Introduction

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A Howell movement is used when it is desired to have all pairs meet all other pairs and play all boards; as a consequence only one winner will be produced.

The degree of accuracy in the movement can vary dramatically, and the number of variations in the types of Howell movements is quite large. To understand a Howell movement, study the following schedule closely.

Note that all pairs meet all other pairs, all pairs play all boards and all pairs play in all rounds. The number of sets of boards is equal to the number of pairs less 1. There is an even number of pairs.

In this schedule the opposing pairs are shown by numbers connected by a dash and the board set played by them is shown by a number next to the pairs.

A set represents a number of boards, which together with the number of rounds dictates the length of the event.
In this example each set of boards would normally consist of 4 boards producing a movement of a total of 28 boards. 3-board sets would make a 21-board movement and 5-board sets a 35-board movement.

Round   Table 1    Table 2    Table 3    Table 4    
   NS-EW   NS-EW   NS-EW   NS-EW

1   8-1 1   6-3 4   7-2 6   4-5 7   
2   8-2 2   7-4 5   1-3 7   5-6 1   
3   8-3 3   1-5 6   2-4 1   6-7 2   
4   8-4 4   2-6 7   3-5 2   7-1 3   
5   8-5 5   3-7 1   4-6 3   1-2 4   
6   8-6 6   4-1 2   5-7 4   2-3 5   
7   8-7 7   5-2 3   6-1 5   3-4 6   

It is important to notice that after each round, each pair (except 8 or in the general case the highest numbered pair) moves to the spot vacated by the pair with the number immediately below their own. The boards also move in a very orderly fashion, moving to the next lower numbered table except where there is a relay table. The relays in the above movement are between tables 1 and 2, where there are two sets of boards, and between tables 2 and 3, where there is one set of boards.

As the movement is orderly after the first round, the above schedule could be shown in a shorthand method such as.

   8-1      R      R      6-3      R      7-2      4-5

or even better:

   8-1      2 R      6-3      R      7-2      4-5

All the essential information is available. The board sets are numbered from 1 to 7 from the left. The tables are numbered from 1 to 4 from the left. The sets of boards on the relays are shown by R.

So that the pairs will know their moves, guide cards, which can be extracted from the first schedule, have to be supplied. As an example, pair 1 would have a guide card as follows:

Pair No. 1

Round   Table   Sit   Opponent   Boards

1   1   EW    8      1-4

2   3   NS    3      25-28

3   2   NS    5      21-24

4   4   EW    7      9-12

5   4   NS    2      13-16

6   2   EW    4      5-8

7   3   EW    6      17-20

As producing one guide card per pair is a tedious process (not to mention what some players do to guide cards), table guide cards are usually preferred. These can be constructed from the shorthand description of the movement. As an example, the table 2 guide card could be as follows:

TABLE 2

Starting pairs:   NS - 6
      EW- 3

Starting boards:   13-16

·   NS move to EW at 4

·   EW move to EW at 3