Sharjah Masters 2017

[Roger de Coverly]

7 11 GM Akopian Vladimir ARM 2675 2½ 3 Al Yaghshi M. Hisham SYR 2056 16

Some big rating differences there, but that's quite typical for the round after acceleration finishes. Presumably they are using FIDE's "Baku" system.

[Alex McFarlane]

Presumably they are using FIDE's "Baku" system

I don't think so. It looks like rounds 1-3 had two separate tournaments with top half in one and bottom half in the other with everyone coming together in round 4.

Baku system adds 1 pt to top half for rounds 1-3 and half point to them in rounds 4 and 5 (alternative 1 pt in rounds 1 and 2 and 0.5 in rd 3 as at Hastings 2016-17). Players are then paired on their supposed points. There were only a couple of games in rds 2 and 3 with people on different (real) scores.

[Ian Thompson]

Presumably they are using FIDE's "Baku" system

I don't think so. It looks like rounds 1-3 had two separate tournaments with top half in one and bottom half in the other with everyone coming together in round 4.

Is that a known pairing system, or something made up for the first time by this tournament's organisers?

Proponents of accelerated pairing systems claim it improves the chances of lower rated players achieving norms compared to normal swiss pairings. This pairing system might be as good (or bad) as normal accelerated pairings for anyone in the top half of the draw, but not very good for anyone in the bottom half of the draw.

[Chris Rice]

Gawain's round 3 game analysed by himself and Danny King. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2inQwaLdcc

[Barry Sandercock]

Very interesting analysis by Gawain Jones, he sees SO much !

[Tim Harding]

Presumably they are using FIDE's "Baku" system

I don't think so. It looks like rounds 1-3 had two separate tournaments with top half in one and bottom half in the other with everyone coming together in round 4.

This explains why I guessed Gawain's round 4 pairing wrong. When I was trying to work it out, chess24 was showing only a few top players on 3/3 but that's because the scores of players not on live boards had not yet been updated.

Also Praggnanandhaa would not have got those top GMs on a normal pairing system. Today he is not on a live board and has an opponent rated 1972.

[Leonard Barden]

Gawain's opponent, 2183-rated Mittal Aditya, has put up stiff resistance though he is now probably losing.

Aditya is 11 years old and only the No4 U12 in India. By contrast England's top rated U12 Jacob Yoon is just Fide 1875, an indicator of how far English juniors have dropped behind the world's best in recent years.

[John Moore]

Leonard - I didn't realise that Gawain's opponent was 11. That is quite amazing. It is not immediately clear to me sans engine that Gawain is winning although maybe 49 ... h3 is the idea.

[NickFaulks]

I don't think so. It looks like rounds 1-3 had two separate tournaments with top half in one and bottom half in the other with everyone coming together in round 4.

Are we all agreed that this pairing system stinks?

[NickFaulks]

Having said that, Seshadri Sriva, an Indian WFM of whom I confess I knew nothing, has drawn with the black pieces against a 2643 rated opponent. Presumably she knows how to play.

[Leonard Barden]

Ah, kiddie's finally blundered.

[John Moore]

Great fight against Gawain who must have missed the Be4 idea - but one thing that the Indian juniors share with ours is the inability to resign when it's time.

[LawrenceCooper]

Great fight against Gawain who must have missed the Be4 idea - but one thing that the Indian juniors share with ours is the inability to resign when it's time.

Judging from the clock times Gawain was probably still in theory albeit Be7 appears new instead of Bb4 or Bc5.

[John Moore]

Thanks Loz - blimey theory. Well what do I know.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I don't think so. It looks like rounds 1-3 had two separate tournaments with top half in one and bottom half in the other with everyone coming together in round 4.

Are we all agreed that this pairing system stinks?

It doesn't look great, but it's good that someone tried it out so we could establish in practice that it stinks.