12 players, but only 6 rounds. I would think that a swiss pairing would be better with this few number of rounds, otherwise the top two players may not get to play each other -- or is this simply one half of a 11 round round-robin?

(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_system_tournament)

Hello nacre,

this are only the pairings of the first leg, there are also pairings for the second leg, therfore there are games with white and black  for each player against the 6 opponents.
This is an advantage compared with the Swiss-System.
And the groups are weighted by the strenght of the players.

Best Regards :-)
Silver

Hello,

take a look to the World Cup 2006:

http://www.i-abalone.com/eng/Info/Competition/Resultats/

Best Regards,
AbaloneTheory-Forum