Answers.Body: <p>Each game of chess is worth a total of 1 point.  The winner takes the whole point, the loser gets none of it, and a draw gives each player an equal portion.</p>
  
  <p>This makes it easier to create player statistics, because each game is worth exactly 1 point.  Divide their total score by the number of games played and you get a percentage of games won/lost.</p>
  
  <p>To some degree this is the same as asking why we use pi rather than tau in mathematics.  For some operations pi is easier to work with, for others tau is easier to work with.</p>
  
  <p>While a 2 point system would make some things easier, it would make others harder.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-11-01T00:51:19.750Z
Answers.Text: This is a little off-topic, but tau seems to be easier to work with in just about every non-contrived case.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Cruncher
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-11-01T21:00:56.133Z
Answers.Text: @Cruncher I'd encourage you to look up "The Pi Manifesto." I think it makes a pretty compelling argument for pi. At the least, I think it would convince most people that tau lacks enough advantage to abandon literally millennia of mathematical tradition. (Personally, I think if you look at the generalized formulae for the surface and volume of a n-sphere, it becomes completely obvious that tau is based on a profound misunderstanding of the deeper patterns at play.)
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sarah G
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-11-05T22:53:05.217Z
Answers.Text: Almost every game is worth one point.  From what I understand, if both players engage in grossly unsportsmanlike conduct, a tournament director would generally have the authority to declare a double forfeit, in which case the game would be worth zero (neither player would get anything).
Answers.UserDisplayName: supercat
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Answers.CreationDate: 2020-01-17T02:08:54.337Z
Answers.Text: ?????   what is this tau thing.  never heard of it.
Answers.UserDisplayName: edwina oliver
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Answers.CreationDate: 2020-01-17T20:02:26.093Z
Answers.Text: [tau](https://tauday.com/) = 2pi.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Bladewood
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Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-10-31T17:09:06.000Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Adam Davis
Answers.Body: <p>Because it's a long-established convention and changing it at this point would be much more trouble than it's worth.</p>
  
  <p>In the words of Gerald Weinberg </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Things are the way they are because they got that way</p>
  </blockquote>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-11-01T02:37:55.163Z
Answers.Text: I don't see how the edit improved the post in any way.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Cleveland
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-11-01T10:44:25.410Z
Answers.Text: Then why don't you revert it?
Answers.UserDisplayName: svick
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Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-10-31T20:43:19.273Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2014-10-31T20:43:19.273Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Cleveland
Body: <p>In chess tournaments, when you win you get 1 point, when you draw you get 0.5 point, when you lose you get 0 point.</p>
  
  <p>So we have to use two additional symbols to represent the score of a player: the radix point and the digit "5".<br>
  Or sometimes we use three additional symbols: " 1 / 2 ".</p>
  
  <p>My question is: why don't we just multiply everything by 2?<br>
  When you win you would get 2 points, when you draw you would get 1 point, when you lose you would get 0 point.</p>
  
  <p>This would simply have the benefit of economizing symbols and making the scores shorter. No more ".5" or "1/2".</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-31T14:27:41.147Z
Comments.Text: Some tournaments these days, in order to promote fighting chess, use 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. So you see people have scores like 5 out of 9 after three rounds. I'm not a fan, because I don't mind fractions, and I would much rather be able to say "The tournament was 4 games and I got three points", with the maximum score implicit, than "The tournament was 4 games and I got six points out of eight".
Comments.UserDisplayName: dfan
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-31T14:27:45.220Z
Comments.Text: Why is "economy of symbols" important? It's not like we're running out of 5s.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Henry Keiter
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-31T15:07:46.150Z
Comments.Text: Players and commentators often talk about tournament performances by "minus n" or "plus n" meaning that the player has lost (or won) n games more than won (or lost), which is like a 1 - 0 - -1 scoring system. But I've never seen that used in a scoreboard.
Comments.UserDisplayName: JiK
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-31T15:09:37.557Z
Comments.Text: @HenryKeiter It's a bit ugly that some entries look very different than others e.g. in [http://tashkent2014.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=3](http://tashkent2014.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=3).
Comments.UserDisplayName: JiK
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-31T18:01:54.077Z
Comments.Text: @HenryKeiter I wouldn't be so sure about that... http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2005/12/27
Comments.UserDisplayName: corsiKa
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-10-31T21:02:57.090Z
Comments.Text: International draughts (10x10 checkers) uses this system. It's all a matter of tradition.
Comments.UserDisplayName: RemcoGerlich
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-11-01T22:48:08.940Z
Comments.Text: Tradition is a strong argument. Or try to convince tennis players of a better counting system ...
Comments.UserDisplayName: Hagen von Eitzen
Tags: <rules>
Title: Why don't we use this scoring system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 point for a lose?
ThreadText: # Why don't we use this scoring system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 point for a lose?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-10-31)
  
  In chess tournaments, when you win you get 1 point, when you draw you get 0.5 point, when you lose you get 0 point.
  
  So we have to use two additional symbols to represent the score of a player: the radix point and the digit "5".  
  Or sometimes we use three additional symbols: " 1 / 2 ".
  
  My question is: why don't we just multiply everything by 2?  
  When you win you would get 2 points, when you draw you would get 1 point, when you lose you would get 0 point.
  
  This would simply have the benefit of economizing symbols and making the scores shorter. No more ".5" or "1/2".
  
  **Tags:** rules
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Some tournaments these days, in order to promote fighting chess, use 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. So you see people have scores like 5 out of 9 after three rounds. I'm not a fan, because I don't mind fractions, and I would much rather be able to say "The tournament was 4 games and I got three points", with the maximum score implicit, than "The tournament was 4 games and I got six points out of eight".  
  > **username_2**: Why is "economy of symbols" important? It's not like we're running out of 5s.  
  > **username_3**: Players and commentators often talk about tournament performances by "minus n" or "plus n" meaning that the player has lost (or won) n games more than won (or lost), which is like a 1 - 0 - -1 scoring system. But I've never seen that used in a scoreboard.  
  > **username_3**: @username_2 It's a bit ugly that some entries look very different than others e.g. in [http://tashkent2014.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=3](http://tashkent2014.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=3).  
  > **username_4**: @username_2 I wouldn't be so sure about that... http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2005/12/27  
  > **username_5**: International draughts (10x10 checkers) uses this system. It's all a matter of tradition.  
  > **username_6**: Tradition is a strong argument. Or try to convince tennis players of a better counting system ...  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2014-10-31. Score: 11
  
  Each game of chess is worth a total of 1 point. The winner takes the whole point, the loser gets none of it, and a draw gives each player an equal portion.
  
  This makes it easier to create player statistics, because each game is worth exactly 1 point. Divide their total score by the number of games played and you get a percentage of games won/lost.
  
  To some degree this is the same as asking why we use pi rather than tau in mathematics. For some operations pi is easier to work with, for others tau is easier to work with.
  
  While a 2 point system would make some things easier, it would make others harder.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_8**: This is a little off-topic, but tau seems to be easier to work with in just about every non-contrived case.  
  > **username_9**: @username_8 I'd encourage you to look up "The Pi Manifesto." I think it makes a pretty compelling argument for pi. At the least, I think it would convince most people that tau lacks enough advantage to abandon literally millennia of mathematical tradition. (Personally, I think if you look at the generalized formulae for the surface and volume of a n-sphere, it becomes completely obvious that tau is based on a profound misunderstanding of the deeper patterns at play.)  
  > **username_10**: Almost every game is worth one point.  From what I understand, if both players engage in grossly unsportsmanlike conduct, a tournament director would generally have the authority to declare a double forfeit, in which case the game would be worth zero (neither player would get anything).  
  > **username_11**: ?????   what is this tau thing.  never heard of it.  
  > **username_12**: [tau](https://tauday.com/) = 2pi.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_13 on 2014-10-31. Score: 11
  
  Because it's a long-established convention and changing it at this point would be much more trouble than it's worth.
  
  In the words of Gerald Weinberg
  
  > Things are the way they are because they got that way
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_13**: I don't see how the edit improved the post in any way.  
  > **username_14**: Then why don't you revert it?  
  
  ---
  
  