FIDE mode

FIDE mode means that the tournament is handled the way FIDE's regulations for pairing and reporting say it must be handled. There is no switch to turn it on: every new tournament is in FIDE mode, and stays in it until the arbiter leaves it on purpose or changes a setting that the FIDE rules do not allow.

What FIDE mode gives you#

A new tournament starts with the settings the FIDE rules describe:

• Swiss pairing by the FIDE Dutch system, round robin by Berger tables.
• The initial colour drawn by lot (C.04.3 5.1), unless you set it yourself.
• Scoring 1 - ½ - 0, with the pairing-allocated bye worth a win.
• FIDE's default tie-breaks for the type of tournament (see Standings and tie-breaks).
• The rules of Article 16 of C.07 for games not played.

What FIDE mode refuses#

Once the first round is paired, FIDE mode locks the settings that decide what already happened. The locked settings are: the number of rounds (and the number of cycles of a round robin), the points for a win, draw and loss, the match points of a team event, the value of the pairing-allocated bye, the acceleration, the pairing system and the tie-break list. Their fields on the Settings pages are greyed out. There is no Unlock button for them in FIDE mode (outside FIDE mode the other settings that lock after round 1 have one).

FIDE mode also closes old rounds.

With round 7 played and round 8 paired, rounds 6, 7 and 8 can be changed; round 5 and earlier are refused with the message that a mistake found later is corrected after the tournament, in the rating report only. The result of a postponed game can always be entered.

In a team event, the teams' rosters and board orders are fixed once round 1 is paired (a new player can still be added at the bottom of a team, as a reserve).

FIDE mode makes no TRF and no final standings while a postponed game has no result. Every TRF download and file made by Send… that holds its round, and the standings after the last round, are refused, with the open games listed. A file of only the rounds before it is still made. Enter their results, or record a game as not played in this event (Settings, Export), which takes the tournament out of FIDE mode. See Postponed games.

Settings that take a tournament out of FIDE mode#

The settings are:

• the pairing system Keizer (it is not a FIDE system);
• Pair each category independently, which pairs each category as a separate tournament;
• the Swiss match format (each pairing played twice in a row with colours reversed);
• Late entrants' pairing numbers After the field, which gives a player who joins late the next free number instead of the one their rating earns;
• postponed games counted as anything other than a draw for both players;
• scoring in which a draw is worth more than a win, or the bye more than a win.

The Settings pages say which settings do this, with a link to the setting. Nothing is refused, but while the tournament is in FIDE mode the program always asks first (see Leaving FIDE mode below). The round in which the tournament first left the mode is recorded for the report.

Other organiser choices that change the pairing without being a FIDE rule (a bye exclusion or preference, "only if possible" pair wishes, extra points counted in the pairing) are also recorded for the round they changed, and the FIDE report lists those rounds. They ask the same question when a pairing would actually be moved by one of them. See Byes and absences and Pairing a round.

Things that FIDE's own regulations allow are not departures and do not change the mode: other point values for a win, draw and loss (as long as no game scores less than a lesser result), a half-point bye, extra points, the choice of tie-breaks (a custom tie-break formula included, as long as the regulations name it; it is marked custom wherever it appears and locks with the list), forbidden pairings and pairing rules set before round 1 is paired (C.05 5.2), a hand-set standings order, and changing the boards of a round by hand (Pairing a round: hand edits are a manual pairing alteration that the regulations foresee, so they do not end FIDE mode; a difference from the pairing checker is recorded in the report instead).

Leaving FIDE mode#

There are two ways out, and both ask the same two questions.

• On purpose: Settings, FIDE, Leave FIDE mode…
• By an action that is not allowed in FIDE mode. These are: saving a Settings page (Options, Scoring) with a setting from the list above (Keizer, the Swiss match format, late entrants after the field, postponed games counted differently, a draw or the bye worth more than a win); switching on Pair each category independently on the Categories page; and pressing a pair button when the round, as it would be paired, is moved by a soft rule (an "only if possible" wish), by a bye exclusion or a bye preference, or by extra points counted in the pairing; recording a postponed game as not played in this event on the Export page; and adding, changing or removing a forbidden pairing or a pairing rule once round 1 is paired (Forbidden pairings page). Rules that keep teams apart in a team Swiss (Teams) count exactly the same: set before round 1 they change nothing, a wish that moves a match asks first.

Before anything is written the program shows the dialog Leave FIDE mode? in two steps (this is the double confirmation that the FIDE tournament handler checklist calls Level 4):

1. This is not compliant with the FIDE regulations. It lists what takes the tournament out of FIDE mode and asks whether to continue. Yes, continue goes to the second question; Cancel (or Escape) closes the dialog.
2. Stay in FIDE mode? Yes, stay in FIDE mode closes the dialog; No, leave FIDE mode carries out what you asked: the settings are saved, the toggle is switched on, or the round is paired.

Cancelling at either step changes nothing: the settings are not saved and the round is not paired. The second question lists what leaving does:

• It is for good. The tournament can never return to FIDE mode, even if you set every setting back.
• The tournament records from which round it was not in FIDE mode. (The TRF26 file for the rating office contains records only, no comment lines; the copy and the ITDX file carry a note about it; see Sending to FIDE.)
• The locked settings and the closed rounds can be changed afterwards, and the program no longer stops a change that FIDE rules forbid.
• Every page of the tournament shows a line, Not in FIDE mode, with a link that explains what it means.

The FIDE page of the settings#

Settings, FIDE also holds the identifiers the report to FIDE needs: the FIDE tournament ID (one for the whole tournament, or a different one for ranges of rounds), the event code, and the box This tournament is FIDE-homologated (rated/reportable). When that box is ticked, organiser-only bye preferences are not applied (they are not FIDE rules), and the tournament ID becomes a required field. The officials (chief arbiter, deputies) and the event type for title norms are entered under Officials & norms; see Tournament set-up and Sending to FIDE.