Most tournament chess players are familiar with the Many organizers have used such a scoring system as a
traditional method of scoring a chess tournament. way to discourage draws in tournament play, arguably
However, there have been many alternative systems with some level of success. Since a player must only win
attempted over the years, ranging from small and simple more then one-third of their decisive games to do better
changes to complete overhauls of the current scoring than drawing every game, many risky moves are actually
system. Let’s take a look at a few of the more notable correct to play, even if they’re unclear.
scoring systems used in chess history.
One interesting consequence of this scoring system is
Traditional Scoring that it is possible for a player who would have finished
behind someone under traditional scoring to finish above
In most chess tournaments held since the middle of the them under the 3-1-0 system. While both systems are
19th century, there has been a very simply scoring essentially arbitrary, these results still seem “incorrect”
system used. Players who scored a win in a game were to many players, as the traditional scoring system has
awarded a point, while those scoring draws were given a become deeply ingrained in the culture of chess. A more
half-point. Losing a game, as you might expect, was convincing concern is the potential for collusion when
worth zero points. such a system is used in double round-robin events, as
friendly players could do better by “trading wins” rather
There were – and continue to be – many good reasons than simply drawing two games against each other.
why this system became the standard in tournament
play. First, there’s a certain logic to the “zero sum” Other Scoring Systems
nature of the scoring. Every game is worth exactly one
point, and (barring unusual circumstances such as double From time to time, other organizers have tried more
forfeits) the players will also find a way to split that radical approaches to changing the scoring system in
point amongst them. It’s very simple for fans to keep order to liven up their events. One notable effort in
track of, and while a score can’t always tell you at a recent years was the Ballard Antidraw Point System,
glance how many games a player has won or lost, it can better known as BAPS. The scoring system was the
at least tell you if the player has more wins or losses. For brainchild of Clint Ballard, a chess organizer in
instance, a player with a 4/7 score can also have their Washington who was looking for a way to ensure that
score expressed as 4-3, or +1, which tells us that they players wouldn’t want to draw their games. His answer
won one more game than they lost during the was BAPS, which scored games as follows:
tournament.
Black Wins: 3 Points
Another argument in favor of this scoring system in White Wins: 2 Points
modern chess is that the ratings system is based on a
draw is half as valuable as a win. If scoring systems are Draws: 1 point for Black, 0 points for White
changed to incentivize wins over draws, players may
Losses: 0 Points
play in ways that are successful in tournaments, but
which hurt them in the ratings, making those ratings less
accurate. Given the slight disadvantage for Black, the second
player is consistently given more points for the same
3-1-0 Scoring result as White. However, White has a second
disadvantage: they do not receive any points whatsoever
for a draw. This makes a draw no better than a loss for
More recently, some tournaments have moved to a 3-1-0
White. The scoring system was most prominently used
scoring format. This format has also been called Football
in a “Slugfest” tournament organized by Ballard back in
Scoring, thanks to the fact that it has widely been
2005, but was not otherwise widely used.
adopted in soccer leagues around the world.
In this system, players are given an added incentive to
win games. Each win is worth three points, while a draw
is only worth one, and losses are still worth zero. The
major difference in this scoring system is that players
who score a win and a loss are ranked above those who
have scored two draws (three points vs. two), so fighting
play is encouraged.
