Hi.
Is Fide changing the way Bucholz tiebreak score is calculated when it comes to unplayed rounds? I can no longer find any mention of virtual opponents or everybody's favourite formula below. Looks instead like they are implementing a game against oneself approach. I know the whole matter of how to calculate unplayed games has been discussed in Fide previously.
https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/TieBreakRegulations2022 For tie-break purposes all unplayed games in which players are indirectly involved (results by forfeit of
opponents) are considered to have been drawn.
For tie-break purposes a player who has no opponent will be considered as having played against a virtual
opponent who has the same number of points at the beginning of the round and who draws in all the
following rounds. For the round itself the result by forfeit will be considered as a normal result.
This gives the formula:
Svon = SPR + (1 – SfPR) + 0.5 * (n – R)
where for player P who did not play in round R:
n = number of completed rounds
Svon = score of virtual opponent after round n
SPR = score of P before round R
SfPR = forfeit score of P in round R
Example 1: in Round 3 of a nine-round tournament Player P did not show up.
Player P’s score after 2 rounds is 1.5. The score of his virtual opponent is
Svon = 1.5 + (1 – 0) + 0.5 * (3 – 3) = 2.5 after round 3
Svon = 1.5 + (1 – 0) + 0.5 * (9 – 3) = 5.5 at the end of the tournament
Example 2: in Round 6 of a nine-round tournament player P’s opponent does not show up.
Player P’s score after 5 rounds is 3.5. The score of his virtual opponent is:
Svon = 3.5 + (1 – 1) + 0.5 * (6 – 6) = 3.5 after round 6
Svon = 3.5 + (1 – 1) + 0.5 * (9 – 6) = 5.0 at the end of the tournament