HermanHiddema/First to Eight

First to Eight is a tournament system that could be used for the European Championship.

Features

• The winner is decided unambiguously.
• There is no interference for the title from players outside Europe.
• The winner has won at least 8 games against other European players.
• No other European player has won more than 8 games.

System

Start with a group of the 32 strongest European participants (i.e. players eligible for the title of European Champion).

Play 5 rounds of Swiss with double elimination. This means that every player that loses at least two games within the first five rounds is eliminated for the title. As soon as a player has lost his second game, he is eliminated from the Swiss and will continue the rest of the tournament in the main group (i.e. at this point they can be paired against non-European players). Inflow into the main tournament is: 8 players after round 2 (those with 0/2), 8 players after round 3 (those with 1/3), 6 players after round 4 (those with 2/4) and 4 players after round 5 (those with 3/5).

After five rounds, there will now be one undefeated player and there will be five players that have taken one loss. This is the group that plays on for the title in the second week.

In the sixth round, the six remaining players are paired normally (i.e. try to avoid repeat pairings, use the usual pairing strategy).

There are now two scenarios:

1. The undefeated player loses in round 6

This means there are now four players with 5/6. The other two are eliminated. The four remaining players are paired amongst themselves. This will result in two players with 6/7, the other two are eliminated. The two players remaining players will play against each other until on of them has 8 points (i.e. this is equivalent to a best of three). This player is the European Champion.

2. The undefeated player wins in round 6

This means there is now one player with 6/6 and there are two players with 5/6. The players with 5/6 are paired against each other, while the player with 6/6 is paired against a European player with 4/6. The winner of the match between the players with 5/6 will have 6/7, while the previously undefeated player will now have either 7/7 or 6/7 as well. Either way, these two players play against each other until one of them reaches 8 points.

Aftermath

After the above system has played out, if there are any rounds remaining (i.e. if the European Champion scored 8/8 or 8/9, not 8/10), then the players will be paired in the main tournament as usual, and can encounter non-European players. Since every player other than the European Champion has already lost two games, it is not possible that any of them will end on more wins than the European Champion.

Other places, such as those in the Open, as well as those in the European Championship, are decided by McMahon score and the usual tie-breakers (i.e. the player against whom the European Champion played in the end is not necessarily the second place winner).