Tie Breakers - Simplified Answer
Tie Breakers
Posted by JollyPlayer on Friday, Oct 9 @ 11:09pm
Here is the system that Chess.com and many federation use (in blue):
What happens when there is a tied score? And what is the Tie Break?
If 2 players in a group have the same score then both will advance. Tournament Directors can choose to use an additional tie-break method (we use the Neustadtl score) which factors in the strength of the opponents. If two players have the same score and the same Tie Break score, both will advance.
Below is an example of how the tie breaking system works:
| Group #-- | 1 | 2 | 3 | Points | Tie Break |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Bob | X | 1 1 |
0 1 | 3 | 4.5 |
| 2. John | 0 0 | X | 1 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.25 |
| 3. Mary | 1 0 | 0.5 0 | X | 1.5 | 3.75 |
A player's tiebreak score is calculated by adding the sum of the player's points they have defeated to half the sum of the player's points they have drawn against.
Bob won two games against John and one game against Mary. So Bob gets 2x1.5 points from John and 1.5 points from Mary, which sums up to 4.5 tiebreak points.
John won one game and drew one game against Mary. So John gets 1.5 x 1.5 points from Mary, which sums up to 2.25 tiebreak points.
Mary won one game against Bob and drew one game against John. So Mary gets 1x3.0 points from Bob and 0.5 x 1.5 points from John, which sums up to 3.75 tiebreak points.
Notice that you only use tie break points if you are tied with a player. Hence if you are ahead in game points, the tie breaking points are superfluous. If it gets really nasty, we resort to Jedi battles 
