Vanilla pairings / Color Blind pairings

[dmforsythe]

Testing out the SwissSys 6.0, there are some pairings that make me ask what they are. Can anyone give me a simple reason for the pros and cons of the VANILLA pairings and the COLOR BLIND pairings

[rfeditor]

@dmforsythe

Testing out the SwissSys 6.0, there are some pairings that make me ask what they are. Can anyone give me a simple reason for the pros and cons of the VANILLA pairings and the COLOR BLIND pairings

The “Vanilla pairings” option will make no transpositions for any reason – even if the players have already been paired. This is intended only as a training tool (so you can practice switching players or finding illegal pairings), and should never be used for in a real tournament.

“Color-blind” pairings will make no transpositions for colors. Personally I can’t see any advantage to this, but I know one NTD who loves it. If you use this, it should be announced, as it is a major pairing variation.

[dmforsythe]

Thanks John:

Have been thinking of a game ten swiss with twenty rounds. Very sure I will have to pair players against each other more than once. In that case the ‘Vanilla pairings’ could be used, if it does not do the transpositions of color than would not. The players would know they can be paired against each other more than once, it would be insulting to be paired against the same person with Black twice.

Would never use the ‘Color Blind’ pairings. Reporting major variations bring up more questions from the players. Only see a major disadvantage to the pairings.

[rfeditor]

@dmforsythe

Thanks John:

Have been thinking of a game ten swiss with twenty rounds. Very sure I will have to pair players against each other more than once. In that case the ‘Vanilla pairings’ could be used, if it does not do the transpositions of color than would not. The players would know they can be paired against each other more than once, it would be insulting to be paired against the same person with Black twice.

You could do it that way, but a better method is to pair normally and just override the warning when it has to pair people twice. The problem with the “Vanilla” setting is that it would not adjust for colors either, which is probably not what you want.

[dmforsythe]

@rfeditor

@dmforsythe

Thanks John:

Have been thinking of a game ten swiss with twenty rounds. Very sure I will have to pair players against each other more than once. In that case the ‘Vanilla pairings’ could be used, if it does not do the transpositions of color than would not. The players would know they can be paired against each other more than once, it would be insulting to be paired against the same person with Black twice.

You could do it that way, but a better method is to pair normally and just override the warning when it has to pair people twice. The problem with the “Vanilla” setting is that it would not adjust for colors either, which is probably not what you want.

Hmmmmm, override the warning or override the color. The Vanilla pairing looks to be as good as pairing cards! I hate pairing cards.

[jwiewel]

@dmforsythe

Thanks John:

Have been thinking of a game ten swiss with twenty rounds. Very sure I will have to pair players against each other more than once.
…

Doug, there are a couple of things you should check.

First, without making any special adjustments the software may already pair players a second time if they are far enough ahead of the field. I know that WinTD will do that if there are a large number of rounds compared to the number of players (there is a warning that comes up when that happens). That seems to start happening near round 8 or 10 when there are only 20 players.
There was another thread about Bill Smythe’s point count pairings, and having a pair of players meet again may be less of an impact than other tortuous switches that could be made by jumping multiple score groups.

Second, make sure your version of the software can handle twenty rounds. It might be limited to less than that.

[dmforsythe]

@jwiewel

Second, make sure your version of the software can handle twenty rounds. It might be limited to less than that.

Good point, I should run some test tournaments before publishing the tournament.

[rfeditor]

@jwiewel

@dmforsythe

Thanks John:

Have been thinking of a game ten swiss with twenty rounds. Very sure I will have to pair players against each other more than once.
…

Doug, there are a couple of things you should check.

First, without making any special adjustments the software may already pair players a second time if they are far enough ahead of the field. I know that WinTD will do that if there are a large number of rounds compared to the number of players (there is a warning that comes up when that happens). That seems to start happening near round 8 or 10 when there are only 20 players.
There was another thread about Bill Smythe’s point count pairings, and having a pair of players meet again may be less of an impact than other tortuous switches that could be made by jumping multiple score groups.

Second, make sure your version of the software can handle twenty rounds. It might be limited to less than that.

SwissSys has a maximum of 14 rounds. 2) The program will not pair players twice if there is any way to avoid it (that is, after all, the first Swiss System rule). If there is no alternative, you get a warning saying something like “Unable to follow Swiss System rules.” If you say “OK,” it will go ahead and pair, following the other rules as best it can.