Running a tournament

A tournament is a one-night competition: a straight knockout, or a group stage feeding a knockout. It belongs to the league rather than to a season, so its entrants are not a division roster and anybody in the league can enter, including players not entered in a division this season.

A tournament does not affect seasons. It draws no fixtures, changes no division tables and is not counted into any average.

Creating a tournament

Open the league, select Tournaments, then New tournament.

Format

Straight knockout — One defeat and you are out. The quickest format to run.

Groups, then knockout — Everybody plays a mini-league first, and the best go through to a knockout.

A group stage guarantees each entrant several matches before anybody is eliminated.

Selecting groups asks for three further values: how many play in a group, how many go through from each, and the length of a group match. Groups are sized as evenly as the field allows, so ten players in groups of four produces 3, 3 and 4.

The number going through must be fewer than the group size:

Fewer players have to go through than play in the group, or the group stage decides nothing.

Match lengths

Match lengths, on the same form for both creating and editing, sets the length at each stage.

The two optional values are stored as the semi-finals and the final rather than as round numbers, so they still apply if the field grows and the bracket gains a round.

Knockout lengths must be odd numbers:

A knockout match cannot end level, so it has to be played over an odd number of legs.

Group matches may be an even number, because a group table can record a draw.

Lengths are written onto each match when the tournament is drawn, so later changes do not affect matches already played.

Editing after creation

Edit, on the tournament page, reopens the form.

Before the draw, all fields are editable. After the draw, the name, date and description remain editable and the format is fixed, because every match carries the length it was drawn at.

To change the format after a draw, clear the draw and draw again.

Building the field

Two methods, which can be combined.

Adding entrants. Under The field, select a player and select Add. This works while the tournament is a draft.

The entry link. Select Open entries, then copy the Entry link and share it. Players enter themselves.

The entry link requires league membership

A player who opens the entry link and is not a member of the league sees:

Tournaments are for members of your league. Join the league and we will bring you back here to enter.

They join through the league's own join link and return to the entry page. The entry link does not grant access to the league, so it cannot be used to enter a private league.

The entry link is a secret

Anybody holding it can enter while entries are open. New link replaces it:

Every copy of the current link stops working — in your Discord server, in a pinned post, in somebody's messages.

There is one link per tournament, so replacing it revokes access for everybody holding the old one.

The draw

Select a seeding method and select Draw it.

At random — Everybody is shuffled. The fairest draw when nobody has a record yet.

By recorded average — The best averages in this league are kept apart, so the strongest players meet late. Anybody with no recorded average is seeded last.

Every round is drawn at once

After the draw, every match of every round is shown, including the final, because a field of sixteen is fifteen matches regardless of results. Later matches show "To be decided" and "Waiting on an earlier match" until results fill them.

Walkovers

A field that is not 4, 8, 16 or 32 is padded to the next size, and the top seeds receive a free pass:

Ada Lovelace Unopposed Walkover

A walkover is already settled. No result is recorded and no button is shown; the player appears in the next round. This is not the same as a bye in a division, where a player sits out a round of an ongoing schedule.

Where two walkovers feed the same match, that match is playable from the moment of the draw.

Clearing the draw

Clear the draw discards the bracket so it can be drawn again. The field is unaffected.

It is refused once any match has been played:

Matches have already been played in this tournament, so the draw cannot be cleared. Delete the results first if it really has to be drawn again.

Walkovers do not count as played, so a newly drawn bracket can always be cleared.

The field is fixed after the draw

This tournament has already been drawn, so the field cannot change. Clear the draw first if somebody has to come in or out.

A player who does not appear is recorded as a forfeit rather than removed, so their opponent receives the win. See Recording a forfeit.

The group stage

Groups are shown as tables, one per group, with qualifying players marked Through. Group tables use the same points and tie-breaks as a division table.

When every group match is recorded, Close the groups and draw the bracket becomes available. Drawing the bracket is a manual step, so group results can be reviewed before it is set. Changing a group result afterwards requires unwinding the bracket.

Selecting it early reports what is outstanding:

There are still 3 group matches to play. The bracket can be drawn once they are all in.

Group winners are drawn against runners-up from other groups wherever the field allows, so players from the same group are not immediately redrawn against each other.

Recording results

Select Record result on a match, enter the legs, and select Save. The winner advances automatically, and both players in the next match are notified.

A match with no players yet has no button:

This match is still waiting on an earlier one, so there is nobody to score.

Recording a forfeit

In the same box, under or record a forfeit, select the player who gave the match up — not the winner — and select Record forfeit. The forfeiting player must be named so the match can be scored and reversed.

Correcting a result

Reopen the match and change the legs. If the same player still wins, no other match is affected.

If the correction changes the winner and that winner has already played their next match, the change is refused:

The winner of this match has already played their next one. Delete the result in Semi-finals first.

The later match was played by whoever the earlier one recorded as winning. Delete the later result first, then correct the earlier one. The message names which match to start with.

A walkover cannot be deleted:

Nobody played this match — it was a walkover. Clear the draw if the bracket itself is wrong.

Notifications

• Entrants are notified when the draw is made, with their first opponent or that they have a walkover.
• Both players are notified when their next match has an opponent.
• Everybody who played is emailed when the tournament is won.
• Players with a match to play see it on their dashboard, under Tournament matches.

Outstanding results, and a group stage waiting for its bracket, appear under Needs you.

Entering a tournament as a player

Open the entry link and select Enter. Players who are not yet in the league are asked to join first and returned to the entry page.

An entry can be withdrawn at any point before the draw. After the draw, contact whoever runs the tournament so a forfeit can be recorded.

What a tournament does not do

• It is not counted into averages. Only division results are counted into the average shown on a profile and used to grade divisions.
• It does not post to Discord automatically. The entry link can be shared manually.
• It has no public page. A tournament is visible to signed-in members of the league.