LR – Games & Tournaments- Knockout

Knockout:

Knockout kind of questions involve a certain number of teams or players who have a pre tournament
seeding playing with each other such that the loser of a match is out of the tournament.

Seeding: It is basically the ranking of a team. Numerically lower seeding means higher seeding. For
example seed 1 is higher than seed 2.

Upset: When a lower seeding player defeats a higher seeded player. For example seed 10 defeats
seed 4.

Lets take a tournament with 16 teams seeded 1 to 16.

The design of the tournament will be to ensure that if there are no upsets that in every round the
highest seeded player plays the lowest seeded, 2nd highest plays against the 2 nd lowest and so on.

Round 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Vs vs vs vs vs vs vs Vs
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9

Round 2

1 or 16 2 or 15 3 or 14 4 or 13
Vs Vs Vs Vs
8 or 9 7 or 10 6 or 11 5 or 12

Round 3

1 or 16 or 8 or 9 2 or 15 or 7 or 10
Vs Vs
4 or 13 or 5 or 12 3 or 14 or 6 or 11

Round 4

1 or 16 or 8 or 9 or 4 or 13 or 5 or 12
Vs
2 or 15 or 7 or 10 3 or 14 or 6 or 11

 When there are 8 teams, round 2 in this case, it is called a quarter final
 When there are 4 teams, round 3 in this case, it is called a semi final
 When there are 2 teams, round 4 in this case, it is called a final

As you can see in each round from round 2 onwards, we have mentioned multiple possibilities as we
don’t know for sure who will win the previous round. However if there are more players say 32 or 64

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or 128, we cannot draw a table like this. So in those cases we make an assumption that only a higher
seeding player will win a match i.e. there will be no upsets.

Round 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Vs vs vs vs vs vs vs Vs
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9

Round 2

1 2 3 4
Vs Vs Vs Vs
8 7 6 5

Round 3

1 2
Vs Vs
4 3

Round 4

1
Vs
2

We know that the tournament may not pan out like this but this helps us understand the structure
of the tournament. Now based on this skeletal structure, note a few things.

Sum of the seedings of the players in a match is always 1 more than the total players in that round.
So in 1st round sum of seedings of all players is 17. In 2nd round it is 9. In 3rd it is 5 and final it is 3.

This helps us predict that who cab ne the likely opponents in any match in any round

For example who can player 5 play against in round 2. In our diagram he will play against player 4.
However if player 4 is defeated in 1st round then his replacement will play the match. Player 4 played
against player 13 in round (4+13=17), so player 5 can play against player 4 or player 13 in round 2.

Lets extrapolate this to 32 players.

So who will player 23 play against in round 1?

We know that sum of seedings must be 33 (round 1). So he will play against 33-23= player 10

So who will player 19 play against in round 1?

We know that sum of seedings must be 33 (round 1). So he will play against 33-19= player 14

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Who will player 14 play against in round 2?

We know that sum of seedings must be 17 (round 2: 16 players). So he will play against 17-14=
player 3. However player 3 may not reach round 2. So we need to find the opponent of player 3 in
round 1, which player 30 (33-3). So player 14 can play against player 3 or player 309 in round 2.

So who will player 19 play against in round 2?

As per our skeletal structure only the top 16 are supposed to reach round 2. So if player 19 has
reached round 2 he must have caused an upset i.e. defeated a higher seeded player. Player 19 will
play player 14 (33-19) in round 1. So now he will chart the same path that player 14 would have
taken. We have already seen that player 14 could have played against player 3 or 30 in round 20, so
player 19 will also play against player 3 or 30 in round 2.

Who will player 8 play against in round 3?

Now round 3 means top 8 players. So player 8 must be playing against player 1. However if player 1
is defeated in round 1 or 2 then his vanquisher can replace him round 3. So lets find out who will
player 1 play against in rounds 1 and 2.

Round 1: 32 (33-1)

Round 2: 16

Round 2: 17 (player 16 and 17 will play against each other in round 1 so any one can reach round 2)

So any of these players (32, 16, 17) can replace player 1 in round 3. So possible opponents of player
8 are 1, 32, 16 or 17

Who will player 29 play against in round 3?

Now round 3 means top 8 players. So player 29 will reach round 3 displacing one of the top 8. Player
29 plays against player 4 in round 1 (33-29). So player 29 ultimately takes the slot of player 4 in
round 3. Player 4 would have played player 5 (or his replacement) in round 3. So player 29 will also
play against 5 or his replacement. Possible replacement of 5 : 28 (round 1: 33-5), 12 (round 2: 17-5),
21 (opponent of player 12 in round 1).

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