The draw

Drawing a phase

The draw decides who plays in which group, or in which place of the bracket. Only then do the matches exist.

• Open it with the yellow Draw now on the category's diagram, or with Draw on the phase's page.

• What shapes the draw is set beforehand, on the line with the phase's name: Groups, a knockout's Draw size and Places, a Swiss system's Rounds. Changes there save themselves.

• The page shows Telvin's suggestion. Nothing is created until you confirm.

• Notes above the board say who is missing: pairs still waiting for a partner, and withdrawn players. If a phase before it is still being played, a note says that who arrives can still change.

Automatic or manual

At the top of the page you choose how the board is filled.

• Automatic is the suggestion, built from the seeding:

  • Groups in a snake, as in the picture.

  • A knockout in the standard bracket order: 1 and 2 in different halves, byes for the top seeds.

  • A Swiss system for round 1 only: the top half against the bottom half, with eight players 1 against 5, 2 against 6 and so on. Later rounds come from the results.

• Manual puts everyone in the tray, Not placed yet, and you place them yourself, say from a draw made on paper.

• Current draw is only there for a phase that is already drawn.

• Auto-fill the rest places everyone left in the tray the way the suggestion would. Clear board puts everyone back in the tray. Back to the suggestion restores the suggestion.

• The two arrows beside them undo and redo a step, as do ⌘Z and ⇧⌘Z.

The seeding

The seeding orders the field, strongest first. Each player's number from it is on the board too.

• On a wide screen the Seeding is on the left. On a phone you switch between Draw and Seeding.

• A phase that gets its players from the category goes by rating. Anyone without one comes last.

• A phase that gets them through rules goes by the rules: the first rule's players first. With places per group, all group winners come first, then all runners-up. That is how the draw keeps group winners apart.

• To change it, drag a row by its six dots, or type a new number into its box. The others move up or down. Reset to ratings or Reset to rule order undoes it.

• On Automatic the board follows the seeding. Once you have placed someone yourself, a new number moves nobody.

Moving players

Any player on the board can go somewhere else.

• Drag a player with the mouse. On a phone, drag by the six dots. Or tap the player, then the target. Done puts them down again.

• In a group:

  • onto a player: the two swap

  • onto the line between two players: exactly that position

  • onto an empty seat: that seat

  • onto the group itself: wherever their number fits

• In a knockout or a Swiss system: onto a seat, or onto a player to swap.

• Back to the tray: drop onto it. Once the tray is empty and gone, drop onto Take off the board at the bottom.

• While you drag, the bar at the bottom says what letting go will do.

• Add a group adds a group. The × on a group removes it, and its players go back to the tray. A group also takes more players than its dashed seats. Ø is its average rating.

Byes

A bye is an empty place in the first round: whoever is drawn against it goes through a round without playing.

• The suggestion gives the byes to the top seeds. Auto-fill the rest keeps it that way, even where you place players yourself.

• On Manual, each empty seat in a knockout shows faintly which number the suggestion puts there.

• In a Swiss system with an odd number of players, the last seed sits out round 1.

Confirming

The bar at the bottom says whether the draw is ready.

• A green tick and Ready to draw, or an orange dot and what is still missing.

• These block confirming:

  • players still in the tray

  • a group with only one player

  • a match with two byes

  • a Draw size smaller than the field

• Only a note, not a block: an empty group is left out, and the groups after it move up. An empty seat in the middle of a group closes up.

• If this isn't the suggestion, a yellow note beside the button says what is different. It blocks nothing; it only asks you to confirm on purpose.

• Confirm draw creates the matches and takes you back to the phase. Cancel leaves without a draw. If you changed something, Telvin asks first: Keep editing or Leave.

Drawing again

A phase that is already drawn can be drawn again, even once play has started.

• Edit draw on the phase's page opens the Current draw. Automatic makes a new suggestion from today's field.

• Confirm new draw asks first: every match is replaced and gets a new card code, entered results are deleted, and printed score cards become invalid. Then Yes, replace the draw, or Yes, replace 3 results with your number of results.

• If you changed nothing, the button reads Nothing changed.

• Changing Groups, Draw size, Places or Rounds on a drawn phase asks first: Review the new draw or Keep the current draw.