Highland Chess tournament!
Two hundred and sixty-six players participated in a chess tournament in a village situated within the Scottish highlands. It was a cut-throat, single elimination tournament that started with 133 different games played simultaneously. Winners advanced; losers left. In the end, of course, there could be only one winner. How many chess games were played in total during the tournament?
The answer is 265.
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1 solution
Use reason for this problem, not algebra. This tournament is single elimination and at the end of it, there can only one winner. Therefore, the number of chess matches has to equal the number of losers, which is 265.