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Round Robin
   

Round-robin is the American term for an all-play-all tournament, that is, a tournament in which each player plays every other player once. (The Oxford Companion to Chess says that the term round-robin is "apparently based on a misunderstanding". Does anyone know more about this?)

How to set up a round-robin movement

Example (6 players):

Number the players. For the first round arrange them in a folded pattern.

1 2 3
6 5 4

This means that player #1 plays player #6, #2 plays #5, and #3 plays #4. For subsequent rounds hold #6 stationary and have the other players follow each other.

Round 2:
5 1 2
6 4 3

Etc. This method is simple and guarantees that each player plays every other player. :-)

Before the tournament make up 3x5 cards with the pairings on them for each player. The card for #1 will look like this:


   Player #1


  Round Opponent
1 6
2 4
3 2
4 5
5 3

The cards should have different colors (or other distinguishing marks) for different groups of 6.
Alternatively, make the first round pairings and then make up and post pairing sheets during the first round that people can refer to. I used to do that, using names rather than numbers. Making cards beforehand is easier if you want to play. :-)

Rounds do not have set time limits. People just find their next opponent.

A 6 person round robin makes for 5 rounds. IMX, you can open registration at 9:00 a. m., start play by 10:00, break for lunch, and still finish in time for supper. A pleasant 1-day tournament. :-)

Of course, doing groups of 6 is not likely to produce a single winner, assuming you get a fair turnout. But does that matter?


Almost all contents: BillSpight
(Page created by DieterVerhofstadt)



This is a copy of the living page "Round Robin" at Sensei's Library.
(C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.