King Of The Hill Pairing System - An Analysis.

The King Of The Hill pairing system is one where the “Top ranked plays second, third plays fourth, etc. Usually used for the last round(s) of the tournament” (NSA 2008, p53) “KOTH pairings are often used in the final round(s) of a tournament to ensure that contenders face each other” (Chew, John 2015)

This is the start of a series of posts on the King Of The Hill Pairing system based on the results of the results of the Sri Lanka Age Group Scrabble Championship 2015. Before you run of thinking Sri Lanka, Bah! Consider that this was a tournament in which three of the top 10 finishers at the World Youth Scrabble Championship took part. In fact Sri Lanka is a country that has produced many a strong performer at international level

KOTH was used for pairing 5 out of 6 rounds at the All Island Age Group Scrabble Championships in 2015 and 2014. In previous years when KOTH was only used it was only in the last round of the tournament. The format is also used in 6 out of 18 rounds at the Scrabbler of the Year tournaments held four times a year.

“It is estimated that as many as 75-80% of all tournaments use the KOTH for the last one or two rounds, including many R-R events. But, almost none use KOTH in the early rounds.” (NSA 2008, p53)

 

References:

Chew, John. 2015. 'Tsh: Commands'. Poslarchive.Com. http://www.poslarchive.com/tsh/doc/commands.html#pairing.

>2008. New York: National Scrabble Association.