Hi all, I’ve been building LeagueMaker (https://leaguemakerapp.com), a free web tool for running tournaments, and it now supports McMahon: initial scores from kyu/dan ranks with configurable bands, automatic pairings, Buchholz/SOS-style tiebreakers, and live standings you can share with a link. No install, works on a phone or tablet at the venue.
I’m the developer, and I’d honestly rather get picked apart by people who actually run Go tournaments than keep guessing what organisers need. If you try it with a real or test event and something is wrong or missing (bar placement, handicap handling, EGD export…), tell me and I’ll put it on the list. Guide: https://leaguemakerapp.com/p/create-go-tournament
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A browser-based tool to organize Tourmaments would be very useful, so I like that you are builing one.
To actually use it however, there need to be some features that aren’t there yet. We currently use OpenGotha, so maybe you can take a look there what it provides.
- For European tournaments it’s very important link the players to their EGD profile. The EGD provides an api to search for players, so it would be very convenient if your website automatically looks for candidate EGD players when I enter the names (I assume the AGA has something similar, idk)
- Also, to upload the tournament to the EGD, I need to be able to export the results as a “.h9” file.
- Maybe I missed it, but I can’t see where I can give the players a rank. Also, the settings for the McMahon bars is not clear at all, I can just enter a single number, but don’t know how I can set the bars at e.g. 20kyu and 4dan
- Custom pairing. Sometimes people come late and we have to manually pair some players once the round has already started. Or I want to do a bracket for the top players, but keep it all in the same tournament. To be flexible it would be nice if I can do some pairings by hand and then use an algorithm to pair the rest. In general, I’d like to be able to correct everything manually if needed. Tournaments can get chaotic, so there needs to be a fail-safe.
- Is it possible to remove players from individual rounds?
- We’re often playing with 7 komi, so I need to be able to enter draws
And a minor nitpick: the settings for the tiebreakers is in Spanish (using the website in German)
Also out of curiosity, I’d like to know what pairing algorithm you use.
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Hi, thank you very much for these comments; the truth is that this kind of feedback is extremely helpful, especially coming from someone who actually organizes tournaments with OpenGotha.
Right now I’m reviewing your list: EGD links, McMahon brackets, manual pairings, eliminating players from a round, ties, and the wording error in the tiebreaker. I’ll try to resolve as much as I can, but I’d rather do it right than rush through it.
Thanks again for taking the time to write all this. If you come across anything else, feel free to post it here.
Hello again,
In response to your feedback, all five points have now been implemented: jigo/ties work correctly, the tiebreaker panel is fully localized, the McMahon system supports a bar per rank (not just per band), a participant can be excluded from a single round, manual pairing can be performed for a round, and participants can be linked via their EGD PIN.
We’d love it if, when you have the chance, you could organize a tournament using this tool and let us know what’s still missing compared to OpenGotha. Thanks again for your detailed review; it’s helped us a lot in setting priorities.