Swiss System Pairing Generator: Next-Round Pairings

How to use it

List the players in Players in rating order, one per line, with their points: for example Red Falcons | 3.
After the points, write the previous opponents separated by commas, and the colours played in order as W and B.
Write bye among the opponents of a player who has already had a bye.
Read the Pairings table and the Bye this round.

How the pairings are made

In a Swiss-system tournament, players with the same points are paired with each other, and no two players meet twice. This tool follows a simplified version of the Dutch system described in the FIDE handbook, article C.04.3: the players are sorted by points, and inside each score group the top half is paired with the bottom half. A player who cannot be paired within the group moves down to the next group.

With an odd number of players, the lowest-ranked player who has not had a bye receives it. The FIDE rules give a bye the same points as a win, and a player cannot receive a second bye.

Score groups: players with the same points, the highest group first
Top half against bottom half: four players on the same points give 1 v 3 and 2 v 4
Rematches: never; the tool tries other partners before it moves a player down

Colours: a player who has had more of one colour, or the opposite of the last colour, is given the other. A strong preference takes its colour first; with no preference the higher-ranked player is White.
The colour lot of the first round is not drawn: list the players in rating order, and the higher-ranked player is White where nothing else decides.

What this simplified system does not do

The complete FIDE rules. The full colour steps and the rules for moving players down (articles 1.9 and 5.2) are not applied.
Other tie-break points: the order of the list decides ties on points.
Points for a bye: the bye is shown, but no points are changed.

Example: six players, one round

Red Falcons and Blue Wave have 3 points, so they are paired first, and Red Falcons, higher in the list, plays White. Northern Stars and Silver Lions have 2 points and meet each other. Iron Wolves has 1 point and moves down to the 0-point group, where it meets Golden Hawks as White.

Board	White	Black
1	Red Falcons	Blue Wave
2	Northern Stars	Silver Lions
3	Iron Wolves	Golden Hawks

Frequently asked questions

What is a Swiss-system tournament?

A tournament in which everyone plays every round, and players are paired with others on similar points. Nobody is knocked out; the winner is the player with the most points after the planned rounds.

Why does a player sometimes get a bye?

With an odd number of players one player rests each round. A player cannot have a second bye, so the tool gives it to the lowest-ranked player who has not had one.

Why does the order of the list matter?

Players with equal points are ordered by their place in the list, so the order decides who meets whom. List the players in rating order, or in the order your tournament uses.

What do the colours mean?

W is white and B is black. Each player's colours are the colours of the earlier games, oldest first, and the pairing tries to give each player the colour they have had less of.

Is the pairing the same as FIDE's?

Not in every case. The tool follows the Dutch idea and avoids rematches, but it does not apply all of FIDE's colour and moving-down rules. Use FIDE-approved software in official events.

Sources

Figures and text last checked on Tuesday, November 10, 2026.

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