Half-point bye

A half-point bye, often abbreviated HPB, is an unplayed round worth 0.5 points. The tie-break regulations of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) treat it as a form of player-requested bye, distinct from a pairing-allocated bye given because an odd number of participants must be paired.

It should not be assumed that every tournament allows one at any time. Event regulations can set request deadlines, eligible rounds, quantity limits, and other conditions. When the request is accepted, the half point is added to the standings even though no game and no opponent existed for that round. It is also not the same as a draw. A drawn game was played or ended under a valid draw rule and had a real opponent. A half-point bye is an unplayed round, so some tiebreak systems need to handle it specifically.