---
title: "Chess Tie-Break Calculator: Buchholz & SB | Chess Meadow"
description: "Paste a Swiss or round-robin crosstable to get standings with Buchholz, Cut-1, Sonneborn-Berger, direct encounter, wins and Koya, per FIDE's rules."
url: https://chessmeadow.me/tiebreak-calculator/
---

Swiss and round-robin · FIDE Handbook C.07

# Chess tie-break calculator

Paste a crosstable and choose the tie-break order: you get the standings with Buchholz, Buchholz Cut-1, Sonneborn–Berger, direct encounter, number of wins and the Koya system, worked out under FIDE’s tie-break regulations applied from 1 March 2026.

## What each tie-break measures

- **Buchholz:** the sum of your opponents’ scores. **Cut-1** leaves out the lowest of them. Swiss only.
- **Sonneborn–Berger:** for each round, your opponent’s final score times the points you scored against them.
- **Direct encounter:** the results among the tied players only. In a Swiss where they did not all meet, a player is placed only if no missing game could catch them.
- **Number of wins** counts every round scored as a win, with or without playing; **games won** counts only wins over the board.
- **Koya:** in a round-robin, your points against players who scored at least half the maximum.

## Unplayed games and byes

In a round-robin a forfeit counts as a normal game. In a Swiss, the calculator follows article 16: each unplayed round counts as a game against a dummy who scores your own score, but no more than half a point per round of the tournament for byes, or than the scheduled opponent’s adjusted score for a forfeit. A requested bye followed only by other voluntary unplayed rounds, or in the last round, counts as a draw in your opponents’ tie-breaks, and Cut-1 removes a voluntary unplayed round’s contribution first.

What it simplifies: games score 1, ½ and 0, a one-point bye scores 1, rating-based and team tie-breaks are not included, and any tie left after the chosen list shares the place, where FIDE draws lots.

## Sources

- [FIDE Play-Off and Tie-Break Regulations, applied from 1 March 2026](https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/TieBreakRegulations032026) (FIDE Handbook C.07): direct encounter (6), wins (7.1, 7.2), Buchholz (8.1), Sonneborn–Berger (9.1), Koya (9.2), Cut-1 (14.1), unplayed rounds (15, 16).
- Points for a pairing-allocated bye: [FIDE Basic rules for Swiss Systems, applied from 1 February 2026](https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/C0401202507) (C.04.1), article 3.
- Worked examples with unplayed rounds, used in this site’s tests: [FIDE Arbiters’ Manual 2026](https://arbiters.fide.com/wp-content/uploads/Publications/Manual/Arbiter-Manual-2026.pdf), “Tiebreak Examples for Unplayed Games”.

## Questions

**What is Buchholz Cut-1?**

Buchholz with the lowest opponent’s score left out. If you had a voluntary unplayed round, such as a requested bye, that round’s contribution is cut instead.

**How does a bye count in Buchholz?**

As a game against a dummy who scores your own final score, capped at half a point per round of the tournament: with 9 rounds, no more than 4½.

**Which tie-breaks suit a round-robin?**

Direct encounter, Sonneborn–Berger, Koya and the number of wins. Buchholz must not be used in round-robins.