idea-tournament
Idea Tournament
A structured framework for generating diverse research ideas through tree-based expansion, then selecting the strongest candidate via Elo-rated pairwise tournaments across four quality dimensions.
When to Use This Skill
- User has a research direction from
research-ideationand needs concrete, ranked ideas - User wants to systematically compare multiple research ideas before committing
- User asks about idea ranking, competitive selection, or proposal generation
- User wants to explore variations of a research concept and select the best one
- User mentions "idea tournament", "rank ideas", "compare approaches", "research proposal", "which idea is best"
From Direction to Proposal
The gap between "I have a research direction" and "I have a concrete proposal" is where most researchers stall. They either commit to their first idea (missing better alternatives) or endlessly brainstorm without converging (analysis paralysis).
The tournament solves both problems. Phase 1 forces breadth — you generate up to N_I=21 candidates (the paper's maximum) by systematically varying technique, domain, and formulation. Phase 2 forces convergence — pairwise Elo comparisons identify the strongest idea without requiring you to hold all candidates in your head simultaneously.
Before starting:
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