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1. The result of the direct encounter(s) between the players (if any)
5. Buchholz Cut 1 (the Buchholz score reduced by the lowest score of the
opponents)
7. Sonneborn-Berger
Median
Main article: Buchholz system
The Median system is also known as the Harkness System, after its
inventor Kenneth Harkness. For each player, this system sums the number of
points earned by the player's opponents, but discarding the highest and
lowest. If there are nine or more rounds, the top two and bottom two scores
are discarded. Unplayed games by the opponents count point. Unplayed
games by the player count zero points. This is also known as the Median-
Buchholz System (Just & Burg 2003:199200).
Modified Median
Players with exactly 50% score are handled as in the regular Median
system
Players with more than 50% score have only their lowest-scoring
opponent's score discarded
Players with less than 50% score have only their highest-scoring
opponent's score discarded (Just & Burg 2003:199200).
Solkoff
This system is the same as the Median system, except that no scores are
discarded (Just & Burg 2003:200). Ephraim Solkoff did not invent this system.
He introduced it to the United States in 1950, but it was used in England
prior to that (Harkness 1967:138).
Cumulative
To calculate this, sum the running score for each round. For example, if a
player has (in order) a win, loss, win, draw, and a loss; his round-by-round
score will be 1, 1, 2, 2, 2. The sum of these numbers is 9. This system
places more weight on games won in the early rounds and the least weight
on games won in the final rounds. The rationale for this system is that a
player who scored well early in the tournament has most likely faced tougher
opponents in later rounds and should therefore be favored over a player who
scored poorly in the start before subsequently scoring points against weaker
opponents (Just & Burg 2003:200201).
Cumulative opponent's score
This sums the cumulative scores of the player's opponents (Just & Burg
2003:202).
If the tied players played each other, if one of them won then he finishes
higher on tie-break (Just & Burg 2003:201).
The player that had the black pieces the most times finishes highest on tie-
breaks (Just & Burg 2003:201).
The player with the most wins finishes highest on tie-breaks. This is used as
the first tie-break rule for individual tournaments in ICCF.
Kashdan
Invented by Isaac Kashdan, this system awards four points for a win, two
points for a draw, one point for a loss, and none for an unplayed game. As a
result, if players with no unplayed games tie, the one with fewer draws
finishes higher on the tie-break (i.e. a win and a loss is better than two
draws) (Just & Burg 2003:201).
Sonneborn-Berger score
Main article: Sonneborn-Berger score
Add the scores of every opponent the player beats and half of the score of
every opponent the player draws (Just & Burg 2003:201). The system was
named after William Sonneborn and Johann Berger, but it was invented
by Oscar Gelbfuhs (Harkness 1967:137). The system is the main tie-breaking
system in round robin tournaments, but is also used in Swiss tournaments. It
is also called the Neustadtl score.
When the system is used to break ties between equally scoring players,
adding in the square of the player's raw score does no good, so the
Sonneborn improvement is omitted. However, the system has retained the
Sonneborn-Berger name (Harkness 1967:13637).
Opponent's performance]
This method uses the average performance rating of the player's opponents.
The "performance rating" of a player is basically the rating he would receive
if he had started the tournament without a rating (Just & Burg 2003:202).
The average rating of the player's opponents (Just & Burg 2003:202).
Time of loss
Among tied players, the player whose first loss came last gets priority. If
player As first loss was in round 4 and player Bs first loss was in round 2,
player A gets priority. This was a tiebreaker used by POP in 2004-2005.
Tardiness
If a player arrives after the first round is paired, the player loses priority. This
tiebreaker is currently used by POP.
The tie is broken by one or more games played with fast time control, or Fast
chess.
FIDE rules provide for a single fast decisive game. Black gets five minutes on
the clock whereas White gets six minutes but must win (i.e. a draw counts as
a win for Black). The player who wins the draw of lots may choose which
color he wants.
Coin flip
As a last resort, ties are broken by a random process such as a coin flip (Just
& Burg 2003:203).
The U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) recommends these as the first four tie-
breaking methods to be used: (Just & Burg 2003:199)
1. Modified Median
2. Solkoff
3. Cumulative