David Lavin & Thad Suits

[Aris Marghetis]

Hi guys, in completing the ratings input for my first event since the staggered rating fees went into effect on May 1st, I have come to the conclusion that the following specific recommendation would save the CFC office quite a bit of time in generating the rating report for FIDE, in the situations where the tournament is not completed using Swiss Sys for one reason or another :

Add an option to Swiss Assistant that colours can be entered in the same box as the result. For example, when someone enters +2 across from player 1, then the corresponding box for player 2 is automatically generated as -1.

So, augment this so that an entry for player 1, for example, +2 W, causes the player 2 box to be -1 B. In addition, add to the Swiss Assistant reports, the FIDE reports option from Swiss Sys. Voila, anyone think of anything else?

I feel that these recommendations take advantage of the work already done, and will further reduce efforts at the CFC office, for little extra TD efforts.

Best regards, Aris Marghetis (my next TD gig is only a month away! ;)

[Tony Ficzere]

Hi Aris,

Do you use computer generated pairings? If so, why not just use SwissSys. Its free and simple to use. Yes, there are a few bugs, but they are slowly getting them fixed. Then both FIDE and CFC rating reports are just a click away.

If you pair by hand, then you are stuck using the utility, which I am not fond of.

[Aris Marghetis]

Hi Aris,

Do you use computer generated pairings? If so, why not just use SwissSys. Its free and simple to use. Yes, there are a few bugs, but they are slowly getting them fixed. Then both FIDE and CFC rating reports are just a click away.

If you pair by hand, then you are stuck using the utility, which I am not fond of.
My last 2 events, I have had to resort to pairing cards during the event. I don't even want to bring my computer, and I certainly cannot afford to replace the heat sink, or whatever the heck is making it crash once in a while.

I feel that my recommendations are liberating, in that they decouple having to use Swiss Sys during the event in order to report on that event in the most economical manner for the CFC office. These changes should be easy?

P.S. Not to sound haughty, but I am not crazy about even "a few bugs" ;)

[Tony Ficzere]

Well, the bugs I have come across have been minor, and the program hasn't caused me any serious grief.

I didn't vote for the rule change that the CFC put into place, but I am adapting to them. What can you do? You can complain, but I've found that my complaints just fall on deaf ears. This was one of the reasons I resigned as governor.

That being said, I'm not entirely against standardizing tournament submissions. Having worked at the CFC in the past, I know what a hastle it can be. You wouldn't believe some of the submissions that come in. Just ask Tom O'Donnell sometime, he can tell you some stories. Nothing worse than having to track someone down to solve a riddle.

SwissSys would not have been my choice for a program. Swiss Manager would have been. This program is recommended by FIDE, and is used everywhere in Europe. I have tried it and it is far superior to SwissSys. The CFC probably went with SwissSys because of the license agreement, and nothing else. I don't think they did much research (if any at all).

Good luck with your tournaments Aris, I have heard nothing but good stuff about your events.

[Aris Marghetis]

Hi Tony, thanks for the compliments. I've also heard great things about you!

Regarding the whole Swiss Sys thing, I'm not complaining anymore, really! I voted, and it's a democracy, and I'm good with that process. However, the best experience possible for the players in my events overrides everything, so last event, when I got nervous about my laptop problems in just the 2nd round, I resorted to what I knew would work for us all, which was my cards (backup plan). But then after the event, after I had only deducted $3 per player for CFC rating, and in the interest of helping Gerry out at the CFC office, it was, in my opinion, not as easy as I expected to Swiss-ify the tournament results. Hence, my recommendations above. I sincerely believe those 2 simple recommendations will be welcomed by both Gerry and some TDs, like myself. If other TDs don't need these improvements, no problems.

[Christopher Mallon]

The suggestions make sense to me... have you emailed them to Thad Suits?

[Aris Marghetis]

The suggestions make sense to me... have you emailed them to Thad Suits?
I don't know who from the CFC would do that, but Stijn has offered to check.

By the way, from an Organizer/TD viewpoint, if we implement these two rather straightforward ideas, then anyone in the country could enter as easily into the rating system, as the CMA guys do with Larry's system!