Bye
A round in which a player does not compete, typically receiving a half point or full point depending on tournament rules.
Byes are common in Swiss tournaments with an odd number of players, or when a player pre-registers an absence for a particular round.
Etymology
Bye in sport is a variant of “by.” It originated in cricket, where from 1746 it meant “a run scored on a ball that is missed by the wicket-keeper,” and only later, in other sports, came to mean “position of one who is left without a competitor when the rest have drawn pairs,” attested 1868. The metaphor is of something that happens “by the by” — off to one side of the real contest. Chess adopted the general sporting sense wholesale: a bye is a tournament round in which a player has no game, usually because there are an odd number of players, normally scored as a win. No source consulted supplies a chess-specific first use.
First documented: 1868 — General sporting sense of “bye” (per Etymonline); chess-specific first use not confirmed
Translations
Translations for this term haven't been added yet.