What’s a Quad Format Chess Tournament?

After all the players have entered, they’re ordered from highest rating to lowest. Unrated players are usually placed at the low end, although sometimes the TD will place them somewhere else.

The top four players are placed into their own section (a “quad”), then the next four highest in another section, and so on down the list. The players in each quad play a round robin, one game against each of the players in their section, for a total of three games each. (In a double-quad, two games against each opponent, one as each color, for a total of six games.)

If there is not an even multiple of four players, the lowest section (usually) will have the few extra players and play a three round Swiss tournament rather than a round robin.

The quad format is popular in one day events, and results in players of the most similar playing strengths being paired together for all three rounds. Generally that month’s supplement rating will be used to divide players by rating. However, the TD may assign certain players a higher rating if he thinks it appropriate.