Annals of Operations Research· 2026Q1
Swiss-system chess tournaments and unfairness
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Swiss-system chess tournaments with an odd number of rounds are unfair, with players receiving an extra white game scoring significantly more points, exceeding the value of a draw in four Grand Swiss tournaments.
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Key points
- Swiss-system chess tournaments with an odd number of rounds exhibit unfairness.
- Players with an extra white game score significantly more points.
- This advantage surpasses the value of a draw in four Grand Swiss tournaments.
- An even number of rounds and balanced colour assignment can mitigate unfairness.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract The Swiss system is an increasingly popular competition format as it provides a favourable trade-off between the number of matches and ranking accuracy. However, there is no empirical study on the potential unfairness of Swiss-system chess tournaments if an odd number of rounds is played. To analyse this issue, our paper compares the number of points scored in the tournament between players who played one game more with the white pieces and players who played one game fewer with the white pieces. Using data from 28 highly prestigious competitions, we find that players with an extra white game score significantly more points. In particular, the advantage exceeds the value of a draw in the four Grand Swiss tournaments. A potential solution to this unfairness could be organising Swiss-system chess tournaments with an even number of rounds, and guaranteeing a balanced colour assignment for all players using a recently proposed pairing mechanism.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Annals of Operations Research, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Economics and Econometrics
Economics and EconometricsEconomics, Econometrics and Finance