of Opposition's Scores

Buchholz (FIDE) or Solkoff (USCF)

This is the sum of opponents' scores. The idea is that the same score is more valuable if achieved against players
with better performances in a given tournament. Looks like an ideal tie-breaking method and has been used since the
Swiss system was invented. However it has some weaknesses which are addressed by other methods (see MedianBuchholz, Progress, Berger).

Median-Buchholz (FIDE) or Median (USCF) or Harkness (USCF)

Same as above but discarding the highest and the lowest opposition's scores.
Its idea is to eliminate distortions in Buchholz values caused by taking into account games against run-away winners
and bottom placed players.

Modified Median (USCF)

Same as Median-Buchholz "for players who tie with even scores but modified for other scores to disregard the only
the lest significant opponent's scores. The lowest scoring opponent is discarded for tied players with plus scores and
the highest scoring for tied players with minus scores.
For tournaments of nine or more rounds, the top two and bottom two scores are discarded for even score ties, the
bottom two scores for plus score ties, and the top two scores for minus score ties." (USCF Rules)

PRINCIPLE: Player's Progressive Score

Progress (FIDE) or Cumulative (USCF)

Calculated by adding points from a progress table eg if your scores were: Win, Loss, Win, Draw then your

progressive scores are 1, 1, 2, 2.5 and your Progress tie-break value is 6.5
This is an attempt to put a higher value on scores which were achieved by scoring better in the initial rounds than by
finishing from behind. It is common knowledge that the latter is usually much easier to achieve.
The problem is that the order of the Progress tie-breaks is known before the last round (last round scores will change
the actual value but not the order within a point group). This may encourage some undesirable tournament "tactics"
in the last round.
Interestingly the USCF Official Rules of Chess considers the above feature of the system an advantage on the
grounds that it "avoids the problem, comon in Median and Solkoff, of having to wait for a lengthy last-round game
between two non-contenders to end for top prizes to be decided".

Cumulative Scores of Opposition (USCF)

"The cumulative tie-break points of each opponent are calculated as in Cumulative and these are added together."
(USCF Rules)
An attempt to marry Cumulative with Solkoff. Rather strange.

PRINCIPLE: Opposition's Weighted Scores

Berger or Sonneborn-Berger (FIDE, USCF)

This is calculated by adding scores of the opponets who were beaten by a given player and half the scores of the
opponents who she drew with. This has been adopted from round-robin tournaments and is usually used as a
secondary method.

PRINCIPLE: Number of Wins

Number of Wins (FIDE)

Calculated by adding a point for a win and nothing for a loss or a draw. Intended to discourage making quick draws.
Popular in 70's and early 80's (particularly in round-robins). In modern Swiss tournaments hardly justified.

Kashdan (USCF)
Similarly to the "Number of Wins" method rewards aggressive play. A player receives 4 tie-break points for a win, 2

for a draw, 1 for a loss and 0 for an unplayed game. If there are no unplayed games this system reduces the "Number
of Wins".
Interestingly Kashdan can be used to calculate main scores rather than just tie-breaks. In virtually all football
(soccer) competitions in Europe teams receive 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss.

PRINCIPLE: Opposition's Ratings

Opposition's Rating Sum (FIDE)

Sum of the opponents' ratings. Uses the ratings ie presumed pre-tournament strength of the opponents rather than
their performance in a given tournament. Also has the same problem with the last round as 'Progress'.
This is obviously an ill-conceived method. Ratings have been invented for other purposes.

Average Opposition (USCF)

Averages the ratings of player's opponents. Effectively identical to FIDE's Opposition's Rating Sum

Opposition's Performance (USCF)

The concept a bit better than Opposition's Ratings but same comment applies.
PRINCIPLE: Other
Result Between Tied Players (USCF)
Obvious if two tie but the USCF's interpretation of the situation where more than two tie is interesting:
If more than two tie, all results among tied players should be considered, with rank according to plus or minus, not
percentage (3-1) beats (1-0).
This means that you can apply this tie-break even if not all tied players played each other.
Most Blacks (USCF)
Number of games played with Black.