The C.07 edition effective 1 March 2026 adds three tie-breaks, bans Buchholz in round-robins outright and - the change that moves real numbers - puts a cap on the dummy opponent for unplayed rounds. Below: the articles quoted verbatim, the arithmetic of the cap on a worked example, the four-stage history of the dummy rule, and an eight-point audit of the wording that is now out of date in most tournament regulations.
The document is long, but for an organizer it comes down to five points.
Standard Points, tournament pairing number and rating were added. The first serves events with unusual scoring; the other two always give a definite answer, so a regulation can end with them instead of a drawing of lots.
It used to follow from the logic: in a round-robin everyone faces the same field, so the sums coincide. Now the ban is written out as a separate line, and it covers every Buchholz variant.
The one substantive change. Previously an unplayed round gave the dummy the player's full final score. Now that score is capped, and the tie-breaks of anyone who took a bye came down.
The wording was tightened: the next tie-break is applied to every group of players still level, not only when the previous one separated nobody at all.
In round-robins and other events where the pairings are known in advance, forfeits no longer count as ordinary games in the rating-based tie-breaks, and forfeit losses also drop out of the tie-breaks based on the player's own results.
The definitions are given exactly as they appear in the handbook, so you can copy them into your own regulations without paraphrasing.
art. 7.7
The number of rounds in which a participant scores more points than their scheduled opponent, or obtains, without playing, more points than those awarded for a draw, plus half the number of rounds in which the participant scores the same number of points as their scheduled opponent.
The measure restores the classical scale in events that score differently - three points for a win and one for a draw, say. Inside the tie-break a win is worth one again and a draw a half, so players can be compared the usual way.
art. 7.8
Players are sorted according to their (final) tournament pairing number in ascending order. Alternatively, they can be sorted in reverse order.
The number is unique, so the measure separates any two players with certainty. It goes last in the list precisely so that the event never has to reach a drawing of lots.
art. 10.6
Players are sorted according to their rating, from highest to lowest. Alternatively, they can be sorted in reverse order.
Same purpose: an almost always unambiguous criterion at the end of the list. The regulations warn separately that rating-based measures are not recommended when a player may acquire several ratings during the event.
Everything else in the edition is clarification. This one changes numbers in finished crosstables, and it changes them in a direction players notice: downwards, for anyone who missed a round.
A worked example. Five rounds, so the cap for a voluntary bye is ½ × 5 = 2½. A player finishes on 3 points having taken one bye. Under the old rule the dummy carried the full 3 points into the Buchholz sum; now it carries 2½. The tie-break drops by half a point, and the same cap applies inside Sonneborn-Berger.
The full arithmetic with both variants side by side is on the Buchholz page, where the same tournament is computed under the old and the new rule.
The dummy opponent has been rewritten three times in as many years, which is exactly why so many regulations quote a version that no longer exists.
An unplayed round counted as a game against a virtual opponent who held the player's score at the moment of the bye and then drew every remaining round. The regulations printed a separate formula for the calculation.
The formula was dropped. An unplayed round became a game against a dummy opponent carrying the same score as the player.
A clarification was added that the score in question is the player's final score at the end of the event, not the running score at the moment of the bye.
The dummy still takes the player's final score, but no higher than a limit. For forfeits the limit is the scheduled opponent's adjusted score. For every other unplayed round it is the points awarded for a draw multiplied by the number of rounds - that is, half the tournament maximum.
Most tournament regulations are copied from an older document. These eight formulations are now wrong or obsolete - if any of them is in yours, it needs a rewrite before the next event.
«For an unplayed round the tie-break uses a virtual opponent with the same score who draws the remaining rounds»
That describes the rule repealed back in 2023. What applies now is a dummy opponent with the cap from article 16.4.
«The dummy opponent takes the player's final score»
True until 1 March 2026. It now needs the qualifier about the limit: for a voluntary unplayed round that is half the tournament maximum.
Buchholz listed in the regulations of a round-robin
Explicitly banned by the note to article 8. What remains for round-robins is Sonneborn-Berger, the Koya system, the direct encounter, the number of wins and the measures based on your own results.
A reference to article 14.6
No such number exists in the current edition. The provision that all modifiers obey the unplayed-round rules survives as text inside article 14, but without a number of its own.
«Cut Sonneborn-Berger removes the opponent with the lowest score»
Since August 2024 what is removed is the lowest contribution - the product, not the opponent. With several equally weak opponents the two readings give different numbers.
«Drawing of lots» as the final item of the list
It can be replaced with the pairing number or rating, giving a fully predictable outcome. For events with prizes that removes the main source of protests.
The term «Games one Elected to Play» and the abbreviation GE
The measure was renamed to Rounds one Elected to Play, abbreviated REP.
«Forfeits count as ordinary games» in a round-robin
Under the revised article 15.2 forfeits do not count in the rating-based measures, and forfeit losses also drop out of the measures based on the player's own results.
The chief organizer draws it up, the arbiter may extend it from the general catalogue, and it has to be published before the event starts. There is no default sequence hiding anywhere in the handbook - the belief that FIDE mandates one is the single most common misconception about this document.
The regulations do include a fallback: if the tournament rules say nothing at all about ranking players who finish level, the computed measures apply and the arbiter forms the list. That is a safety net, not a plan - relying on it means the players learn the criteria after the games are over.
A practical walkthrough of choosing a sequence for your own event, with three real templates, is in the tie-break reference.
Nothing above needs to be memorised to run a Friday evening blitz. The Vibe Chess app computes the standings and the tie-break appropriate to the format as you enter results - Buchholz in a Swiss, Sonneborn-Berger in a round-robin - and exports the finished event as a TRF report. The regulations matter when your event is rated; for everything else they are simply a good template.
On 1 March 2026. The FIDE Council approved the document in February 2026, and the public reminder to organizers and arbiters followed after it was already in force. The document is titled «Play-Off and Tie-Break Regulations» and sits in the FIDE Handbook under C.07.
Events rated by FIDE. For an unrated club tournament it is not binding, but it makes a convenient template: borrowing settled wording beats inventing your own.
A new measure for events that do not use the classical scale - three points for a win and one for a draw, for instance. Inside the measure the results are converted back to one, a half and zero, so players can be compared by how many games they actually won and drew.
Yes, the current edition states it in a direct note to the article on Buchholz and its variants. Previously the ban followed from the logic: in a round-robin everybody faces the same field, so the sums of opponents' scores coincide and separate nothing.
The missed round counts as a game against a dummy opponent with the result matching the points awarded. The dummy's score equals the player's own final score but no higher than the limit: for forfeits the scheduled opponent's adjusted score, for every other unplayed round half the tournament maximum.
Noticeably. In a five-round event the limit is 2½ points. A player who finished on 3 with one bye used to contribute 3 points for that round to their Buchholz and now contributes only 2½, so the tie-break drops by half a point.
No. It is titled as the handling of unplayed rounds in Swiss tournaments and covers those only. Round-robins and any event with a schedule known in advance fall under a separate, shorter article.
The chief organizer. The arbiter may extend the list from the general catalogue and must publish it before the event starts. If the regulations say nothing at all about ranking, the rules include a fallback: the computed measures apply and the arbiter forms the list.
Yes. The regulations allow the tournament rules to state an alternative in advance for three articles: the score adjustment, the dummy opponent and the order of cutting. The definitions and the classification of unplayed rounds cannot be altered.
Check which edition it implements. On a mismatch, either update the software or use your right to write alternative provisions into the tournament regulations. Otherwise the discrepancy is the organizer's violation rather than the program's bug.
No. The 2026 edition only adds and clarifies. Every familiar measure is still there, including the direct encounter, Buchholz, Sonneborn-Berger, the Koya system, the progressive score and the rating-based ones.