Junior ECF Grades August 2010

[Kevin Thurlow]

"The arbiter was Peter Purland. He decided it was best for him to play an unrated player, rather than a fourth FIDE-rated player who was about 1600ish, on the basis that even if he won, his part-rating would have been low."

And this is where fiddling the draw can cause problems... I haven't checked but did a potential prizewinner get a much easier or much harder game? And did all the players get the most helpful pairings in their quest for ratings?

I increasingly think that the continental idea of just doing the draw is the right idea. (I know - then you find that the only two Patagonian players, who have travelled together by llama, bus, boat and train get paired in the first round and you want to change the draw.)

[Rob Thompson]

I don't recall there being any very strange pairings as a result of this. If, a potential prizewinner would have got a much easier or harder game, it may well have meant that the draw would have been left unfiddled

[Alex Holowczak]

And this is where fiddling the draw can cause problems... I haven't checked but did a potential prizewinner get a much easier or much harder game?

Given the player in question had scored 0/3 in his FIDE-rated games (out of 5 in total) to that point, what do you think?

No potential prizewinners were harmed in the making of those Swiss pairings. If it hadn't have been mentioned to the players it directly affected, none of the players who played would have noticed it. If you did accurate Swiss pairings at every congress up and down the country, you'd probably notice bigger mistakes.