A chess tournament is taking place on knock-out terms (the one who loses the match is out of the game).
(a) If 15 matches are played in total, how many players participated?
(b) If 50 players took part in the tournament, how many matches were played?

Knockout Tournament Matches Puzzle

(a) If you look at the question closely, it is a knockout tournament and the winner will be just one. Thus no. of players is equal to 15+1=16.
(b) The number of matches will always be one less than the number of players (in knockout tournaments). Thus the answer is 49.