A tiebreak is a way of deciding the winner or the order of places when players have the same number of points.
Two kinds of tiebreak
Extra games
In matches and knockout tournaments, a level score leads to extra games with a shorter time control. The usual order:
- Rapid games — for example, 25 minutes each.
- If it is still level — blitz games (3–5 minutes each).
- If that does not help either — a decisive Armageddon game, where a draw is impossible.
Many world championship matches were decided this way. For example, in 2023 Ding Liren became world champion by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the rapid tiebreak (“World champions”).
Additional criteria
In ordinary tournaments there are no extra games: when points are equal, places are decided by additional criteria. Their order is set in advance in the tournament regulations. The most common are:
- Direct encounter — who won the game between the players on equal points.
- Sonneborn–Berger score — for round-robin tournaments (more).
- Buchholz score — for Swiss-system tournaments (more).
- Number of wins — who has won more games.
- Number of games with Black — who has played more of them.
Advice for players
Before the tournament, read the regulations: which criteria will be used and in what order. Sometimes your tactics in the last rounds depend on it.