Round-Robin Tournament
No, we're not talking about Batman's sidekick gaining too much weight. A round-robin tournament has nothing to do with superheroes, but it usually does involve super-strong chess players!
- What Is A Round-Robin Tournament?
- Why Are Round-Robin Tournaments Important?
- Wrapping Up
- Round-Robin Tournament Video
What Is A Round-Robin Tournament?
In chess (and other sports), round-robin tournaments are those in which every player or team needs to face all of the other players or teams at least once. The winner or winners are those who have the best overall score at the end of the competition.
In chess, every win equals one point for the winner, every draw equals half a point, and players don't get any points for losing.
The Candidates Tournament is the most famous round-robin tournament in chess. Other popular over-the-board championships that follow this format are the US Championship, the Russian Championship, and the Sinquefield Cup.
Why Are Round-Robin Tournaments Important?
Round-robin tournaments are the fairest way to determine who the best player in a group is. A player can be unlucky in other competitions and face the best player right off the bat, getting disqualified early.
However, that's impossible in round-robin tournaments since everyone faces everyone else. The competition is the same for every player, so luck plays no role in players' pairings. In theory, this ensures that only the player who can maintain a strong overall performance during the event wins the title.
Why isn't every tournament a round-robin, then? Mainly because it takes too long to finish! Can you imagine if an event like the US Chess Open, which usually has more than 400 competitors, had a round-robin format? A single tournament would take more than a whole year to finish. How tiring would that be?
Because of this, round-robin tournaments usually have a small number of participants. Typically, only the best players get invited to this sort of event. This means that if you're ever invited to play in a round-robin tournament, kudos to you! It probably means that you're an excellent player!
Wrapping Up
You now know what a round-robin tournament is, a few of the most important ones, and why this pairing system matters. Now head over to our Lessons page to learn essential chess concepts to get really good. If you practice enough, you might even get invited to a round-robin tournament!