Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 18:10:04 05/25/01
Go up one level in this thread
On May 25, 2001 at 16:52:30, Frank Phillips wrote: >On May 25, 2001 at 16:02:29, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>On May 25, 2001 at 09:58:04, Frank Phillips wrote: >> >>>On May 24, 2001 at 20:08:41, Peter McKenzie wrote: >>> >>>>Do we have a rough seeding list? >>>> >>>>I'm not too worried about exact positions, but where possible we should use a >>>>reasonable ordering. Poor seedings tend to upset the first few rounds, for >>>>example if Fritz played Shredder in the first round then some unfortunate first >>>>round loser would probably get to play Fritz (or Shredder)... >>>> >>> >>>If seeded I care neither whether I am top or bottom, but do not understand why >>>one of the best losing to another top program upsets the first few rounds. >>>Perhaps because I am not even sure what this means. >> >>In a Swiss, tie-breaks are pretty common. If you miss the seedings badly, >>then the tiebreaks are bad. IE the #1 seed will (if the seeds are 100% >>accurate) have the highest tie-break since he will always be paired with the >>strongest possible opposition (unless you have too many rounds as we do in >>CCT [with 32 players, 5 rounds is optimal]). If the best program is seeded >>as the bottom player in the top half, he will have weaker opponents round by >>round than the #1 seed, assuming both win until they meet. >> >> >> >>> >>>As far as I can see from the tennis analogy, seeding would seem to be designed >>>to ensure that the best only play each other in final rounds for the benefit of >>>the best, spectators and business interests. >>> >>>Why is seeding preferred to random initial pairings for this event. Is it some >>>necessary feature of the Swiss system. > >Got it. When I used to play in weekend (Swiss) congresses, many of the top >grades in my lowly class took a bye (draw) on the Friday evening. This seemed >to give them an easier tournament, even though they finished near the top, >sometimes as joint winners. A well-known trick is to throw the first game. This will give a high seed an easier tournament. It is often called the "Swiss gambit". The only risk is that someone might to unbeaten and you have no chance to catch them. But if you are the best player there, losing the first round can make life easier if you don't screw up and lose another game. :)
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