Keizer

Keizer is a pairing system for individual tournaments, designed for long-running club events — a weekly evening championship over many rounds where not everyone plays every week. It pairs the players who are present for each round, tolerates absences, and keeps players facing opponents of similar strength throughout.

How it scores

Unlike a Swiss, a Keizer score is not a running count of game points. Each player carries a ranking value derived from their current position in the standings:

  • Before any games, players are ranked by rating and given a value — the top player about three times the lowest, one less per rank.
  • A win is worth the opponent’s current value; a draw, half of it.
  • Each player’s score also includes one instance of their own current value (the own-value bonus). Because it follows the standings, a player who slips carries a smaller one — it is not a lasting rating head start.

Every value follows the standings, so all past rounds are re-scored after each round: a win over a player who later collapses is worth less than a win over one who climbs. This is what keeps the ranking a good estimate of strength, and the next round is paired from that ranking, so players meet opponents of similar strength.

Presence and absences

Keizer pairs only the players marked present for the round (via check-in when it is in use). A player who is simply absent scores nothing that round. A player given an excused absence (a requested bye) earns a configurable fraction of their own value, so an occasional missed evening does not wreck their standing.

Late entries and withdrawals need no special handling — a player only scores the rounds they actually played.

Settings

Setting What it does
Include own ranking value in score Adds the own-value bonus (standard Keizer). On keeps the standings, and the pairings, stable; off scores purely from results. Default on.
Rounding of the Keizer points Whether fractional totals are kept or rounded — Keep fractions, Round to a half point, or Round to a full point. Default Keep fractions.
Rounds before a rematch How many rounds must pass before two players may be paired again. Default is the full length of the tournament (avoid rematches until forced).
Special points for an absence The share of a player’s own value earned for an excused absence, as a percentage. Default 33% (a third).

:information_source: Because every score is recomputed from the whole field on each round, Keizer settings can be changed at any time and the standings simply re-derive.