Tie-breaking in Swiss-system tournaments

Tie-break systems are used in chess Swiss system tournaments to break ties
between players who have the same total number of points after the last round. This is
needed when prizes are indivisible, such as an official "champion", trophies, or
qualification for another tournament. Otherwise players often share the tied spots, with
cash prizes being divided equally among the tied players.If the players are still tied after
one tie-break system is used, another system is used, and so on, until the tie is broken.
Most of the methods are numerical methods based on the games that have already
been played or other objective factors, while some methods require additional games to
be played, etc. Strength of schedule is the idea behind the methods based on the
games already played: that the player that played the harder competition to achieve the
same number of points should be ranked higher.
Harry Golombek points out deficiencies in most of the tie-break systems and
recommends a playoff if there is time. If not, he recommends Sonneborn-Berger and
then the player who has the most wins. For Swiss tournaments, he recommends
the Buchholz system and the Cumulative system (Golombek 1977:322).
For Swiss chess tournaments for individuals (not teams), FIDE recommends - in
an Annex to the FIDE Tournament Regulations regarding tiebreaks:

1. The result of the direct encounter(s) between the players (if any)
2. The greater number of wins
3. The greater number of games with Black (unplayed games shall be counted as
played with White)
4. The Average Rating of Opponents Cut (the average rating of opponents,
excluding one or more of the ratings of the opponents, starting from the lowest-
rated opponent)
5. Buchholz Cut 1 (the Buchholz score reduced by the lowest score of the
opponents)
6. Buchholz (the sum of the scores of each of the opponents of a player)
7. Sonneborn-Berger

Median
Main article: Buchholz system
The Median system is also known as the Harkness System, after its inventor Kenneth
Harkness. For each player, this system sums the number of points earned by the
player's opponents, but discarding the highest and lowest. If there are nine or more
rounds, the top two and bottom two scores are discarded. Unplayed games by the
opponents count point. Unplayed games by the player count zero points. This is also
known as the Median-Buchholz System (Just & Burg 2003:199200).
Modified Median
The Modified Median system is similar to the Median system, except:
 Players with exactly 50% score are handled as in the regular Median system
Players with more than 50% score have only their lowest-scoring opponent's score
discarded
Players with less than 50% score have only their highest-scoring opponent's score
discarded (Just & Burg 2003:199200).

Solkoff
This system is the same as the Median system, except that no scores are discarded
(Just & Burg 2003:200). Ephraim Solkoff did not invent this system. He introduced it to
the United States in 1950, but it was used in England prior to that (Harkness
1967:138).

Cumulative
To calculate this, sum the running score for each round. For example, if a player has (in
order) a win, loss, win, draw, and a loss; his round-by-round score will be 1, 1, 2, 2,
2. The sum of these numbers is 9. This system places more weight on games won in
the early rounds and the least weight on games won in the final rounds. The rationale
for this system is that a player who scored well early in the tournament has most likely
faced tougher opponents in later rounds and should therefore be favored over a player
who scored poorly in the start before subsequently scoring points against weaker
opponents (Just & Burg 2003:200201).

Cumulative opponent's score

This sums the cumulative scores of the player's opponents (Just & Burg 2003:202).

Result between tied players

If the tied players played each other, if one of them won then he finishes higher on tie-
break (Just & Burg 2003:201).

Most games with the black pieces

The player that had the black pieces the most times finishes highest on tie-breaks (Just
& Burg 2003:201).

Most wins (Baumbach)

The player with the most wins finishes highest on tie-breaks. This is used as the first
tie-break rule for individual tournaments in ICCF.

Kashdan
Invented by Isaac Kashdan, this system awards four points for a win, two points for a
draw, one point for a loss, and none for an unplayed game. As a result, if players with
no unplayed games tie, the one with fewer draws finishes higher on the tie-break (i.e. a
win and a loss is better than two draws) (Just & Burg 2003:201).

Sonneborn-Berger score
Main article: Sonneborn-Berger score
Add the scores of every opponent the player beats and half of the score of every
opponent the player draws (Just & Burg 2003:201). The system was named after
William Sonneborn and Johann Berger, but it was invented by Oscar
Gelbfuhs (Harkness 1967:137). The system is the main tie-breaking system in round
robin tournaments, but is also used in Swiss tournaments. It is also called the Neustadtl
score.
What we call the Sonneborn-Berger system was not invented by Sonneborn or Berger,
and it was not originally designed for tie-breaking. It was invented by Oscar Gelbfuhs
about 1873 to be used as a weighted score in round-robin tournaments. It would be
used instead of the raw score for final places. In 1886 Sonneborn criticized the system
and suggested an improvement that would give a better weighted score. His suggestion
was to add the square of the player's points to the amount calculated as above. In 1887
and 1888 Berger studied Gelbfuhs' system and the suggestion of Sonneborn. This
improvement became known as the Sonneborn-Berger system.[citation needed]
When the system is used to break ties between equally scoring players, adding in the
square of the player's raw score does no good, so the Sonneborn improvement is
omitted. However, the system has retained the Sonneborn-Berger name (Harkness
1967:13637).

Opponent's performance]
This method uses the average performance rating of the player's opponents. The
"performance rating" of a player is basically the rating he would receive if he had
started the tournament without a rating (Just & Burg 2003:202).

Average rating of opposition

The average rating of the player's opponents (Just & Burg 2003:202).

Time of loss
Among tied players, the player whose first loss came last gets priority. If player As first
loss was in round 4 and player Bs first loss was in round 2, player A gets priority. This
was a tiebreaker used by POP in 2004-2005.

Tardiness
If a player arrives after the first round is paired, the player loses priority. This tiebreaker
is currently used by POP.
Speed play-off games
The tie is broken by one or more games played with fast time control, or Fast chess.
Single fast game
FIDE rules provide for a single fast decisive game. Black gets five minutes on the clock
whereas White gets six minutes but must win (i.e. a draw counts as a win for Black).
The player who wins the draw of lots may choose which color he wants.

Coin flip
As a last resort, ties are broken by a random process such as a coin flip (Just & Burg
2003:203).

USCF recommended order

The U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) recommends these as the first four tie-breaking
methods to be used: (Just & Burg 2003:199)

1. Modified Median
2. Solkoff
3. Cumulative
4. Cumulative opponent's score.