WinTD
WinTD

Some tournaments with large monetary prizes may limit how much certain players may win. This generally is used in sections for lower rated players to restrict prizes for players who are unrated or are seen as having less reliable ratings (due to the number of games rated or recent rating changes). WinTD can generally handle this properly if you input the prize limits into the player records in the Tournament Info tab of the Add/Edit a Player dialog. (The default empty field means no limit. Note that you can make a limit of $0 if the player is ineligible for any prize money).

 

The calculation with limits is similar to that described in Prize Calculations, except that players subjected to limits need to be "floated" down into lower score groups if they would naturally win more than their limit. Consider the following: the prize fund is $200 1st, $100 2nd, $50 3rd, and unrated players may win no more than $60. The final standings are:

 

Name

Rating

Score

Alice

2200

5.0

Bob

unrated

4.5

Carol

2150

4.0

Dave

2100

3.5

others

 

3.0 or less

 

Alice as clear first receives the full $200. Bob, however, is restricted from winning the full 2nd prize of $100. However, since he qualifies for an amount greater than the $60 limit, we know he will get $60. He "floats" down into the 4.0 with Carol. Between them, they bring in the $100 2nd prize and the $50 3rd prize. Because the marginal $50 prize is less than the $60 limit, this is where Bob's money will be distributed. Between Bob and Carol, there is $150 to split, but Bob needs $60 of that, so Bob gets $60 and Carol $90. Since all prizes have been distributed, no one else wins anything.

 

Now change this so unrated players may win no more than $20. Again, Alice gets $200. Again the next prize of $100 is too much so Bob is tagged to win $20 and floated down to the calculation at 4.0. The natural calculation here would have Bob + Carol bringing is $100 + $50, but the marginal $50 is still too high. (We can't split the $150 as that would give Carol more than the largest prize available to her.) So Carol gets the full $100 2nd prize and Bob floats down further to the 3.5. Now Dave + Bob bring in $50 + $0. The marginal "prize" of $0 is less than $20, so this is where we distribute Bob's money. He gets his limit of $20 while Dave gets the remaining $30.

 

Now add a 4th prize of $25 and continue with the $20 limit on unrateds. Dave + Bob would bring in $50 + $25 but $25 is more than Bob's limit. So Dave gets the full $50 and Bob floats down to the 3.0's. They bring in the $25 4th prize. Bob is entitled to $20 of that and the other 3.0's split the leftover $5.

 

 

If there is a need to enforce a prize limit, the Prize Distribution report will have the players listed out of order by score to show where exactly the money paid out is finally distributed. For instance, in the initial scenario above ($60 limit for unrated), this is the report:

 

Name

Rate

Score

Prize

For

Alice

2200

5.0

200.00

1st

 

 

 

 

 

Carol

2150

4.0

90.00

3rd[augmented]

 

 

 

 

 

Bob

nnnn

4.5

60.00

2nd[capped]

 

Bob gets his limit out of the $100 2nd prize, and Carol gets $90, as $50 for the 3rd prize + $40 for the leftover from 2nd (the [augmented] suffix showing that it is larger than the natural 3rd prize).

 

For the second scenario ($20 limit for unrated), we get

 

Name

Rate

Score

Prize

For

Alice

2200

5.0

200.00

1st

 

 

 

 

 

Carol

2150

4.0

100.00

2nd

 

 

 

 

 

Dave

2100

3.5

30.00

3rd[remainder]

 

 

 

 

 

Bob

nnnn

4.5

20.00

3rd[capped]

 

Here the suffixes show that Dave and Bob are splitting the 3rd prize, Bob getting his cap and Dave getting the remainder.

 


Copyright © 2026 Thomas Doan