A couple of years ago this column examined the pairings that resulted when SwissSys, WinTD and NTD Todd Barre each paired every round at the U.S. Masters. While Todd upgraded into a chess dad, and can be found at local and national scholastic tournaments with his son, his improved software companions are still cranking out pairings at small, medium and large (Super Swiss) tournaments alike. SyssSys is at version 6.081 http://www.swisssys.com with WinTD’s latest version at 4.01 http://www.estima.com.

Both of these programs are extremely popular with TDs and together they dominate the pairings software market in the United States. Just what kind of bells and whistles do these two software packages offer besides the ability to match up players round after round? They are both tournament management software packages.

Your humble columnist owns and uses both of these programs. I have groused often that Thad Suits (SwissSys) and Tom Doan (WinTD) each have included tournament management bells and whistles that I would love to see as features on the other’s software package. While that is probably not going to happen anytime soon we can look at and evaluate the various features that each programmer currently offers —and should consider offering—their customers.

Some of you have purchased one of these two tournament management programs only to switch. Others have become brand loyal. Some users even have gone back to using pairing cards!? This is your opportunity to share with us. Tell us what bells and whistles you like or do not like. What features are “deal breakers” for you? What features do you have no use for? What features do you want to see?

Consider the following short list of features for you to take into account: Ease of updating the USCF database, Ease of accessing the USCF data base, Team features, Usability of the help menu, Using other data bases for local ratings, Ease of entering/maintaining/fixing player data, Saving as other types of files (delimited, HTML, text, …), Readability of wall charts, Late entry routines, Checking player data (expirations, paid fees, …), Types of usable pairing sheets, Ease of making rating reports to USCF, User friendly, Intuitive, Ease of handling byes requested before and during the event, Usefulness of available reports (owed fees, byes, pairing logic), Ease of handling withdrawals, Bugs, Tech support, Drag and drop features, Determining winners, Calculating prizes, Tiebreaks, …

Send your comments and evaluations to: Email: USCFrulebook@yahoo.com or to Tim Just, 37165 Willow, Gurnee, Il. 60031.