What is a bye in a xiangqi tournament?
These answers restate the rules implemented by our open-source engine, which follows the WXF laws and is regression-tested against the official 110-diagram repetition casebook. Where an answer refers to a specific position, that position lives on the linked reference page, where the build verifies it against the engine before publishing.
Direct answer
A bye is a round in a Swiss-system event where a player has no opponent to face, most often because the number of entrants that round is odd. The player with the bye typically receives a set result, commonly treated as a win for pairing purposes, without playing a game, and continues into the following round as normal.
How byes are usually assigned
Pairing software or an arbiter gives the bye to a player, often the lowest-ranked player in the score group who has not already had one, so nobody receives multiple byes in the same event unless the field is genuinely small. See how xiangqi tournaments work for the pairing system this sits inside.
Requesting a bye in advance
Some events let players request a bye for a round they know they cannot attend, usually scored as a half point or a loss rather than a full win, which differs from an unavoidable pairing bye. Check the specific event's regulations, since conventions vary between organisers.
Related questions
Does a bye affect my rating?
Byes are typically unrated, since no game was actually played.
Can I decline a bye?
Usually not once assigned for an odd field, though a requested bye for a known absence is a separate, voluntary case.
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