The USCF (US Chess Federation) prefers the Holland
system (what NAQT used) to the Swiss even today, in
those limited circumstances where it is practical, and
last I checked the USCF Championships are held that
way. There's no reason not to do it in a Holland,
since I don't think NAQT was having difficulties
coming up with questions. Provided provisions are
made to ensure that the original pools are balanced
(which NAQT presumably uses its super-secret rankings
for), the Holland will generally give better results
than a Swiss, albeit with more games needed.
The "optimal" number of games for a Swiss would have
been 5 for Div II and 6 for Div I. Any fewer, and
there would not have been a unique team at the top;
more, and you not only lose unique team at the top
again, but you have the situation where the teams
sitting at 7-1 have already played all the teams at
6-2 (and maybe even 5-3) and have to play down quite a
bit to find an oppponent.
--
Andrew Feist
USCF-certified tournament director
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