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The possibility of a tie is why I don't care for round robins

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 3:10 p.m.

In Response To: The possibility of a tie is why I don't care for round robins (sebalotek)

There isn't any perfect tie-break system. The chess world has had to deal with this headache for decades and it still causes confusion. See this article for a discussion of the weird tie-break situation that occurred in the recent Olympiad.

Having a playoff, as some have suggested, is a possibility, but if you're down to 3 players then there is possibility of getting stuck in an infinite loop (A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A, and we're back to having to break a tie again). With 4 players at least you can conduct a single-elimination tournament (with random seedings) as a tie-break.

Just pick something and make sure it's clearly explained to everyone in advance.

Messages In This Thread

• What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
  sebalotek -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 9:53 a.m.
  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
    Casper Van der Tak -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 12:04 p.m.
    • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
      sebalotek -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 1:06 p.m.
      • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
        Casper Van der Tak -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 1:53 p.m.
  • The possibility of a tie is why I don't care for round robins
    Ken Larsen -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 12:17 p.m.
    • The possibility of a tie is why I don't care for round robins
      sebalotek -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 1:29 p.m.
      • The possibility of a tie is why I don't care for round robins
        Timothy Chow -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 3:10 p.m.
        • The possibility of a tie is why I don't care for round robins
          sebalotek -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 3:54 p.m.
  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
    David Levy -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 1:57 p.m.
    • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
      Casper Van der Tak -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 2:29 p.m.
      • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
        sebalotek -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 3:28 p.m.
        • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
          neilkaz -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 4:03 p.m.
    • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
      sebalotek -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 3:08 p.m.
      • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
        David Levy -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 4:33 p.m.
        • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
          sebalotek -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 6:52 p.m.
  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
    neilkaz -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 2:52 p.m.
    • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins? +1
      Bill Riles -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 8:02 p.m.
  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
    Rick Janowski -- Thursday, 22 September 2016, at 9:50 p.m.
    • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
      sebalotek -- Friday, 23 September 2016, at 5:38 a.m.
  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
    Colin Owen -- Friday, 23 September 2016, at 12:55 a.m.
    • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
      sebalotek -- Friday, 23 September 2016, at 5:54 a.m.
      • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
        Casper Van der Tak -- Friday, 23 September 2016, at 7:32 a.m.
        • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
          sebalotek -- Friday, 23 September 2016, at 8:13 a.m.
          • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
            Rick Janowski -- Friday, 23 September 2016, at 8:56 a.m.
            • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
              sebalotek -- Friday, 30 September 2016, at 7:21 a.m.
              • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                Jakob Garal -- Saturday, 1 October 2016, at 9:03 p.m.
                • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                  Bob Koca -- Saturday, 1 October 2016, at 11:33 p.m.
                  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                    Jakob Garal -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 8:36 a.m.
                    • Garalgammon
                      Rick Janowski -- Monday, 3 October 2016, at 6:48 a.m.
                      • Garalgammon
                        Jakob Garal -- Monday, 3 October 2016, at 9:52 p.m.
                        • Garalgammon
                          Rick Janowski -- Tuesday, 4 October 2016, at 5:21 a.m.
                          • Garalgammon
                            Jakob Garal -- Tuesday, 4 October 2016, at 1:16 p.m.
                            • Garalgammon
                              Casper Van der Tak -- Tuesday, 4 October 2016, at 2:10 p.m.
                              • Garalgammon
                                Jakob Garal -- Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at 12:03 a.m.
                                • Garalgammon
                                  Casper Van der Tak -- Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at 8:34 a.m.
                                  • Garalgammon
                                    Jakob Garal -- Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at 9:40 a.m.
                            • Garalgammon
                              Dmitriy Obukhov -- Tuesday, 4 October 2016, at 3:21 p.m.
                              • Garalgammon
                                Jakob Garal -- Tuesday, 4 October 2016, at 11:30 p.m.
                                • Garalgammon
                                  Dmitriy Obukhov -- Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at 5:15 p.m.
                                  • Garalgammon
                                    Jakob Garal -- Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at 5:47 p.m.
                                    • Garalgammon
                                      Dmitriy Obukhov -- Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at 7:57 p.m.
                                      • Honest_Answer_at_least
                                        Jakob Garal -- Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at 11:09 p.m.
                                        • Honest_Answer_at_least
                                          Rick Janowski -- Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at 11:32 p.m.
                                          • Honest_Answer_at_least_OK?
                                            Jakob Garal -- Thursday, 6 October 2016, at 8:34 a.m.
                                        • Honest_Answer_at_least
                                          Dmitriy Obukhov -- Thursday, 6 October 2016, at 2:20 a.m.
                            • Crawford Rule History
                              Rick Janowski -- Tuesday, 4 October 2016, at 3:24 p.m.
                              • Crawford Rule History
                                Jakob Garal -- Tuesday, 4 October 2016, at 11:21 p.m.
                • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                  Dmitriy Obukhov -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 3:49 a.m.
                  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                    Jakob Garal -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 8:23 a.m.
                    • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                      Dmitriy Obukhov -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 6:16 p.m.
                      • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                        Jakob Garal -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 7:47 p.m.
                        • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                          Dmitriy Obukhov -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 9:37 p.m.
              • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                Colin Owen -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 2:05 p.m.
                • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                  Casper Van der Tak -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 2:25 p.m.
                  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                    Bob Koca -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 9:29 p.m.
                    • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                      sebalotek -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 9:52 p.m.
                      • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                        Bob Koca -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 10:24 p.m.
                        • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                          sebalotek -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 11:42 p.m.
                • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                  sebalotek -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 9:37 p.m.
                  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                    Bob Koca -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 10:28 p.m.
                    • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                      sebalotek -- Monday, 3 October 2016, at 8:55 a.m.
                  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                    Neil Robins -- Tuesday, 4 October 2016, at 8:31 p.m.
                    • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                      sebalotek -- Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at 6:10 p.m.
                      • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                        Colin Owen -- Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at 7:15 p.m.
                        • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                          sebalotek -- Thursday, 6 October 2016, at 9:15 a.m.
              • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
                Rick Janowski -- Sunday, 2 October 2016, at 3:38 p.m.
      • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
        Sean Garber -- Saturday, 24 September 2016, at 4:02 a.m.
        • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
          Sean Garber -- Saturday, 24 September 2016, at 4:07 a.m.
      • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
        Jakob Garal -- Thursday, 29 September 2016, at 4:59 p.m.
  • Why football type score tie-breaks are undesireable
    Rick Janowski -- Friday, 23 September 2016, at 3:36 p.m.
  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
    Neil Robins -- Monday, 26 September 2016, at 8:53 p.m.
  • What is the best (fairest and most efficient) way to tie-break 4 player round robins?
    Phil Simborg -- Friday, 30 September 2016, at 7:23 p.m.