Smart Tournament Scheduling Using a POX-Heuristic Genetic Algorithm

This paper introduces an optimization algorithm that utilizes the precedence preserving order-based crossover (POX), heuristic techniques, and genetic algorithms (GAs) to address the task of arranging tournament scheduling for events of varying sizes. The study begins by conducting an extensive literature review on the subject of solving tournament scheduling problems. The GA approach is enhanced through the incorporation of POX for crossover operations and the inclusion of a heuristic algorithm for mutation. Subsequently, the POX-heuristic GA is developed and its performance is evaluated using data from 10 distinct tournaments. A comparison between the outcomes obtained from the proposed method and the results generated by the LeagueLobster software demonstrates that the proposed approach achieves a higher level of efficiency, with improvements ranging from 10.87% to 335.03% over the original actual schedule. The contributions stem from the successful integration of POX, heuristic techniques, and GAs to address the issue of poorly performing genes within chromosomes, ultimately leading to more effective optimization of the chromosomes.