Recommended number of matches in an equTournament

A minimum number of matches that would validate a tournament is common for all tournaments. Assume that a tournament has P participants. Then, it is possible to rank all competitors just by playing P-1 matches. The obtained ranking would accurately represent the competitors's performances but it might not be a credible ranking, i.e., one that would closely represent the "real strengths" of the competitors.

Quick tournaments with P-1 matches have their own "character" and "charm" and there is nothing wrong with them. The "luck factor" in such tournaments has more weight and the final standing is less predictable. As a result, there is more pressure on the participants.

Generally, the greater the total number of matches played in a tournament, the greater the credibility of the final ranking. To decide how many matches should be played, depends on a number of factors including: total number of participants, type of sport, availability of sport facilities, time-frame and of course the purpose of the tournament. Below we give some basic recommendations which are commonly exemplified in many types of tournaments. It is not possible however to cover all the potential cases of tournaments. The best way to develop an understanding of the number of matches required in your tournaments, in your sport and for your purposes is to use equTournaments in practice.

For example, consider a junior tennis tournament for 32 participants. The time-frame is three days - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The purpose of the tournament is to test the "real strength" of each of the participants and to eliminate the "luck factor" as much as possible. Basically in three days the participants should play as many matches as possible.

The first option is that every participant must play against 6 opponents, i.e., two matches per day. The duration of a tennis match is unpredictable and often tennis matches can last more that two hours and sometimes three hours. Playing two such matches may be too much for juniors under 12 years. Therefore, there is no need to use a full tennis matches, instead you can use a shorter version of a tennis match. Next is to create a schedule of who is playing against whom. On day one, players can play against random opponents to produce an initial ranking. On days two and three, players can play against opponents who are closer to them in the current ranking. It would be fair if some representatives of the host club reserved the right to pick one of the opponents. Let's say Peter is 14th on the entry list and as a representative of the host club he would like to play one of the matches against the number one on the entry list. It is certain that the members of the club would love to see this match played out.

By making the matches shorter in duration, it is possible to play three or even four matches per day. So the total number of opponents can amount to 12. Even though the matches are shorter there are a lot of other benefits to this format: (1) coaches can participate more in examining the last match with players and in preparing them for the next one (2) juniors can face a greater variety of opponents allowing them to experiment with different strategies. What is most important is that all of the participants would have the same number of matches to play. For all of them and their coaches, including the parents it is not a waste of time but an efficiently planned weekend. After such a tournament juniors and their coaches will have a clear idea about what to do in practices.

If the purpose of your tournament is the same, i.e., to give the participants an opportunity to test their "real strength" then you can use the following formula as an approximation of the smallest number of opponents necessary for each participant. If P is a total number of participants in a tournament, then - M - the smallest number of opponents recommended for each participant to play can be computed by a formula.

The following is a table representation of the above formula.

P	M
P &le 8	4
8 < P &le 16	5
16 < P &le 32	6
32 < P &le 64	7
64 < P &le 128	8
128 < P &le 256	9