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Topic summary

Posted by bluejak
 - 20 October, 2010, 10:44 PM
The experience in England is simple: Swiss Pairs is the most popular form of the game.

An interesting question, however, is how you are going to score it.  All Swiss Pairs in the British Isles is scored by matchpoints, which seems right for a club championship that was previously a MP pairs.  However, I discovered when i was in Australia that Swiss Pairs there was usually done by imps.

I believe for a club championship that MPs would be more popular unless your club has regular imp games anyway.

Scoring is the obvious problem with Swiss Pairs.  If you do intend to use MPs I recommend getting Jeff Smith's program.  It is completely free, and can be downloaded from http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~jasmith/
Posted by MIP
 - 14 October, 2010, 05:25 PM
There's a difference. In a Howell movement you are still competing against all other pairs who hold the same cards. In a Swiss pairs if you happen to sit the wrong way and your opponents manage to bid a slam or a couple of tight games you must lose that match. Nevertheless I too still play in Swiss pairs.
Posted by Paul Sherman
 - 14 October, 2010, 09:38 AM
Just a quick note on what Mike said: "Some people dislike Swiss Pairs because of the element of luck in regard to which direction you are sitting when the cards happen to go one way in a match but that's no reason not to do it."

The same could be said for the Howell movement but that's no reason to downgrade Howells. Swiss Pairs is one of my favourite types of events and I'm sure I'm not alone. You will have an enjoyable time running it and the participants will equally enjoy it. Good luck with it.

Posted by niftyneville
 - 12 October, 2010, 06:29 PM
Yes I did mean Swiss Pairs! Sorry for the typo. We will definitely have an even number of pairs.
Posted by MIP
 - 12 October, 2010, 06:05 PM
I assume that you mean Swiss pairs where you say Swiss Teams. There is no administrative reason why you should not do this and the Swiss draw will not fall over in 7 matches. In terms of a club championship it is both appropriate and fair. Some people dislike Swiss Pairs because of the element of luck in regard to which direction you are sitting when the cards happen to go one way in a match but that's no reason not to do it.

Make sure that you have the appropriate stationery for scoring (unless you use electronic scorers) and that, whatever happens, you have an even number of pairs.
Posted by niftyneville
 - 12 October, 2010, 05:40 PM
We hold two annual Championship Pairs Events at our club - one over 3 sessions and the second a one day event that has traditionally been played as a Match Point Duplicate event of 2 sessions.  This year we have decided to play this second event as a Swiss Teams - 24 Pairs have entered and I plan to play 7 eight board matches. Do you feel this is appropriate and fair?