Tournament Resources
The essence of go is competition, and tournament play takes that rivalry to its highest level. Running a tournament will strengthen your club--you will get to know new players from your area--and you may even build your club's treasury! Organizing a tournament is probably easier than you think, especially if you can put some of local club members to work. A "tournament" can be held with as few as two players, and there are several interesting formats for as few as four players. Tournament game results can be submitted for rating, which is a major attraction many tournament players.
Useful Information
- The AGA rules of go: complete and concise versions
- The Ing rules of go: 1992 translation, 1996 translation, AGA commentary and counting tutorial.
- The Official AGA Tournament Guide--everything you need to know about planning, organizing and running a tournament
- AGA Tournament Regulations
- The AGA Swiss-McMahon Pairing Standards--detailed instructions on the AGA's Swiss McMahon system
- AGA ratings--requirements for rated games and how to submit them
Types of Tournaments
- Match Play--the oldest form of formal competition, match player features a series of games between two players. Some of the most famous games in history were played in this way, including Shusaku's "Ear Reddening Game" and Go Seigen's jubango matches of the 20th century, where he defeated every top Japanese pro to become the world's top player.
- Ladders--perfect for clubs that hold regular meetings. A ladder starts by listing members in roughly descending order of strength. Players challenge other members who are higher on the ladder. If they win, their name moves to the spot above the defeated player. Use magnetic labels holders--available from suppliers such as www.shoplet.com--on white board such as those made by US Markerboard. Ladders have the advantage of being ongoing events with flexible scheduling.
- Round Robin--everyone in the tournament plays everyone else. The player with the most wins is the champion. Round robin events with more than 8-10 people can become difficult to manage and another format is usually worth considering. Pairing charts for round robin events with up to ten players are available in the AGA Tournament Director's Guide.
- Leagues--a common format for top professional titles and club championships. Players meet some or all of the other players in the league over a given period of time. At the end, the league winner plays the title holder or defending club champion for the championship title. League play can be run over a single weekend or extended over several months. The Japanese Honinbo and Meijin championships are run as 8-person leagues, whose participants are selected through a series of preliminary tournaments.
- Self-Paired--Pairings? Who needs pairings? Not the TD who uses the self-pairing system! Just match players based on strength for the first round and post a signup sheet. When each game finishes, the players report the result, and consult a list of players who have finished their games. If they see a player on the list who he has not yet played, that is their pairing for the next round. If not, they add their names to the list and wait. The self-paired format works well for casual events, where handicaps may vary considerably within a small field. If player ranks vary widely, the director may also need to set a handicap limit.
- Knockout Tournaments--defeated players are eliminated and removed from the tournament until only a champion remains. Knockout tournaments are seldom used in AGA events. Typically players set aside the day to play in a tournament and don't want to leave after playing only one or two games. Fortunately, there are other pairing methods that guarantee every player an opponent in every round.
- Swiss McMahon--The Swiss-McMahon system is an adaptation of the Swiss pairing system used in most chess tournaments. In a Swiss tournament, all participants play all rounds, meeting other players with similar records. In 1970, Lee McMahon of the New York Go Club devised a variation that accounted for the differences in player strength that are so common in go. The Swiss McMahon system tournament format is commonly used within the AGA, particularly for larger events with more than ~20-25 players. Information on the Swiss McMahon system can be found in the Tournament Director Guide and in the AGA's definitive standards document.
- Accelrat--The Accelrat system uses the AGA rating algorithm to pair players of similar strength. Ratings are adjusted based on the game results of each round, and players meet opponents with the closest ratings as they go along.
Computer Pairings
People have been running huge tournaments since long before the PC was invented, but most TDs now use PCs to pair their tournaments. There are several programs used by AGA tournament directors to run their events:
- pyTD--a Python-based pairing application by Christopher Sira, will produce Swiss-McMahon style pairings and out put results in AGA compatible format
- Accelrat--uses the algorithm that powers the AGA rating system to "rate" players, pairing those who seem closest in strength.
- MGA GoTD--from the Massachusetts Go Association.
The AGA has defined a series of standards that define both how a Swiss McMahon tournament should be paired and a set of interface and data reporting standards. Programs that meet these requirements will be certified as "AGA compliant" in a vendor-neutral fashion. Standards documents and other reference information may be found on the AGA's Tournament Standards page.
There are also several programs used overseas for pairing Swiss McMahon tournaments. These programs are generally quite usable although they will not generate tournament reports for AGA ratings. Their implementation of the Swiss McMahon pairing system is also slightly different than the AGA standard system and so these programs are not suitable for AGA championship-level tournaments such as the US Open.
Warning: while the AGA often provides assistance to programmers tournament directing software, we do not currently certify programs as being "AGA compliant." Many programs released in the past have had quirks and bugs, some of which have only shown up in the middle of a tournament. Be sure to thoroughly test your program of choice before using it to run a tournament.
Before the Tournament
The AGA's Tournament Director's Guide is a terrific resource for any TD. The AGA can also help you in several other ways as you plan your event:
- Line up the space and equipment. If you need additional playing sets, the AGA can help you borrow from nearby clubs or find another way for you to have the equipment you need. Write to equipment@usgo.org for more information.
- Publicize your event. The days of stuffing and labeling hundreds of envelopes to publicize your event are over! Free publicity is available through the AGA's online tournament calendar and E-Journal. We can also send a special announcement of your event by e-mail to AGA members and chapters in your area.
- Get ratings data for your players. For many people, one of the attractions of a tournament is getting an AGA rating. You'll need to know the current rating and membership status for everyone who enters -- non-members have to join or pay a rating fee of $10. Use the AGA ratings page or the TDListA data file to confirm the strength and membership status of your players.
During the Tournament
Unrated Players
When players have AGA ratings or other statements of strength (e.g., a rated go server account) it is fairly easy to decide where they belong in the field. Rated players should play at their rated strength. Some players like to try to play above their actual strength, hoping to gain rating points if they "get lucky". This is a practice best discouraged. Not only do such players lose most of their games, they will drag down the tiebreak scores of their opponents.
Occasionally, a player will tell the TD that he has been studying since the last event and ask to play at a higher level. TDs have the discretion to honor such request, and for children that are rapidly improving it may be the only way for their rating to keep up with their actual strength. The standard is to increase a person's rank by at least two stones. Promotions of only one stone must be earned by play.
If an unknown player appears, the TD will often ask a top player to play through a few openings with him and offer an assessment of strength. The TD has complete discretion to move new players up or down in the field, depending on their results. The goal is to give each player the best possible games. If a new player is crushing his/her oppnents or being crushed, he/she is at the wrong rank.
Some players like to "sandbag" -- playing below their actual strength to assure victory. This is considered impolite and unethical. The Swiss-McMahon and Accelrat systems compensate for this to some degree, but the AGA encourages honest competition at all times.
Disputes
Problems occasionally arise during the course of a tournament. Players may complain about the conduct of an opponent, playing conditions or even the outcome of a game. Like a referee at a sporting event, the tournament director's word is final. Experienced TDs have seen most common problems and know how to respond. If you're new to directing, recruit an experienced TD to advise you--if you've got more than a dozen players, there's probably someone playing in your event that can help. At championship-level tournaments, TDs sometimes appoint an appeals committee at the start of the event to review difficult decisions.
After the Tournament
When your tournament or event is over send a tournament report to the AGA. This will include publicity, ratings and membership information.
- Publicity: Send the names and ranks of winners and a brief report to journal@usgo.org for publication in the next edition of The American Go E-Journal. The E-Journal is usually distributed on Monday, so the results of weekend tournaments should be sent out Sunday evening.
- Ratings: Send game results to the Ratings Coordinator at ratings@usgo.org in the standard ratings submission format. If you are using a computer pairing program it will probably be able to generate a ratings report automatically. Tournament results more than 30 days old may be rejected, so do not delay the ratings report.
- Membership: AGA membership or payment of a $10 rating fee is required for all US go players. This requirement is waived for players living outside the US if they are members of their own national association. Make sure you have plenty of membership forms on hand. Enclose the appropriate fees and membership information and mail to: AGA, P.O. Box 397, Old Chelsea Station, New York NY 10113.