Team pairing systems
A team tournament uses one of five pairing systems, chosen on the tournament form. Each pairs teams against each other; the result of a match is the aggregate of its individual boards.
| System | Best for | How it pairs |
|---|---|---|
| Team Swiss | Larger fields, few rounds | Pairs teams by standings each round, like an individual Swiss |
| Team Round-Robin | Small fields, every team meets every other | A fixed all-play-all schedule generated up front |
| Team Knock-out | Cups and play-offs where the losing team is out | A seeded bracket; the winning team moves on |
| Two-game team match | A single head-to-head between two teams | Two games with the colours reversed |
| Molter | Small fields over a few rounds, no byes | A fixed cross-team board table |
Team Swiss
Teams are paired round by round according to their current standings, the same way individual Swiss works. It handles any number of teams and is the usual choice when there are more teams than rounds.
- With an odd number of teams, one team receives a pairing-allocated bye (PAB) each round.
- It is the only team system that honours affiliation protection: teams that share an affiliation (club, league, …) are kept apart where possible.
Variation: Standard.
Team Round-Robin
Every team meets every other team. The full schedule is generated up front (the Berger tables), so there are no pairing decisions during the event. Because the schedule is fixed, teams cannot be added once pairings exist.
Variations:
- Berger — single round-robin: each pair of teams meets once.
- Double Berger — double round-robin: each pair meets twice, with colours reversed.
The tournament form offers the FIDE 6.6 participation rule: a team that withdrew or was expelled having completed less than half of its matches is dropped from the final standings and its matches are annulled — they no longer count in the other teams’ scores and tie-breaks (the results stay in the crosstable).
Team Knock-out
A cup format: the teams are seeded into a bracket by pairing number, the losing team of each match is out and the winner moves on, until one team is left. Each match is decided on game points; a level match is decided by the advancement tie-breaks (board count, top board results…) or by the arbiter with the Manual tie-break after a play-off. The number of rounds follows from the number of teams, and the ranking is by the round reached.
See Knock-out for the bracket, the settings (third-place playoff, colour of board one, grouping by affiliation…) and how matches are decided.
Variations:
- Single elimination — one match per round, one loss and the team is out.
- Single elimination — two-game matches — each pairing of teams is played over two matches with colours reversed, decided on aggregate.
- Double elimination — a first loss drops the team into a lower bracket; a second loss eliminates. The two bracket winners meet in a Grand Final.
- Double elimination — two-game matches — double elimination with two-match ties.
Two-game team match
A single match between two teams, played as two games with the colours reversed between them. Use it for a one-off head-to-head (a friendly, a play-off leg, …) rather than a multi-team event.
Variation: Standard.
Molter
A fixed-table system for small team events over a few rounds where you want everyone playing every round and nobody sitting out. Instead of pairing whole teams, Molter pairs individual boards across teams from a precomputed table. Sharly Chess generates the table automatically.
See Molter tables for when and why to use it.
Variation: Standard Molter.
Which one should I use?
- Many teams, a handful of rounds → Team Swiss.
- Few teams and you want everyone to meet everyone → Team Round-Robin.
- A cup or play-off where the losing team is out → Team Knock-out.
- Just two teams → Two-game team match.
- Few teams, few rounds, no byes, everyone plays every round → Molter.