Swissjärjestelmän

Swissjärjestelmän, commonly known as the Swiss system, is a non-eliminating tournament scoring system used in chess, bridge, and other games. Its primary goal is to pair players with similar scores against each other throughout the tournament, ensuring that the strongest players meet and that players do not play against the same opponent more than once.

In a typical Swiss system tournament, all participants start with the same score. In the first round, players are paired randomly or based on predetermined rankings. After the first round, players who won their matches are paired against other winners, and players who lost are paired against other losers. This process continues for a predetermined number of rounds. The winner of the tournament is typically the player with the highest score after all rounds are completed. Tie-breaking systems are often employed to determine the final standings when multiple players have the same score.

The Swiss system is popular because it allows for a large number of participants and can be completed in a reasonable amount of time, unlike a round-robin tournament where every player plays every other player. It also provides a fair competitive environment by consistently matching players of comparable skill levels. This system is widely adopted by chess federations and tournament organizers worldwide due to its efficiency and fairness in determining a clear winner from a large field of competitors.