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Draw Methodology

Guidelines for the Tournament Organiser and Controllers.

Method of Doing the Draw in KJCA Tournaments.

In the First Round .

  1. Sort the pairing cards by grade – highest first. Then take all ungraded players and add them alphabetically.
  2. Count the cards and divide into two halves. The top half will play the bottom half from the top down with all odd-numbered cards in the top half (highest grade being first) having White and all even-numbered cards in the top half Black. If there are an uneven number of cards, the player at the bottom of the bottom half gets a 1-point bye.
  3. Once the 1 st round draw has been done (preferably the evening before the tournament), it is not to be re-done to accommodate subsequent entries – these are to be added in at the bottom.

In all Subsequent Rounds.

  1. Separate the pairing cards into groups containing all players with the same score.
  2. Within each group starting with the group with the highest score, place the cards into grade order from highest down.
  3. Split each group in half, i.e. a group of 14 would be split into the top 7 and bottom 7.
  4. Give each of the top half the opposite colour from that which they respectively played in the previous round.
  5. Pair the bottom half from the top down against the top half, i.e. in the example in 3 above, 1 plays 8 etc.
  6. If any pairings resulting from the above have already played one another or any player would be playing the same colour for the third successive match, make the minimum alterations to the pairings necessary to avoid either of these situations.
  7. If there is an odd number of players on any score, then the bottom player floats down to play the top player from the score below, who technically floats up. In the bottom group, the player would get a one-point bye. Ensure that no player gets more than one down float, up float or bye in the tournament, unless it is unavoidable.
  8. It is permissible to alter the draw only to avoid players from the same school or club or siblings playing against each other if this can be achieved with minimum alterations and unless it is obviously unfair, e.g. they are alone together on maximum points going into the last round.
  9. It is most important that these guidelines are followed, as, to attract and retain good players, KJCA tournaments must be generally perceived to be professionally-run in all respects.
  10. If in doubt about any of the above during a tournament, ask.