JAVAFO PAIRING ENGINE ADVANCED USER MANUAL
Contents
1. 51 Round 10 Round 11 Using also the option w the checker will perform its action using the weighted matching algorithm Random Tournament Generator RTG In order to help an external pairing checker JaVaFo can generate random or quasi random tournaments against which the external pairing checker can be tested The command line in its simplest form javafo g o trn trf will generate in the current folder any pathname like TEST_DIR trn trf can be specified though a file trn trf which is a TRE of a random tournament with a random number of players usually between 15 and 215 a random number of rounds usually between 5 and 15 and game results that depend on the rating difference between the involved players applying a formula that in the long run will distribute points based on the standard FIDE rating curve In the same command line some of the options already described can be added W use the weighted matching algorithm q number do not generate a tournament if the number of permutation in any bracket is higher than number or 10000 if no number is specified The most important utilization of this feature is to generate thousands of tournaments and then test them with the appropriate checker Therefore it is advisable to use on Windows a statement like that for L p IN 1000 1 1999 do javafo g o test p trf w which will generate exactly 1000 random tournaments in the current folder The p2. 48 for Gorrochategui player id 6 and so on JaVaFo computes the pairings using the pairing id s Beware JaVaFo uses the pairing id s not the ratings as specified by the Dutch rule A 2 b This is a programming choice that cannot be modified However the calling program is not forced to follow the same logics If it desires that the rating be prevalent it has two alternatives a before calling JaVaFo redefine the pairing id s in such a way that increasing pairing id s are assigned to players with decreasing rating which by the way is the most standard situation b insert players in the TRF x in order of rating and tell JaVaFo to use the positional id s also called ranking id s instead of the pairing id s The first choice is the recommended one However in order to let the calling program use the second alternative JaVaFo provides the extension code XXC rank The C in XXC stands for configuration The word rank tells JaVaFo to use the positional id s in order to produce the pairings The output file still contains the pairing id s First round pairing Although the rule for pairing the first round is very simple and therefore the calling program can generate it directly it is recommended to use JaVaFo also to generate the first round The only information to pass to the pairing engine is the color of the higher ranked player in the first board There are three possibilities a white b black c let JaV
3. b or mild see A 7 c preference Wavering variable preference see A 7 e A No preference see A 7 f B5 and B6 are references to the Dutch rules B 5 and B 6 They show the kind of floater up or down respectively in the last and in the penultimate round In order to produce the check list JaVaFo should be invoked using the option l optionally followed by the name of the file which to put the check list in If such name is missing JaVaFo will produce the file trn list provided that 1 follow the input file name For instance this works javafo TRF_DIR trn trfx p OUT_DIR outfile txt l and this works too javafo TRF_DIR trn trfx p OUT_DIR outfile txt 1 ANY_DIR outfile list As usual if ANY_DIR is omitted outfile list is produced in the TRF_DIR Release and build numbers As mentioned above the simple command javafo will print the release version and build on the standard output If an input filename is specified this information is not output unless the r option is used Pairings Checker JaVaFo can also be used to check the correctness of a TRF produced by other software the command line javafo TRF_DIR trn trfx c will produce on standard output something similar to what is shown below with obvious meaning trn Round 1 trn Round 2 trn Round 3 trn Round 4 trn Round 5 trn Round 6 trn Round 7 trn Round 8 trn Round 9 Checker pairings Tournament pairings 60 51 60 43 56 43 56
4. JAVAFO PAIRING ENGINE ADVANCED USER MANUAL Introduction How to input the data Interpretation extensions Unusual info extensions Extra codes extensions TRE x sample How to invoke JaVaFo How to read the output of JaVaFo Extensions and other options Ranking id First round pairing Accelerated rounds Forbidden pairs Long computation Check list Release and build numbers Pairings Checker Random Tournament Generator RTG Reducing randomness by way of a RTG configuration file Reducing randomness by way of a model tournament Quick recap Introduction JaVaFo is both a stand alone program provided that a java virtual machine exist to execute it and an archive jar that can be used by a program written in the java programming language This manual describes the first of the two possibilities the one that allows an external program to integrate the JaVaFo Pairing Engine in order to use it to prepare pairings according to the Dutch Swiss System FIDE Handbook section C 04 3 1 How to input the data Albeit JaVaFo supports many input formats and other ones could be easily added the most practical way to input data to JaVaFo is using the TRF x where TRF is the official FIDE Tournament Report File defined in http ratings fide com download fidexchg txt and the x stands for some extensions that have to be introduced in that format to make it useful for exchanging data between diffe
5. aFo make the choice i e random The latter choice is the default Beware that is a semi random choice to compute it JaVaFo uses the hash of some data taken from the TRF x this means that repeating the process with the same TRF x will give the same result each time Therefore in order to use the JaVaFo random choice the calling program needs doing nothing Otherwise to force the choice a the TRF x must contain a line XXC whitel To force the choice b the TRF x must contain a line XXC blackl Please note that the XXC code is cumulative so it is followed by all the configuration choices made by the calling program For instance XXC rank blackl is a valid extension line and combines what was described in the previous and in the current chapters Accelerated rounds The standard way to have accelerated rounds is to assign fictitious points to some players How to assign such points depends on various methods that have not been yet codified so this is not a matter of discussion here However JaVaFo can be informed of the fictitious points that are assigned to each player using the extension code XXA The format for this code is XXA NNNN pp p pp p Where XXA starts at column 1 NNNN player s id same as in 001 starts at column 5 pp p fictitious points starts at column 10 5 r 1 where r is the round which the fictitious points must be added in It is mandatory to keep the full record of the fictitious points a
6. can be avoided in the following way 1 put a limit to the number of permutations that JaVaFo can do in a single bracket 10000 is a good limit it normally takes less than one minute to pass that limit this is done by invoking JaVaFo in the following way javafo TRF_DIR trn trfx p OUT_DIR outfile txt q 10000 2 if JaVaFo reaches a number of 10000 permutations in a single bracket it quits and produces an output file with contains just a 0 zero as in zero pairs created 3 when the calling program recognizes that such output was generated it invokes JaVaFo in the following way javafo TRF_DIR trn trfx p OUT_DIR outfile txt w With the option w JaVaFo uses a weighted matching algorithm to compute the pairings it is slower sometimes much slower than the standard one but it is very useful to solve problems when the normal procedure is sort of stuck Check list Upon request JaVaFo can generate a check list i e a file that summarizes the situation after the pairing with the following contents taken from the previous TRF x sample Check List Sample In the check list the majority of the fields are pretty intuitive Some more explanation may be needed for the column Pref B5 and B6 Pref reports the preference of the player The following table explains the symbols and the associated preference Ww Bi Absolute preference see Dutch rule A 7 a Semi absolute preference see A 7 d wW b Strong see A 7
7. e it Then the pairing engine itself javafo jar is needed The latest version of the jar can always be downloaded from the following web site http www trweb org javafo current javafo jar You can also find previous versions of javafo jar replacing current with 1 0 1 1 1 2 and so on The downloaded jar archive can be stored anywhere in the file system Be JVF_DIR the pathname of the folder where javafo jar has been downloaded The first test to see if both the JVM and the pairing engine work is to write in a command prompt java ea jar JVF_DIR javafo jar or java ea jar JVF_DIR javafo jar depending on the O S in use the first line works for Windows in the following only the Windows commands are mentioned also for the full command java ea jar JVF_DIR javafo jar the string javafo is used as if a file named javafo bat exists somewhere in a PATH directory and contains the statement java ea jar JVF_DIR Jjavafo jar If everything is properly set up the above command should produce the following output or something similar more up to date JaVaFo rrweb org javafo Rel 1 4 Build 1913 After checking that the pairing engine is ready you can input a TRF to it Even this file can be placed anywhere in the file system Be TRF_DIR the pathname of the folder where the file trn trfx is located trn trfx is just a mnemonic name dummy foo is an equally valid name We should also decide where the pairing eng
8. ething is usually displayed on standard output or standard error but it may be quite difficult to interpret The most common cause for an error is a malformed TRF x However if the TRF x is totally correct than an error must have occurred in the pairing engine This may occasionally happen but it is a very unlikely event although not an impossible one of course Extensions and other options What was presented in the previous chapters covers the majority of the situations that can happen in a tournament Sometimes however something may happen that requires some extra care Ranking id JaVaFo identifies players with two numbers the player id and the positional id The first one is obvious and it is the one that is associated with the 001 record in the TRF x The second one is implicit being given by the position of the players in the TRF x Albeit this is not mandatory players are normally inserted into the TRF x in accordance with their pairing id so that the two sets of data pairing id s and positional id s are basically coincident They may differ though and sometimes for good reasons For instance please give a look at the linked file which is a modified version of the previous sample the players with a local rating 0 for FIDE are placed at the end of the list Ranked TRF x Sample The positional id is 1 for Mirzoev 6 for Lakunza player id 7 29 for Aizpurua player id 32 42 for Abalia player id 42
9. ine output should be placed Be OUT_DIR outfile txt the pathname of said output file as above this file can be called in any way Be sure that the file does not exist before invoking javafo jar From the same command prompt mentioned above the following command line is needed to produce the pairings for the current round javafo TRF_DIR trn trfx p OUT_DIR outfile txt The meaning of the most useful options will be described in a following chapter But the above command is the most generic way to invoke the javafo jar pairing engine If OUT_DIR is the same than TRF_DIR then OUT_DIR can be dropped so that javafo TRF_DIR trn trfx p outfile txt generates outfile txt in TRF_DIR How to read the output of JaVaFo When invoked as shown in the previous command the output is the file outfile txt The structure of this file is very simple 1 the first line reports the number of generated pairs be P 2 from the second to the P 1 th line each line contains a pair for the current round Such pair is made using the pairing id s of the players i e the id s that are defined in the 001 line of the TRF x The first element of the pair gets white the second one black If the number of players to be paired in the round is odd one of the pairs is formed by the id of the player that gets the bye followed by 0 The TRF sample shown above will produce the following output If something goes wrong the output file is not generated Som
10. o also accepts blank codes which default to 0000 for the opponent for the colour i e no colour for the result i e forfeit loss Therefore for a round already played 0000 and eight blank characters are equivalent It is also important that the field called Points in the TRF definition position 81 84 contains the correct number of points that each player got because that number is used to infer the scoring point system used i e the classic 1 2 0 or another one like 3 1 0 Unusual info extensions The partial TRF contains information regarding the rounds that have already been played However it says nothing regarding the current round i e the one that should be paired The most important thing is to tell JaVaFo which players should be paired or which is the same which players will not play that round If everybody plays in the current round the partial TRF is enough Otherwise if somebody is missing this information is transmitted by inserting in the proper columns for the current round the result code that is normally used for absent players 1 e 0000 which identifies an absent or retired player 0000 which identifies a player who got a half point bye Actually there is no strict need to differentiate between the two types of absent players It is just a suggestion for the sake of clarity The code 0000 is enough to support any kind of missing player Blank codes a
11. odel trf g o TEST_DIR trn trf Quick recap Standard invocations javafo r javafo r input file c w javafo r input file p output file w 1 check list file q number of tries javafo r model file g config file o trf_file w q number of tries The square brackets represent something optional Some explanations indicates a file named javafo bat with the following contents java ea jar JVF_DIR Jjavafo jar r show JaVaFo release and build numbers input file in TRF x format model file in TRF format model file for the random tournament generator config file configuration file for the random tournament generator use JaVaFo as a checker use JaVaFo as a random tournament generator with this option at most one between model file and config file may be present p output file output file full or relative pathname where to write the pairing if missing the output file will be defaulted to standard output use the usually slower Weighted Matching Algorithm WMA l check list file check list file absolute or relative pathname where to write the check list if missing the check list will be defaulted to the input file directory with the same basename as the input file and an extension of list q number of tries number of tries maximum number of meaningful permutations to be taken in a single scoring bracket if missing it defaults to 10000 This option us
12. re ignored in this instance for obvious reason each present player is identified by the absence of a result code Extra codes extensions As said in the introduction regarding input data some alphabetic codes were added in order to transmit additional information to the pairing engine Some of them are not essential and will be shown in a following chapter but one is the pairing engine must know the total number of rounds in the tournament in order to know if the current round is the last one This is obtained by means of the following new alphabetic code XXR number where number is the number of rounds of the competition TRF x sample In the linked file there is an example of the TRF x used to pair the fifth round of the XX Open Internacional de Gros which includes everything said above regarding the TRF extensions TRF x Sample According to what was discussed before it should be pretty evident that the players 22 26 and 43 will not play the fifth round How to invoke JaVaFo As mentioned in the introduction the goal of this paper is to describe how to invoke JaVaFo as a stand alone program or which is a lot more precise how to invoke JaVaFo as an executable java archive jar First of all a Java Virtual Machine JVM is needed The beauty of this is that the operating system O S in use is not important JaVaFo can run on any O S provided that a Java Virtual Machine exist in it Be java the command to activat
13. rent programs The extensions to the TRF are partly made by adding some new codes which are alphabetic in order to be completely different by the current numeric codes defined for the format__ partly by allowing writing in the TRF something that is not normally found in a TRF partly by interpreting some data contained in it Interpretation extensions A TRF is normally used only to generate data at the end of the tournament The first extension is to allow the TRF to be generated also during the tournament This partial TRF is fed to JaVaFo as its input It is important that the following codes be used to record unplayed games in the already played rounds 0000 bye win for the unpaired player in a round with an odd number of players 0000 arbitral draw also named half point bye 0000 announced absence i e before the pairing was prepared pe piyer hota py aite wie aeti NAO player scheduled to play with white against NNNN NNNN w absence at the board of NNNN opponent of a player who was scheduled to play with white absence at the board of a player scheduled to play with black MDP emo SSNS DS NNNN b absence at the board of NNNN opponent of a player who was a iemuti pay mabaet o o n o WS absence at the board of a player scheduled to play against M RRAN en rampoeng oae s o o Sa NNNN absence at the board of NNNN opponent of the current player r Ferenc opponent weko Note that JaVaF
14. reviously mentioned randomness in the generated files can be reduced in two alternative ways using either a RTG configuration file or a model TRF Reducing randomness by way of a RTG configuration file 2 A RTG configuration file is a property file__ where the following parameters properties may be defined for the explanation of each single parameter please look at the sample below An example of a RTG configuration file is shown here Random Tournament Generator Configuration Sample In order to being used by the JaVaFo Random Tournament Generator the RTG configuration file must be specified as a parameter to the g option Therefore the full command line is javafo g RTG_DIR rtg cfg o TEST_DIR trn trf Reducing randomness by way of a model tournament A model tournament is a normal input TRF file with meaningful player ratings which serves as a model in order to define all the parameters mentioned above For instance from the input file seen in the TRE x Acceleration Sample the following values are automatically retrieved PlayersNumber RoundsNumber 9 DrawPercentage ForfeitRate 189 RetiredRate HalfPointByeRate PointsFor Win PointsForDraw The parameters HighestRating and LowestRating are not considered as the ratings are exactly the same as the ones present in the input model file As the model file is a standard input file the command line to use it is javafo MODEL_DIR m
15. ssigned round by round because this record is used to deduct the floaters history of each player actually if pairing for round X it is enough to maintain the fictitious points history from the rounds from X 3 to the current one but it seems simpler to keep the full history Here is an example from a real tournament where seven accelerated rounds were used TRF x Acceleration Sample Forbidden pairs Sometimes some players are to be prevented from meeting each other JaVaFo can be directed to fulfill this need by means of the extension code XXP The format of this code is XXP list of pairing id s All the players mentioned in the list will not be paired against each other There is no limit on how many times a player can be part of a XXP list So for instance if games between members of two groups of players cannot happen for instance let lt 13 78 102 gt and lt 68 111 gt be these two groups the following list of XXP extension codes should be generated XXP 13 68 XXP 13 111 XXP 78 68 XXP 78 111 XXP 102 68 XXP 102 111 Long computation Sometimes the computation of a round may take a very long time Let us look for instance to the attached TRF x TRF x Long Computation Sample It is a fantasy tournament of course but JaVaFo takes sort of an infinite time to compute pairings for the fifth round and it will probably crash From a practical point of view it becomes useless This kind of problems
16. ually has no effect when the w option is also present o trf file trf file full or relative pathname where to write the auto generated TRF file 1 Commission 2 _ A property file is a file where empty lines have no meaning and lines introduced by the symbol contain a comment The meaningful lines have the format PropertyName Property Value which assigns to the named property or parameter the value specified by PropertyValue The idea of alphabetic codes comes from the author of the TRF Christian Krause chairman of the Swiss Pairings Programs FIDE
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search