Rules for Pairing - Setup Menu

Set the core pairing rules for your tournament. Most of these settings apply for the entire event and should be configured before pairings begin.

Menu Path: Setup → Rules for pairing

Set these before round 1. Engine settings cannot be changed once pairings are made. If you must change the engine mid-event, use the Override button to unlock the engine controls. FIDE restrictions also limit changes once a tournament is underway.

Pairing Engine

Setting	Description
Active pairing engine	Choose SwissSys (USCF) for standard US events or bbpPairings (FIDE) for FIDE-rated events.
Make FIDE pairing system the default	Activates FIDE default mode at program startup — required for FIDE events. Enables the endorsed engine, FIDE warnings, and editing restrictions.

For details on the FIDE engine, see bbpPairings Engine.

Pairing Restrictions

Restrictions prevent players sharing a specified field value from being paired. These are hard restrictions — they are never violated.

Restriction	Effect
Club	Players from the same club cannot be paired.
Team	Players on the same team cannot be paired.
City	Players from the same city cannot be paired.
State	Players from the same state cannot be paired.
Restrictions by group	Click Edit list… to specify pairs of groups that should never meet (e.g., two specific school teams).

A separate Soft “try to avoid” field is available below the Pair Restrictions box. Unlike the hard restrictions above, this is a soft preference — SwissSys tries to avoid pairing players who share the chosen field value, but will do so if no better pairing exists. Choose None, Club, Team, City, State, or Zip.

In FIDE mode, restrictions may not be turned on after the tournament starts, though you may turn them off. FIDE recommends removing restrictions after two rounds.

Class pairings work in the opposite direction: SwissSys tries to force players with the same class value together. Enabling class pairings disables the other restriction options.

Color Assignment Options

Setting	Description
3 consecutive colors OK	If unchecked, giving a player three consecutive whites or blacks is always illegal.
Plus/minus color variation	Alternates which player receives their due color (per USCF handbook).
Old USCF color variation	Uses pre-2007 USCF color allocation rules for players with nearly identical color histories.
Coin toss for color in last round	Applies a coin toss for color assignment in the final round when players have identical color histories.
Weikel oddman pairings	Uses the Weikel method for choosing the odd player dropped to the next score group when a group has an odd number of players.
Rating Difference Limits	Sets how aggressively SwissSys adjusts pairings to improve color balance, via the Equalizing and Alternating limits.

Bye Management

Setting	Description
Bye value (pairing-allocated)	Point value of the automatic bye. Default is 1.0 full point. See PAB.
Bye strictness for unrated	Controls how byes are assigned to unrated players (see table below).
Byes for half-point bye recipients	Whether to give full-point byes to players who have already received (or will receive) a half-point bye (see options below).
Clear reserved byes if plr withdraws	Releases a player’s reserved byes when that player withdraws.
Set “never gets bye” flag with bye	When a player receives a bye, flag them so they are not given another.

Bye strictness for unrated options:

Level	Behavior
Relaxed	Treat unrated players the same as rated players for bye selection.
Medium (USCF default)	Avoid giving unrated players a bye in the first four rounds, or if a rated player in the bottom score group is eligible.
Strict	Give an unrated player a bye only as a last resort.

Byes for half-point bye recipients options:

Option	Behavior
Allow full point byes	A player who took a half-point bye may still receive a full-point pairing-allocated bye.
Prefer to avoid full-point byes	Try to avoid giving such a player a full-point bye, but allow it if necessary.
No full-point byes	Never give a full-point bye to a player who has had a half-point bye.

Advanced Pairing Options

Setting	Description
In-depth searches	Searches deeper for pairing switches that improve color balance. Recommended on. Disable only if pairings are running slowly. Not compatible with accelerated pairings.
Accelerated pairings	Adds fictitious points to top players in early rounds. In FIDE mode, uses the Baku system. See Accelerated Pairings.
Random pairings	Randomizes pairings within score groups. Useful for reducing predictability in online events.
1 vs 2 pairings	Forces the top-ranked player to always face the second-ranked player (if they have not met and colors are acceptable).

Team Tournament Options

Setting	Description
Team pairing restriction is active	Prevents players on the same team from being paired. For an Individual/Team event it is enabled automatically when you first pair round 1. Unchecking it makes SwissSys pair the section like a regular Swiss (teammates may then be paired) — the supported way to “downgrade” a team event created by mistake.
Plus 2 pairings	In individual/team events, players on the same team with a positive net score above the cutoff may be paired against each other.
Pair teams by game points	Use game points rather than match points to determine team standings for pairing purposes.
Use weighted pairings	Fixed-roster option implementing Illinois High School Association rules (higher boards carry more weight).
Always use ratings from rd 1	Calculates team ratings once before round 1 and locks them for the rest of the event (no recompute as players change). Used for formats like Pan American Intercollegiate where team seeding must stay fixed. See Number on a team for how the team cutoff affects the rating calculation.

Tiebreaks — Configure tiebreak order for standings
Pairings Setup Dialog — Per-round pairing options (forced pairs, byes)
Accelerated Pairings — Fictitious points for FIDE/USCF acceleration
PAB (Pairing-Allocated Bye) — How automatic byes work