What is the best software to run Swiss tourneys?

[Laurie Roberts]

I don't need anything fancy; just something for club tournaments.

Maybe a template in an Excel spreadsheet would do. But is there any decent software?

[Paul Buswell]

I echo that question. I've used various foreign shareware but not with complete confidence. I have looked at Tournament Director and would have paid, but baulked at being invited to load a fix to make it compatible with our version of Windows - I want something to load and run, the IT aspect I just don't want to know about.

So suggestions welcome.

thanks

[James Coleman]

Just to say I do use Tournament Director and it is extremely good. There's nothing that I've ever wanted to do and not been able to with it. I do recall having to run an update patch as Paul mentioned though must have been relatively straightforward or I would have remembered !

However my main reason for commenting is that the support from the programmer should you ever need it is very good. Quick and efficient.

[Jaimie Wilson]

I use Swiss Perfect 2.4 for DOS (freeware) which is available at http://www.swissperfect.com/download.htm which I find to be more than adequate for my club's needs. However it is very basic indeed.

[Neill Cooper]

I use Swiss Perfect 98 whichcosts about £34.50 (http://www.swissperfect.com/) and you can download a trial for a month. I find it is very easy to use, and it does pairings instantly. However, as referred to in an earlier thread, it does not do pairings (upfloats anddownfloats, last round) exactly according to ECF rules.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Swiss perfect" doesn't handle floats according to ECF rules, but that's not a huge problem - depends what event you are running. Tournament Director does produce some very strange pairings, e.g. floating the tournament leader 1.5 points down, when he could have played someone half a point down!

If it's only a "friendly" club event, either would do, at least if it's electronic the controller can't be accused of cheating.

kevin