Update: Swiss tournaments are live on Rovian. Since 30 September, club owners and managers can run Swiss, Arena and round robin tournaments; we explain how in online chess club and tournaments. This post was written on 6 August, while tournaments were still on their way.
Why Swiss? Because in knockout events half the field goes home after round one. In a Swiss, nobody is eliminated: everyone plays to the end.
How does the Swiss system work?
Each round pairs players on similar scores. Win round one and you meet winners in round two; lose it and you meet players who also lost.
The effect: pairings balance themselves as the event goes on. Two rounds in, the person across from you is almost exactly in your form today.
The winner is whoever has the most points once all rounds are done.
What will they look like on Rovian?
Tournaments will be scheduled events: they start at a set time and everyone plays at once. No searching for an opponent — when the round starts, your pairing is ready.
And because it's Rovian, all of it is on camera. Meeting the same people round after round, talking between games, reading the tension in the final round — that's exactly what online tournaments usually miss.
Why will a tournament on camera feel different?
What separates a hall tournament from an online one isn't the tables — it's the time between rounds. The two sentences exchanged between games, going over a finished match together, seeing who's nervous before the last round.
That doesn't happen over text chat. It happens on camera. What you remember from a tournament was never the crosstable anyway; it was the people you met that day.
For how we apply the same idea to everyday games, see our piece on why video chess is different.
Where can you compete today?
If you're after competition there's plenty today: climb the leaderboard, challenge a friend to a puzzle duel, or open a Banter Arena event.
To join a tournament, check the Tournaments page; tournaments open to everyone are listed there.
See you in the next story.
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