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BGonline.org Forums
Tournament formats
Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Saturday, 23 April 2011, at 8:29 p.m.
Occasionally there are discussions here about how to increase the skill vs. luck balance in backgammon. I'm not a big fan of tinkering with the rules of the game, but I'm curious about the possibility of tinkering with the format of the tournament.
In chess and some other games, the Swiss system is quite popular, but I've never heard of its being used in backgammon. It seems to me that it would increase the skill vs. luck ratio yet would simultaneously be attractive to less "serious" players, who would be guaranteed a certain number of games. Is there some reason why the Swiss system is not used in backgammon?
Another question I have is why there is apparently no tournament or match where the number and length of the matches is increased to reduce the luck factor. Consider something like Denmark vs. the World. There is something to be said for the variety of types of matches that are used in the current format. But I think there is also something to be said for a format that has the players playing as much as possible. Suppose for example that every player were to play an 11-point match with every player on the other team. Then everyone would be playing all the time (except of course when someone's match finishes early), and it would seem that more playing time would equate to more skill.
There is always a great deal of interest in "who the best player in the world is" and so it would seem natural to have some high-level tournaments where the luck factor is reduced by increasing the amount of time players face each other OTB.
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