What are Swiss Events ?

Swiss Pairs and Swiss Teams Events

These may sound a bit continental but the Swiss idea comes from chess. As there is insufficient time to play against everybody there has to be a sensible way of finding opponents other than by drawing lots or tossing a coin.

In the first round it is by drawing lots. You play a match (a number of boards - usually seven or eight) against your opponents which is more than you play in the club where rounds are normally two or three boards. But it means you get the chance to learn more about your opponents - whether they are any good. At the end of the round the final score is calculated. If you beat your opponents you go up the ranking list; if you lose you go down.

Now this is where the Swiss element comes in - for the next round you are matched against a pair/team with the same score as you. Now you play another match and carry on for as many matches as there are in the tournament, moving up or down the field at the end of each round. The higher you get the tougher your opponents should be.

The other element in a Swiss event is that you only play against another pair/team once so even if you are leading the field you cannot place against the pair/team lying second if you have played them before. You will be drawn against the leading contestant you haven't previously played.

At the end of the tournament the team with the highest score wins.

Scoring

Scoring in Swiss Pairs events is done by the TD and the official scorers; scoring in Swiss Teams is easily done by the players. But in either case each match is played for 20 Victory Points. You share the 20 VPs between you and your opponents. You might win your match 20-0 or 14-6 or lose it 1-19.
You might even draw it 10-10. To win 20-0 in Swiss Pairs you have to score about 66% of the available Match Points whilst in Swiss Teams you have to win by 30 or more IMPs.

Prizes

There will always be prizes for the top few contestants, but sometimes there will be special category prizes for 'non-experts' or 'juniors'. The definition of a 'non-expert' is fixed by the organiser of the competition depending on the level of contestants expected. Quite often it will be 'everybody below regional master' but it might be lower than this.

In some tournaments there are 'spot' prizes in addition to the final ranking list prizes. For example, there might be prizes in a Swiss Teams for the 'highest IMP win each round'. Although you only need to score 30 IMPs to win 20-0 sometimes you might win by 50 or even 60 IMPs. In this way your achievement might be especially recognised by 4 bottles of wine for your team. This incentive is available throughout the field so even the teams at the bottom of the field have an opportunity of winning something even though they are out of the running for a main prize.

Swiss events are great fun and even if you are fairly new you will soon find your own level in the field.