A method of pairing players at a tournament, developed in Switzerland in the 19th century by Dr. Julius Muller and first employed in 1895. The three fundamental rules of the Swiss System are:

a) No player meets the same opponent twice;

b) Pairings should match players with scores which are as similar as possible;

c) The number of games as White and as Black for each player should be kept as close as possible to equal throughout the tournament.