How To Submit Results For
Ratings
Any two players can agree to a formal series of
matches under certain conditions, constituting a sort
of "tournament". Some of the most famous games in
history were played in this way, such as the "Castle
Games" in 17th century Japan, and when Chinese player
Go Seigen defeated every top Japanese pro in a series
of ten-game matches in the 1930's.
If your club holds regular meetings, you can
establish a permanent club "ladder", a list of all
members, in rough descending order of strength. Members
challenge other players who are higher on the ladder.
If they win, their name moves to the spot above the
defeated player. Use magnetic labels holders --
available from such suppliers as www.shoplet.com -- on white board such as
those available from www.usmarkerboard.com.
Another ongoing type of event is the "league".
Players who sign up agree to play every other player in
the league over a given period of time. At the end,
prizes can be awarded for most wins, most games played,
or other categories. All you need is a cross-grid with
players listed horizontally and vertically, crossing
out the boxes where players would play themselves, and
a sufficient number of players to make it
interesting.
Now we come to special events for more than two
players at once. A "round robin" is a sort of
simultaneous league. All players pair up for the first
round. When all games are completed, one player remains
seated while the others rotate one seat to the right or
left. Continue in this fashion until all players have
met. The Lightning Tournament at the annual US Go
Congress is an example of a round robin
tournament.
In a knockout tournament, the field narrows to two
contenders as losers drop out each round. This type of
structure is seldom used in AGA events. Players who set
aside the day to play in a tournament don't want to
leave the field, they want to keep playing.
Fortunately, there are other pairing methods that
guarantee every player an opponent in every round.
Pairings? Who needs pairings? Not the TD who uses
the self-pairing system! Just match players based on
strength for the first round and post a signup sheet.
When each game finishes, the players report the result,
and consult a list of players who have finished their
games. If they see a player on the list who they have
not yet encountered that day, that is their pairing for
the next round. If not, they add their names to the
list and wait.
Potential problem: With this method, some players
can get in more games than others, unless the director
sets a maximum.
The self-paired format works well for small casual
events, where handicaps may vary considerably within a
small field. If player ranks vary widely, the director
may also need to set a handicap limit, so that players
must be within x number of ranks to play.
You may never run a large tournament, but if you're
reading this page, you'll probably play in one, so you
might want to understand some of the basics.
Major tournaments -- over 25 players -- generally
use one of two methods:
The Swiss-McMahon
system is an adaptation of the Swiss pairing system
used in most chess tournaments. In a Swiss tournament,
all participants play all rounds, meeting other players
with similar records. Int 1970, Lee McMahon of
the New York Go Club devised a variation that accounted
differences in player strength. Basically, the field is
divided into bands. For instance, A lower-mid-ranked
player in a field of 100 players, divided perhaps into
four bands, might find himself in the C band, two down
from the top. He would start with a score of -2. he
could not win the top section, but he could win prizes
against other who start with a similar score. This is a
complex system, with provisions for players to move
from band to band if they are doing very well or very
poorly.
The Accelrat system uses the AGA rating
algorithm to pair players of similar strength. Ratings
are adjusted each rounds, based on the results of that
round, and players meet opponents with the closest
ratings as they go along.
For more information on these systems and other
tournament-related questions, write to tournaments@usgo.org.
People have been running huge tournaments since long
before the PC was invented, but most TDs these days use
PCs to pair their tournaments. They like the fact that
pairing programs format results automatically for
submission to the AGA rating system.
PyTD will produce Swiss-McMahon style pairings and out put results in AGA compatible format. The Accelrat
system will also format results automatically for the
AGA rating system.
Problems occasionally arise during the course of a
tournament. Players may complain about the conduct of
an opponent, playing conditions, or even the outcome of
a game. Like a referee at a sporting event,
the tournament director's word is
final. Experienced TDs have seen most
common problems and know how to respond; if you're new
to directing, recruit an experienced TD to advise you
-- if you've got more than a dozen players, there's
probably someone playing in your event that can help
you. At large, important tournaments, TDs sometimes
appoint an appeals committee, usually at the start of
the event, to review difficult decisions.
Winning a lost game on time is better than losing,
but not by much! Nearly all AGA tournaments use some
sort of overtime rule, giving players a better chance
to settle the game on the board, rather than by a loss
on time. There are two basic systems of time
control:
Asian Style: In most major Asian
tournaments, the overtime rule is "x number of
periods of y seconds." The North American
Oza, for instance, uses a time control of five
periods of twenty seconds each. When a player's basic
time expires, he/she receives a warning that overtime
has begun,. From then on, if he/she uses more than
twenty seconds to select a move, one overtime period is
lost. By playing within twenty seconds, the player can
keep all overtime periods.
Canadian Style: The other major
overtime procedure requires the player to use
x number of stones in y minutes. When
a player's basic time expires, the game clock is
stopped, and the player counts out x stones.
The clock is reset for y minutes and play
resumes.
If you play on the Internet you are probably very
familiar with both of the above systems.
Bonus timing: Also known as "Fischer timing" in honor of its creator, chess giant Bobby Fischer, this method adds a new dimension of time management to tournament play. Everyone begins with a small amount of time -- say fifteen or twenty minutes -- but they gain additional time with each move. By playing quickly, the player can actually increase the amount of time on the clock. Downside: This method requires a specially programmed clock, such as the Excalibur Game Time II.
When players have AGA ratings, or other credible
statements of strength such as IGS or KGS, it is
fairly easy to decide where they belong in the field.
When a completely unknown player appears, how should
decide where he/she belongs?
The AGA recommends that players play their
actual level. Rated players are required to play
at their rated strength. If an unknown player appears,
the TD will often ask a top player to play through a
few openings with him/her and offer an assessment of
strength. The TD has complete discretion to move new
players up or down in the field, depending on their
results. The goal is to give each player the best
possible games. If a new player is crushing his/her
oppnents or being crushed, he/she is at the wrong
rank.
Some players like to try to play above their actual
strength, hoping to gain rating points if they "get
lucky." TDs discourage this practice. If you play over
your head, you will probably lose most of your games;
if one of your opponents ties for a prize, they will
probably lose on SOS -- because of you! (See below for
explanation of SOS.)
Others like to "sandbag" -- try to play below their
strength to assure victory, also considered impolite
and inappropriate. The Swiss-McMahon and Accelrat
systems compensate for this to some degree, but the AGA
encourages honest competition.
Occasionally, a player will tell the TD that he/she
has been studying since the last event, and ask to play
at a higher level. TDs have the discretion to honor
such request. The standard is to increase a person's
rank by at least two degrees in this instance.
The obvious way to win a tournament is to be the
only player who wins all your games. However, except in
knockout tournaments, which guarantee such a result,
this seldom occurs. Especially in large events, it
often occurs that, A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A,
or each of them lose to D, E, and/or F, so that no one
is undefeated. In fact several people may wind up with
identical records. How should winners be chosen. In
leagues and Swiss-McMahon and Accelrat tournaments, at
the end there may be several people with identical
records at the top of each band.
In the AGA, we customarily split the prize money
evenly among all the top finishers with identical
scores, but someone still has to "win." We generally use
the following tie-break mechanisms, in the following
order:
Sum of Scores (SOS): Count up all
the games your opponents have won, as reflected in
their Swiss scores. That's your "SOS". The person with
the highest SOS faced the most difficult field -- they
beat the most other people -- and so is declared the
winner.
Sum of Defeated Opponents' Scores
(SODOS): If two or more players are tied and
have identical SOS scores, the next step is to drop the
score of anyone who defeated you -- that's your
"SODOS". In essence this means that between players who
have tied Swiss scores and SOS scores, the one who was
beaten by the stronger opponent becomes the winner.
Face to Face Result: At first
glance, it seems like this is the logical way to break
a tie, but that thinking doesn't stand up to close
scrutiny. Cionsider a ituation such as we have
described, where A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A.
If A and B are tied for first place, F2F means A would
win; however, A was was beaten by a player who lost to
B. It's not as convincing as using the whole gield, or
most of it, to decide the winner. But in rare case
where players are tied on Swiss, SOS and SODOS and have
met, it is considered an acceptable method for
declaring a winner. To see a more detailed discussion
of this issue that appeared in the 9/5/05 issue of
The American Go E-Journal,
click here, and
click here for a followup on that discission in the
9/26/05 issue.
Nigiri or Other Random Procedure:
Last, and least desirable, a random method must be used
to select a winner. Nigiri, in which one
player takes a handful of stones and the other guesses
"odd" or "even", is sometimes used to choose for color
at the beginning of an even game. It can also be used
as a last resort to delcare a winner. Coin flip,
cutting a deck of cards, and dice have also been
used.
Anyone can organize a successful event by following
these simple steps:
- Line up the space and
equipment. If you need additional
playing sets, the AGA will help you borrow from
nearby clubs or will find another way for you to have
the equipment you need. Write to equipment@usgo.org
for more information.
- Publicize your event. Good news -- the days of stuffing and
labeling hundreds of envelopes to publicize your
event are over! Click here for free
listing in The American Go
E-Journal and on our tournament
page. We can also send a special announcement of
your event by e-mail to AGA members and chapters in
your area.
- Get AGA data for rated tournaments. AGA chapters can submit results to the rating system.Rated tournaments attract more players. You'll need to know the current rating and membership status for everyone who enters -- non-members have to join or pay a rating fee of $10. If you can connect to the Internet from the tournament site, use the AGA ratings page to confirm the strength of known players and confirm AGA membership status, or download TDListA or TDListN using the "Format" option on the "Ratings" page.
- Clarify the rules at the start of the
event. If this is your first
tournament, find a an experienced TD to help if
difficulties arise. Things to think about include
reiterating the basics, such as "a stone laid is a
stone played" You will also need to select a rule set
and a time control.
- You don't need great prizes to have a
great event. For a local tournament, a
few go books and other trinkets will be fine. Ask the
AGA about materials that you can use as prizes. If
you have time, you can probably find some local
merchants who will donate prizes.
- Afterward, remember to send in the
results and membership data as described below
When your tournament or event is over, send the following to the AGA:
- Send the names and ranks of winners and a brief report to journal@usgo.org within 24 hours, for publication in the next edition of The American Go E-Journal.
- Within seven days, send the results in electronic format to
ratings@usgo.org . electronically, properly formatted for entry in the
rating system. Accelrat,
PyTD and
other pairing software can do this for you, or
click here to learn how to format your results.
- AGA membership or payment of a $10 rating fee is
required for all players. (The AGA waives this
requirement for person living outside the US if they
are members of their own national organizations.) Make
sure you have plenty of membership forms on hand.
Please enclose the appropriate fees and membership
information and mail to: AGA, PO Box 397, Old Chelsea Station, NY NY 10113..
NOTE: TDs of rated tournaments who fail to submit results or membership information in a timely manner will receive one e-mail reminder after thirty days. The AGA reserves the right to reject tournament data that is more than 90 days old.
Your tournament results will be entered into the system and
should be available at www.usgo.org/ratings.asp within a few weeks of submission.
Click here to download The Official
AGA Tournament Guide, which covers the material on
this page in much greater detail, and more!
You can also write to tournaments@usgo.org
for answers to your questions. Enjoy your new career as
a tournament director!
