Prizes - Reports Menu

You can let SwissSys do the hard work of calculating prize distribution — both cash prizes and non-divisible prizes like trophies — to see who gets what.

Prize Categories

The prize dialog has three main sections:

1. Overall place prizes (1st, 2nd, etc.) - handled on the first page
2. Class prizes (Class A, Under 1600, Age 12, etc.) - handled on the second page
3. Other prizes (upsets and clear winner bonus) and prize settings - handled on the third page

Prize Settings

Prize settings include:

• The percentage of the cash you actually want to award (for tournaments that advertise prizes based on the number of entries)
• The limit on cash awards to unrated players
• Whether to round up to the nearest dollar or euro
• Other distribution options

Non-Divisible Prizes

If you are offering trophies or other non-divisible place prizes, describe them briefly in the other grid (e.g. “1st place trophy”).

For percentage-based prizes, enter prizes as a percentage of the total. This is especially handy if you tend to repeat prizes awarded as a percentage but don’t necessarily know what that total cash award is going to be ahead of time.

Class Prizes Setup

To set up class prizes:

1. Set the rating range of the classes by clicking on the button marked accordingly
2. In the grid that appears, give each class a name (the defaults are “Class 1”, etc.)
3. Enter the rating ranges for your classes in the next two lines

As a shortcut, you can click on the buttons at the bottom that provide default class ranges and default “under prize” ranges.

For age/grade-based classes (e.g., grades 5 and 6), enter 6 for the top range and 5 for the bottom range. To let SwissSys know these are age/grade values and not ratings, check the box at the top of the class prizes page.

Note: Some restrictions and recommendations apply to these rating and age ranges. See the topic Rating range restrictions for more details.

Prize Prioritization

For non-cash prizes, you have the option of setting priorities. The most usual prioritization is “class first,” meaning the lowest prize in one class is worth more than the top prize in the next class down.

Prize Report Output

The prize distribution report shows:

1. Player’s pair number
2. Name (optionally followed by score and rating or age)
3. Cash won
4. Any non-cash prize
5. In the case of tied players, the amount SwissSys credited to the pool on behalf of this player

Make sure you confirm the results you see by hand so that you catch any errors in the prize setup or in player results. Where prizes are concerned, mistakes can be awkward.

Prize Setup Storage

Prize setups can be saved and will be reloaded automatically whenever you are using this section, so you don’t have to juggle different prize setups yourself once you create them.

Important Notes

• Players typically receive the highest trophies for which they are eligible
• If you mix cash and non-cash prizes for different places, be prepared to override SwissSys awards in case of ties
• Suspiciously low awards will be given a question mark to draw your attention to them
• For special category awards (like senior/junior), sort the standings by the category you’re interested in and browse for the top players
• You can use custom categories in unused registration fields to determine winners of special class prizes
• For unrated player restrictions, SwissSys will show the withheld amount in the “prize credited to pool” column

For more details, see the topic Prize class rating ranges.