Team Blocks USCF 28N1.

We follow USCF rule 28N1 for team team blocks.

28N. Combined individual-team tournaments. Scholastic events are often held as individual Swiss systems, with both individual and team awards. Players are paired individually and team standings are determined by adding the scores of each school’s top scorers, usually the top four. The director should try to avoid pairing teammates against each other, but an absolute prohibition of such pairings can give an unfair advantage in the individual standings to players on strong teams, who may be “paired down” against players with a lower score rather than facing each other.

28N1. Plus-two method.

• a. If a score group can be paired among itself without players from the same team facing each other, this should always be done.
• b. For score groups of less than plus two (plus two means at least two more wins than losses), if there is no way to pair the score group without players from the same team facing each other, these players should be raised or lowered into the nearest appropriate score group to avoid pairing teammates.
• c. For score groups of plus two or greater (at least two more wins than losses), players should not be removed from their score group in order to avoid playing those from the same team.