The Instant Tournament Primer W. J. Hansen Pittsburgh Go Club If you've competed in the Congress Championship or another major tournament, you may think that running a tournament is a major effort. Not so. This note will show you how to run a small local tournament with a small team and little effort. Why have a tournament? Though many players are content with a weekly game of go with a good friend, others get additional satisfaction from the variety, challenge, and intensity of tournament play. That is, the goal isn't to win a championship, but rather to meet new people and tackle new board situations. For a club, a tournament is an opportunity to come together and to produce some publicity, attracting new members. For the game itself, more tournaments help spread the fun to more people. For those wishing official ratings, tournament results can be sent to the AGA. A major tournament is run by a large team: organizer, tournament director, equipment planner, treasurer, publicist, registrar, prize committee, and even a computer operator to do the pairings. But we are holding a simple tournament, so let's see how to get along without most of these folks. All we are going to need are players. A practical minimum is probably six; the smallest tournament I've been in had eight players, and we had a great time. Treasurer - takes care of the entry fees. Avoid him by not having any entry fee. If your venue wants payment, maybe they can post someone at the door to collect. Prize committee - arranges prizes. Simply define prizes as being a multiple of the entry fee, say 3 for first place, 1.5 for second. With the proposed entry fee, administering these prizes is a snap. One lasting reward is a listing of winners maintained on a banner posted at each meeting. Equipment planner - arranges playing equipment. Everyone bring there own boards. If even half the players bring boards, that will be enough. Clocks aren't usually necessary; set a nominal limit of an hour and a half for each game. It is wise to have a clock on hand in case two really slow players are paired. If necessary to keep play going, a game can be adjourned--at least it can with the prearranged pairings system. Publicist - makes sure plenty of people know about the tournament. In the past I have found mailings to be marginally effective. The best publicity is word-of-mouth. Announce the tournament at club meetings. Call one or two nearby clubs. (If you are planning a few months ahead, call Fred Hansen at 412 421 5121 to arrange listing the tournament in AGA publications.) Since this is supposed to be a small tournament anyway, don't worry too much about whether people hear about it. Organizer - schedules the tournament and arranges a venue. Assuming there are some people who want to be in a tournament, they have to get together and decide, for instance, "The tournament will be a week from Saturday." The venue does have to be arranged. With luck, someone will belong to a school, church, or business that has a meeting room available on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. Use your imagination; tournaments have been held in coffee shops, malls, and zoos. Small tournaments can be held in living rooms. A signle day is probably enough, though it does impose a practical limit of four rounds. A start time of 9:30 is reasonable, depending on whether people are driving in from a distance on the morning of the event. Computer operator - provides a computer and runs a pairing program for each round. Much too complicated for our small tournament. See below for simple ways. Tournament director - arranges pairings between the players and resolves disputes that arise during play. Things do run more smoothly if someone is appointed to this task; but several steps will reduce the effort. With the prize structure and entry fees we are talking about here, disputes will not affect much. At worst, you can flip a coin. Just be sure that once a particular decision is made it is enforced the same way in all cases. Before pairing players, a playing rank must be decided for each player. This is an inexact science, just do the best you can. If ranks are uncertain, they can be adjusted after the first round or two. Ideally, players will have played others often enough to establish relative strengths. If not, ratings might be estimated by playing a quick preliminary game or evaluating the number of games played. For neophytes the rating might be 50 kyu minus number-of-games-played. Those who have played daily for a year might be 10 kyu depending on the strength of their opponent. Two simple pairing schemes don't require a computer: Pairings by knockout. As far as possible, divide the player pool in groups of eight by ranking. Pair people by rank for the first round and play winners against winners and losers against losers in subsequent rounds. In three rounds each division will have a three game winner and three people who have won two games each. You can hold a fourth round to resolve second place, or award second to the player who lost to the first place player. Pairings prearranged. Our club has had fun using a pairing system described by Roger White. Players are grouped in divisions of eight (or six if needed) and assigned letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H, in order of strength. Then the pairings are played in a prearranged pattern round 1 - AB, CE, DF, GH round 2 - AC, BF, DG, EH round 3 - AD, BC, EG, FH round 4 - AE, BD, CH, FG round 5 - AG, BH, CD, EF (we usually play only four rounds) With six players suitable pairings are: round 1 - AB, CE, DF round 2 - AD, BC, EF round 3 - AC, BF, DE round 4 - AE, BD, CF round 5 - AF, BE, CD (this makes full round robin) With ten players you might try: round 1 - AB, CE, DF, GH, IJ round 2 - AC, BD, EF, GI, HJ round 3 - AD, BC, EH, FI, GJ round 4 - AF, BH, CG, EJ, DI round 5 - AG, BE, CI, DJ, FH Since pairings are prearranged, players can schedule their own matches. Often rounds get played out of order as two players find themselves available while their upcoming opponents are busily engaged. Note that the pairing for six players in the first round is a subset of the pairing for eight players. Thus if two arrive after the first round has begun, they can be merged in, expanding the group to eight. When there are an odd number of players and only four rounds, one player will have a bye in each round. With four rounds, there will be four players with byes and they can play each other in a "fifth" round so everyone gets four games. (With five players the fifth round is DC and EB; with seven players it is EF and GC, and with nine GE and HI.) When our venue has a black board, we post the pairings on a grid with the letters across top and left. In the cell at each intersection we display the number of the round where the two players meet. The same grid can be used to record results. There will be ties. With a prize structure giving zero dollars for first and second, it is easy to award duplicate prizes in case of tie. In later tournaments you can explore tie breakers like sum-of-opponent's-score and sum-of-defeated-opponent's-scores. These tips should get you started on running a fun tournament. It's easy enough to do three or four times a year. For more elaborate tournaments a comprehensive handbook on running tournaments prepared by Ken Koester is available from the American Go Association, PO Box 397, Old Chelsea Sta., NY 10113-0397. And remember. If you can schedule a few months in advance, contact Chris Garlock <71112.110@compuserve.com> (716) 272-9780 at so he can announce the tournament in AGA publications.