Even when More Than 1 Player in a Section Can Achieve a Perfect Score, There Will Be No Major Variations; However, There Might Be Minor Variations.
Because all sections are scheduled to play a limited number of rounds of games at today’s tournament, it is possible for 2 or more players in a section to achieve a perfect score—which would make it impossible to determine a single winner purely by score. Nonetheless, MCA considers 2 or more perfect scores an acceptable result. Consequently, regardless of how many players register for each section, MCA will not reduce the possible number of perfect scores to 1 (or any other low number), by adding 1 or more rounds. (Nor will MCA shorten the time control of any round, so as to accommodate an additional round or rounds.) Regardless of how high the number of players in a section, there will be NO MAJOR VARIATIONS to a section’s scheduled format. As long as there is a sufficient number of players in a section for its scheduled number of rounds to be played, a section’s scheduled format will apply.
And yet, if a sufficiently high number of players register for a section, so that 2 or more players can achieve a perfect score, then MCA might apply MINOR VARIATIONS to a section’s scheduled format. Rather than use natural pairings (the norm at a Swiss-system tournament) throughout all of a section’s rounds, MCA might use accelerated pairings in Rounds 1-2, before returning to natural pairings in all subsequent rounds.
© 2012 John D. Rockefeller V
MCA Scholastic Director
[last updated: 11/16/2012]