Eleven people turn up instead of the expected twelve, and every round somebody is left without an opponent. The situation is so ordinary that the rules settled it long ago, yet two questions still surface at every club evening: who exactly sits out, and how many points they get for it. Both are answered below, along with the non-obvious consequence - why a free point can cost you a place.
Everything is decided in advance. With an odd field there are as many rounds as players, and the schedule distributes the byes itself: each person sits out exactly once. The organizer has nothing to decide - the pairing table already accounted for it.
The decision is taken afresh before each round: pairs are built by score and somebody is inevitably left over. The bye usually goes to a player from the lower part of the standings among those who have not had one.
A principle common to both: one player should not receive a bye twice while others have never sat out. Otherwise somebody collects two free points and somebody none, and the event stops being equal.
| Players | System | Rounds | Who sits out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | round-robin | 5 rounds | each player sits out exactly one round |
| 7 | round-robin | 7 rounds | each player sits out exactly one round |
| 9 | round-robin | 9 rounds | each player sits out exactly one round |
| 11 | Swiss | 5-7 rounds | one player per round; a repeat only if unavoidable |
| 21 | Swiss | 6-7 rounds | one player per round, usually from the lower half |
Ready round-robin schedules with the byes already built in are in the Berger tables: for an odd field you take the table one number up, and whoever is paired with the number nobody holds is free that round.
There is no single answer: the regulations decide. But the choice is not arbitrary, and each option has its logic.
The standard at amateur and club events. The reasoning is simple: the player is not responsible for the field being odd, and penalising them for the draw is unfair. The downside is that a free point can push someone into the lead on level play.
The compromise: the player stays in contention but gains no advantage over those who actually played. More often applied to voluntary byes, where the player asked to be excused from the round.
The strict option for events where purity of result matters. Rarely used, and almost never for a forced bye: being scored zero because there was nobody to pair you with is the kind of thing that makes people leave the tournament.
Line for your regulations
«With an odd number of players, one player is free from play each round and receives 1 point. The same player shall not be given a second bye while participants remain who have not yet sat out a round».
Here is the non-obvious part. A bye adds a point to the standings but damages the tie-breaks - and those are what decide places when players finish level.
The reason is that the missed round counts as a game against a dummy opponent whose score is capped. In a five-round event that cap is 2½ points, whereas a real opponent might have contributed three, four or five to your Buchholz. Worse, when the worst results are cut, the unplayed round's contribution is removed first, even if it is not numerically the lowest.
The practical takeaway for a player: a bye is a trade, not a gift. You get the point, but on equal points you will finish below someone who earned the same total at the board. The full arithmetic is on the Buchholz page and in the walkthrough of the 2026 tie-break regulations.
The simplest fix and nearly always the best. The organizer, a coach, a spectator or a friend who wandered in can take the board: an even field removes the whole bye question. Keeping one willing person in reserve is a habit of experienced organizers.
One sentence: how many points a bye scores and that nobody receives it twice. Said in advance it reads as procedure; said after the third-round pairing it reads as improvisation in somebody's favour.
Pairing programs pick from the bottom of the table anyway, but when a tournament is run by hand this is easy to forget. A free point for the leader will almost certainly decide first place and will raise entirely fair questions.
The full list of what to say before the start is in what to announce before round one.
In the Vibe Chess app an odd field requires nothing from the organizer: the app picks who is free this round, makes sure the same player does not sit out twice, and credits the point. The bye is labelled on its own line in the round card, so «why am I not playing today?» is answered by turning the screen round.
One player is left without a pairing each round and receives a bye. In a round-robin that is built into the schedule: with an odd field there are as many rounds as players, and everybody sits out exactly once. In a Swiss the bye is assigned afresh before each round.
Normally a player from the lower part of the standings among those who have not had one yet - the pairing program selects them by rule rather than at random. The key principle is that the same player should not receive a bye twice while candidates remain who have never sat out.
Whatever the regulations say. Amateur events usually award a full point so that nobody is punished by the draw. Rated and qualifying events state the rule separately, and zero or a half is more common there.
In a round-robin, no - the schedule does not allow it. In a Swiss, only if no other candidates remain, which is rare. The no-repeat rule exists precisely so that one person does not collect two free points while another gets none.
Yes, and more than people expect. The missed round counts as a game against a dummy opponent whose score is capped, and when the worst results are cut it is removed first. A bye is therefore not only a free point but also a hit to your coefficients.
Finding a player is almost always better. Even if it is the organizer or a spectator of middling strength: an even field removes the whole question of byes and makes the event cleaner. That is why experienced organizers keep somebody in reserve who is willing to sit down.
If the organizer is playing, yes - it is common practice, since they are busy running the round anyway. But the no-repeat rule applies to them too, and the arrangement should be announced in advance, or it looks like a privilege.
It is not their choice: the bye is assigned by the pairing system, not by the player. What they can do is request a voluntary bye for a specific round in advance - that is a different procedure, with its own scoring rules.