From: Pieter Stouten <stouten <at> SHOGI <dot> NET>
Date: 27 may 2000
Subject: Tournament formats

In a previous mail, I gave my thoughts on a World Federation and
World Championship. These issues should be separated as much as
possible from tournament formats. Complete separation is impossible
as a World Championship may require different (e.g., more stringent
rules) than other tournaments.

SWISS VERSUS KO
---------------
As Larry indicated a Swiss tournament is fairer than a KO. To my
mind, there is only one reason for a KO and it is an
organizational/publicity one: one has a final after a known number of
games in which the winner is determined.

As I indicated before, there are two disadvantages to a Swiss
tournament and that is that the winner may be known before the final
round and that tie-breaking or a play-off may be necessary. Both
these disadvantages are organizational (publicity) ones, but they
don't compromise the inherent fairness of the Swiss system.

The hybrid Swiss/KO I proposed (which received support from Larry and
Doug) requires more rounds than a KO (an organizational issue) and
may lead to a situation where a clear leader after the Swiss
tournament has to prove his superiority anew in a semi-final and
final (a fairness issue).

Regardless of which format one chooses, to my mind there is no
reasonable argument not to use Elo-ratings to determine the pairings
(Larry already made this point). In fact, USSF, FESA, Shogi Dojo, the
amateur Renmei (still?) all use Elo-ratings. In my opinion a
worldwide Elo-rating system is long overdue. Being able to use it for
pairings would significantly reduce the disadvantages of a KO.

NON-CONTENDERS INFLUENCING TOURNAMENT RESULTS
---------------------------------------------
In general, I think it is a bad idea if non-contenders can directly
influence the outcome of a tournament. I find it particularly
problematic if simultaneous handicap games against professionals are
part of a regular even-games tournament. My reasons:

1) (as said) non-contenders should not influence the outcome. In the past
    there weer serious problems with dan-players influencing the outcome of
    the second group of the European Championship EC. This was important
    as one could qualify for the following EC's champions' group.
2) All games should be contested under the same circumstances (i.e., all
    1-on-1).
3) To be fair to all players, irrespective of strength, the same handicap
    should be given to all. That, however, defies part of the purpose of
    playing a handicap game against a professional, which is to make the
    game challenging to, but "winnable" by the weaker player.
4) Some players may be better/worse playing handicap games than even
    games, and their performance in essentially an even-game event may
    be affacted unfairly by their (lack of) handicap skills.

Ciao,

Pieter