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Thread: Cumulative tiebreak to be reintroduced

  1. #1

    Default Cumulative tiebreak to be reintroduced

    The FIDE Technical Commission has decided to reintroduce the Cumulative tiebreak in competitive chess. The date of this reintroduction is not specified. Formerly, this tiebreak has been removed based on this argument: if two players did met the same opponents and got the same results against each opponent, the cumulative tiebreak would declare a winner in a situation in which, clearly, both players are indeed equal.

    This argument was lame because under normal Swiss Pairing rules, the probability of such case is infinitesimal.

    Example

    Player 1

    Round 1 Opponent number 45 result 1
    Round 2 Opponent number 25 result 1
    Round 3 Opponent number 15 result 1
    Round 4 Opponent number 10 result 0
    Round 5 Opponent number 2 result draw

    Player 2

    Round 1 Opponent number 10 result 0
    Round 2 Opponent number 15 result 1
    Round 3 Opponent number 25 result 1
    Round 4 Opponent number 45 result 1
    Round 5 Opponent number 1 result draw

    How can you explain the first round pairing 2-10 when it should have been 2-46 ? The only possible explanation is that player 46 and the opponent of player 10 did not show within the default time and that those players have been paired together after the default time.

    In the general case, having the same opponents and the same results against each opponent while complying with all Swiss pairing rules will occur rarely. No tiebreak system is perfect and apart from the cumulative, none has been withdrawn based on a single hypothetical case.

    Quote Originally Posted by FIDE Competition Rules
    8.3

    (3) In an L2, L3 or L4 tournament: If, after the round has started two players do not have a game, then they can be paired against each other. This is only allowed when the arbiter and both players agree and they have not already played in this tournament. The arbiter shall adjust the clock times in an equitable manner

    http://www.fide.com/images/stories/N...s/Annex_41.pdf
    Last edited by Pierre Dénommée; 12-16-2018 at 10:37 PM.

  2. #2
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    I have always felt it was "not right" that a specific tiebreak system be EXCLUDED, when any tiebreak system has pros and cons, and any tiebreak system includes parameters that are beyond any player's actual control. I admit lobbying at FIDE for this return, and I appreciate the people with greater influence than I who've apparently succeeded. By the way, in recent years, I've discovered a "cumulative alternative" that helps wipe out "last round predictability", and it is the tiebreak system sometimes called "sum of cumulatives". Basically, you just add up ALL the CUMULATIVES from every opponent. A tie still after that is very low probability.

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by Aris Marghetis View Post
    By the way, in recent years, I've discovered a "cumulative alternative" that helps wipe out "last round predictability", and it is the tiebreak system sometimes called "sum of cumulatives". Basically, you just add up ALL the CUMULATIVES from every opponent. A tie still after that is very low probability.
    This system is in the FQE rulebook since the 5th edition. I have never heard of anybody using it.

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