19. How are the pairings created?

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When you have an odd number of pairs the bye is given to the worst ranked pair that has not already had a bye.

If double meetings are not allowed the following criteria (in order of priority) is used for the new table assignments:

The top ranked pair meets the first pair it has not yet played against. Then the assignments continue in the same fashion down the list until all pairs have received opponents.

When all pairs have received opponents it is possible that the lower ranked pairs have received opponents they have already played against. Then Magic Contest changes directions and starts looking at the tables assignments from the highest table numbers according to the following:

If there is a double meeting (A-B) at the highest table number Magic Contest looks at the lower table numbers. If there is a table (C-D) where new meetings (A-C + B-D, or A-D + B-C) can be created without causing any double meetings, the opponents will be swapped in order to remove the double meeting.

This “untangling” of opponents moves upwards in the ranking list but ends half-way to the top to avoid creating peculiar meetings at the top tables (which are the ones that really matter in a Swiss event). This means that there are no guarantees there will not be any double meetings.

The best three tables are never touched by the untangling.

At this point extra settings can kick in. They do not change the pairings, but they can change the direction at the table or what physical table the pairs end up at:

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