[bif2]

Hello,
If I play a tournament in a Swiss movement, what are the formulas for setting up what pair/team will I play against?
Thanks.

[barmar]

Usually the pairing for the first round is random. But in some high-level tournaments there may be seeding so the top-ranked teams are not expected to play each other right away.

In subsequent rounds, teams are ranked by their current score, and they play teams with similar scores. 1st place plays 2nd place, 3rd plays 4th, and so on. These pairings are adjusted to avoid playing the same team multiple times.

In some tournaments, to speed things up, the pairings are based on the scores from 1 round earlier. So the first two rounds are random, then in round 3 it's based on the rankings after round 1, and so on. This allows the pairings to be produced for a round before everyone has finished playing that round, which allows many team to start the next round immediately. I think this approach was more common in the days before computer scoring.

See Wikipedia for more detais.

[apollo1201]

Where I play the first 2 rounds are seeded, not to avoid early clashes of potential contenders, but to ensure each team has played against comparable opposition.

So that you do not gain Swiss bonuses for ranking after meeting 2 weak teams at the start.

This equalization is if for instance there are N teams and you rank M by master points or equivalent, 1st round you meet the N+1-M, and 2nd you meet the M+1. This roughly makes a similar opposition.

And rankings after the first 2 rounds are not due to luck for playing against 2 weak teams.