Most Swiss-system tournaments are unfair: Evidence from chess

L\'aszl\'o Csat\'o

Papers from arXiv.org

Abstract: Swiss-system is an increasingly popular tournament format as it provides an attractive trade-off between the number of matches and ranking accuracy. However, few empirical research consider the optimal design of the Swiss-system. We contribute to this issue by investigating the fairness of Swiss-system chess competitions with an odd number of rounds, where half of the players have an extra game with white pieces. They are proven to enjoy a significant advantage and to be overrepresented among both the highest-ranked and outperforming players. Therefore, Swiss-system tournaments should have an even number of rounds and use a pairing mechanism that guarantees a balanced colour assignment.

Date: 2024-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-des, nep-inv and nep-spo
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