Ties in tournaments
The method of dealing with ties depends on the kind of tournament. Keep reading to learn more about the different types of tiebreaks:
Swiss Tournaments
For Swiss tournaments, Chess.com uses eight tie-breaking methods to ensure that ties are broken in the fairest way possible.
The following list of tie-breaking methods is used, from top to bottom, moving down the list only if there is still a tie after using the previous method. For example, the Sonneborn-Berger method is only used if the result is still a tie after trying the Buchholz Cut 1 and Buchholz methods.
Tie-breaking methods
Method
|
Details |
Buchholz cut 1 | Your Buchholz score is calculated by adding together the tournament scores of each player you played against, except the one with the lowest score (this is the 'cut 1.') The final number is your Buchholz tie-break score. |
Buchholz | The same as above, except the lowest score is not dropped, and is included in the calculation. |
Sonneborn-Berger | This is calculated by adding up the tournament score of each opponent you defeated, and half the tournament score of each drawn opponent. |
Direct encounter | If any players are still tied at this point, and all tied players have played against each other in the tournament, then the player with the most points out of those games is the winner.
If the tied players have not all played each other, or there is a tie for points within those games, then it is still a tie. |
Number of wins | The player with the highest total number of wins breaks the tie. |
Number of wins with black | The player with the highest number of wins with the black pieces breaks the tie. |
AROC 1 | This stands for Average Rating of Opponents Cut 1. This means the rating of all your opponents (excluding the lowest-rated opponent) is averaged, and the player with the highest average opponent rating is the winner. Opponent rating is based on the rating at the start of each round. |
Rating | If it is still a tie at this point, then the player with the highest rating wins. This is based on rating at the start of the last round |
Round Robin Tournaments
Round Robin tournaments, such as Daily tournaments, primarily use the Sonneborn-Berger tie-break method. When creating a tournament, organizers have the option to disable tie-breaks. If disabled, both tied players advance to the next round.
In Round Robin tournaments, the player who has defeated opponents with the most tournament points is favored in the tie-break. For instance, if two players are tied with 8.5 points, tie-break points based on their opponents' scores will determine the winner.
In the below image, the first-place player has more tie-break points, so they have advanced. Without the tie break, both players 1 and 2 would have advanced since they had the same score.
If two players have the same score and the same tie-break score, both will advance. Unlike Swiss tournaments, Round Robin tournaments do not have secondary tie-break methods. If it is still a tie after the Sonneborn-Berger method, the tie will remain unbroken.
In the below image, both players 1 and 2 had the same score and the same tiebreak; both advanced to the next round:
Example of Sonneborn-Berger tie-break
A player's Sonneborn-Berger score is calculated by adding together the score points of the players they have defeated and half of the score points of players they have drawn against.
Below is a simplified example of how the Sonneborn-Berger score method works
Group # -- | Bob | Mary | John | Score | Tie Break |
1. Bob | X | 0 1 | 1 1 | 3 | 4.5 |
2. Mary | 0 1 | X | 0 0.5 | 1.5 | 3.75 |
3. John | 0 0 | 0.5 1 | X | 1.5 | 2.25 |
Bob defeated Mary once and John twice. His tie-break points are calculated as follows:
Points from Mary: 1 × 1.5 = 1.5
Points from John: 2 × 1.5 = 3.0
Total: 1.5 + 3.0 = 4.5
Mary won once against Bob and drew with John. Her tie-break points are:
Points from Bob: 1 × 3.0 = 3.0
Points from John: 0.5 × 1.5 = 0.75
Total: 3.0 + 0.75 = 3.75
John won once and drew once against Mary, resulting in:
Points from Mary: 1.5 × 1.5 = 2.25
In this example, Bob advances due to higher tie-break points. However, if players have identical scores and tie-break points, both advance to the next round.