Command Line Arguments (for FIDE endorsement)

FIDE requires that, for endorsement, a pairing software must provide a "free" pairings checker and a "free" random tournament generator. WinTD implements these by using a command line interface which avoids running the menu-driven main program (and also avoids running the licensing software). Note that neither of these is designed to allow for working an actual tournament (you need to use the menu in the licensed software for that) but are instead to check whether the FIDE Dutch pairing "engine" is in compliance.

Pairings Checker

This takes an input FIDE TRF (Tournament Reporting Format) file and checks whether the pairings conform to the FIDE Dutch system pairing rules. Note that if this is a file from an actual tournament (rather than being randomly generated), it is quite possible that it will not conform because of corrections made during the tournament. For instance, if round 3 is paired with an incorrect score reported in round 2, a TRF with the correct score will give different pairings (often quite different pairings) for at least two score groups in round 3.

On Windows

/C /I=TRF file name (must exist; use the full path)

On Macintosh

-C -I=TRF file name (must exist; use the full path)

In either case, the output is routed to console/standard output. You can capture it in a file using the suffix >targetfile.

Random Tournament Generator

This creates a tournament with a random number of players (between 4 and 250), and a random number of rounds (between 3 and 15, with the number being appropriate to the size of the tournament), with randomly assigned ratings (generally in the range from 1000 to 2500) with random results based upon the Elo expectations given the difference between ratings. A small percentage of games are chosen to be forfeits, and there are also a small percentage of players who get some form of "bye" in each round. The last part is to exercise the handling of unplayed games.

Note that the tournament generated this way is exported as a TRF file, which is the FIDE requirement. A menu driven version of this is available (with greater flexibility) in FIDE>Generate Random Tournaments...

On Windows

/G /O=TRF file name (will be created/overwritten; use the full path)

On Macintosh

-G -O=TRF file name (will be created/overwritten; use the full path)

An additional option is /A (Windows) or -A (Macintosh) for Baku Accelerated pairings.

Pairing Checker Output

This is an example of the output from the pairing checker. (This was intentionally paired for round five using a different pairing system). If there is a difference between the pairings in the input TRF file and the correct FIDE Dutch pairings, it will be shown as "Discrepancy" followed by a list of differences. Note that these are all in terms of the pairing numbers of the players, not their positions in the current standings. For instance, 2 - 6 vs 4 means that player #2 is paired with #6 on the input file, but should have been paired with #4. Note that all pairing misses are listed twice.

TESTEXAMPLE: Round 1

TESTEXAMPLE: Round 2

TESTEXAMPLE: Round 3

TESTEXAMPLE: Round 4

TESTEXAMPLE: Round 5

Discrepancy

2 - 6 vs 4

3 - 7 vs 6

4 - 11 vs 2

6 - 2 vs 3

7 - 3 vs 11

11 - 4 vs 7