Different Scoring System

I recently came across an amateur tournement, (6 round Swiss, 30 minutes per game) where they used a completely different scoring system to the one we are used to. Games were scored as follows:-

Draw with white...1 point
Draw with Black...2 points
Win with White...3 points
Win with Black...4 points

I have never seen this before and wondered if anyone here has? If so, what did they think of it, and does the system have a name?

I think the point is to try and deter easy draws, especially with white, and or to reward black more for a win.

The eventual winner of the tournament scored 3 black wins, 2 white wins and a draw with white, giving them 19 points out of a maximum 21, instead of 5 1/2 out of 6 in the usual scoring system.

Thoughts please?

Originally posted by Stives
I recently came across an amateur tournement, (6 round Swiss, 30 minutes per game) where they used a completely different scoring system to the one we are used to. Games were scored as follows:-

Draw with white...1 point
Draw with Black...2 points
Win with White...3 points
Win with Black...4 points

I have never seen this before and wondered if anyo ...[text shortened]... out of a maximum 21, instead of 5 1/2 out of 6 in the usual scoring system.

Thoughts please?

Looks like a soccer kinda scoring/pool set-up...

The problem is that the disadvantage of being black isn't as great as the scoring systems you're advocating rewards. In practise most people on the site win as many with black as they do with white. Even at grandmaster level the disadvantage isn't as great as it is often claimed to be. Black in a way has more of an influence over which opening is played - that player chooses the defence. The only reason it would be fair is that we all play as many games with the white pieces as with the black ones in tournaments.

Yes I agree with your comments, I wasn't advocating the system, merely asking if others had come across it before though.

If a system such as this were to be considered, I wouldn't think the 4-3-2-1 syetem would be an accurate reflection of balancing the value of winning or drawing as the different colors. The actual historical average points scored as white out of a hundred games (scored the traditional way) is about 53, black is 47. So you could take this inverted and give a win as white=47 points, win as black=53. Then, for draws, you could divide by 2 and round down, giving white draw=23 and black draw=26.

In the example given from the tournament described at the beginning of the post the winner would have scored 276 out of 318 possible. The chances of a tie in this system would be low, so this system is sort of a built-in tie breaker based on color of pieces. The other effect this system would have would be to discourage the white player from accepting draws and encourage the black player to accept draws.

I'm not sure I like the idea of color being the primary tie-break factor to consider--strength of opponents played and defeated seems a more relevent factor. If I were in a tournament and I tied with an opponent, but the break went his way based on this color factor, even though I had defeated clearly tougher opponents, I wouldn't be happy too about it. As a sceondary tie-break factor, I think color is fair.

Also, in this tourney, the time controls were only 30 min each, color is completely irrelevant with such little time, basicly the winner will be the better tactician or the one who makes the less mistakes, the small starting positional advantage for white is nothing here...

All good points...thank you.