Guide · अध्याय 03 Complete guide to round robin chess tournaments. Berger tables for 4-14 players, single vs double round robin, restricted draw of lots, and when to use round robin vs Swiss.
The round robin is the gold standard of chess tournament formats — every player faces every other player, and the final ranking is beyond dispute. The World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament, national league finals, and elite invitationals all use this format. This chapter explains how to schedule one correctly using Berger tables, with complete ready-to-use schedules for 4 to 10 players.
A round robin tournament (also called all-play-all) is one where every participant plays against every other participant exactly once. With N players, each player plays exactly N−1 games. The final standings reflect the complete head-to-head record — nothing is left to chance or pairing luck.
This makes round robin the fairest format in chess, but also the most demanding in terms of time. With 10 players you need 9 rounds. With 14, you need 13. For open tournaments with 50 or more players it is simply impractical — which is why the Swiss system exists.
| Players | Single RR rounds | Double RR rounds | Total games (single) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| 6 | 5 | 10 | 15 |
| 8 | 7 | 14 | 28 |
| 10 | 9 | 18 | 45 |
| 12 | 11 | 22 | 66 |
| 14 | 13 | 26 | 91 |
Round robin is the right choice for club championships, league finals, invitational events, qualification events where every game must count, and any situation where the group is small (4–14 players) and you have enough time.
In a single round robin, each pair of players meets exactly once. The color is determined by the Berger table and cannot be changed. In a double round robin, each pair meets twice — once with each color. The second cycle reverses all colors from the first, eliminating color as a variable in the final standings.
Elite events like the Candidates Tournament and most national league formats use double round robin because it is the fairest over two cycles. For club events, single round robin is usually sufficient.
2–3 days, 6–8 players: single round robin, 2–3 games per day.
Full week, 6 players: double round robin, fully conclusive results.
More than 10 players with limited time: consider Swiss instead.
Berger tables are designed for an even number of players. If your tournament has an odd number of participants, add a dummy player (labeled BYE) to make the total even. Any player paired against the dummy receives a free half-point and does not play that round. The Berger table for N+1 players is used, with the (N+1)th slot as the dummy.
Suppose Lasker withdraws and only 5 players remain. Use the 6-player Berger table with player #6 as BYE.
Each round, one player is paired against #6 and receives a free half point. Over 5 rounds, every player gets exactly one bye and four real games.
For FIDE rating: the bye does not count toward rating calculations.
Berger tables are named after Johann Berger (1845–1933), an Austrian chess master who formalized the round-by-round schedule for all-play-all tournaments. The tables solve two problems simultaneously: who plays whom in each round, and who gets which color.
The construction algorithm fixes one player (player N) in place and rotates the other N−1 players around them in a circle each round. The result: every player ends the tournament with exactly the same number of White and Black games (or at most one more of one color in odd-round tournaments).
| Round | Board 1 | Board 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 1 W – 4 B | 2 W – 3 B |
| Round 2 | 4 W – 3 B | 1 W – 2 B |
| Round 3 | 2 W – 4 B | 3 W – 1 B |
Color count: 3 rounds, players end with 2W+1B or 1W+2B (unavoidable with odd round count).
| Round | Board 1 | Board 2 | Board 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 1 W–6 B | 2 W–5 B | 3 W–4 B |
| Round 2 | 6 W–4 B | 5 W–3 B | 1 W–2 B |
| Round 3 | 2 W–6 B | 3 W–1 B | 4 W–5 B |
| Round 4 | 6 W–5 B | 4 W–2 B | 1 W–3 B |
| Round 5 | 3 W–6 B | 5 W–1 B | 2 W–4 B |
Color count: every player gets exactly 2W+3B or 3W+2B. Player #6 is the fixed pivot.
Let's apply the Berger table to our 8-player Alekhin Memorial tournament run as a single round robin. Player numbers are assigned by the restricted draw of lots (Section 10).
Note: this is a hypothetical 7-round round robin scenario. Results here are independent from the 5-round Swiss tournament used in अध्याय 2 and अध्याय 4.
| Round | Board 1 | Board 2 | Board 3 | Board 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 1 W–8 B | 2 W–7 B | 3 W–6 B | 4 W–5 B |
| Round 2 | 8 W–5 B | 6 W–4 B | 7 W–3 B | 1 W–2 B |
| Round 3 | 2 W–8 B | 3 W–1 B | 4 W–7 B | 5 W–6 B |
| Round 4 | 8 W–6 B | 7 W–5 B | 1 W–4 B | 2 W–3 B |
| Round 5 | 3 W–8 B | 4 W–2 B | 5 W–1 B | 6 W–7 B |
| Round 6 | 8 W–7 B | 1 W–6 B | 2 W–5 B | 3 W–4 B |
| Round 7 | 4 W–8 B | 5 W–3 B | 6 W–2 B | 7 W–1 B |
Color balance: every player plays exactly 4W+3B or 3W+4B. Player #8 is the fixed pivot across all rounds.
Select "Round Robin" when creating your tournament — Berger tables applied instantly, colors tracked automatically.
In round robin tournaments, results are displayed in a cross-table. Each row represents a player; each column represents a potential opponent. The cell at the intersection shows the result of their game.
| Player | Fis | Kas | Tal | Pet | Spa | Kar | Bot | Las | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fischer | × | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6½ |
| Kasparov | 0 | × | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Tal | ½ | 0 | × | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5½ |
| Petrosian | 0 | 0 | 0 | × | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Spassky | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | × | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Karpov | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | × | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Botvinnik | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | × | 1 | 1 |
| Lasker | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | × | 0 |
Read row by row: Fischer's row shows 1 (win) vs Kasparov, ½ (draw) vs Tal, 1 vs everyone else — giving 6½/7. The diagonal (×) is where a player would face themselves. The cross-table is the definitive public record of a round robin, published at the end of the event.
The standard tiebreak order for round robin tournaments is:
1. Direct Encounter. If the tied players played each other, the one who won ranks higher. This is the most logical criterion — head-to-head results settle disputes directly.
2. Sonneborn-Berger (SB). Sum of final scores of opponents you beat (full) plus half the scores of opponents you drew with. A player who beat stronger opponents scores higher SB. See अध्याय 4 for the full calculation.
3. Koya System. Score against players who finished with 50% or more of the maximum score. This separates players who performed better against the stronger half of the field.
4. Number of wins. The player with more decisive wins (fewer draws) ranks higher.
Before a round robin begins, players are assigned seed numbers (1 to N) that determine their position in the Berger table. FIDE C.06 defines the restricted drawing of lots — a procedure that ensures fairness while respecting certain constraints.
Top seed is fixed. The highest-rated player is assigned seed #1 before the draw. This ensures the strongest player has a predictable schedule. All other players draw their seed numbers randomly from a pool in a public ceremony.
Color in Round 1. In the Berger table, seed #1 always has White in Round 1 against seed #N. Fixing the top seed to #1 means the highest-rated player always starts with White — a minor advantage that is acknowledged and standardized.
Fischer (2200) is assigned #1 automatically as top seed.
The remaining 7 players draw from a bag: Kasparov draws #3, Tal draws #5, Petrosian draws #7, Spassky draws #2, Karpov draws #6, Botvinnik draws #4, Lasker draws #8.
Using the 8-player Berger table — Round 1, Board 1: Fischer (#1, White) vs Lasker (#8, Black). Board 4: Botvinnik (#4, White) vs Tal (#5, Black). All 7 rounds are now determined.
Choose round robin when: you have 4–12 players and enough time; you need a definitive ranking with no ambiguity; you are running a club championship or league match where head-to-head records matter; or your players have similar rating levels so most games are competitive.
Choose Swiss when: you have more than 12–14 players; time is limited; you want to accommodate players of widely varying strengths; or you are running an open tournament where player count is uncertain until registration closes.
Hybrid formats combine both: a Swiss qualification phase (many players, several rounds) followed by a round robin final (top 6–8 qualifiers play a full round robin). This combines the Swiss system's ability to handle large fields with the round robin's definitive ranking at the top.
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