There are many ways of doing round robin pairing, and I'd think a quick google job should find some ready implementation. Pick one, and after the schedule is made, just assign the players in such a way that the best player plays the worst, etc. So if whatever algorithm you implement says the first round is "1-2, 3-4, 5-6", then give the best player label 1, the second best label 3, the third label 5, the label 6, 4, and the worst player gets label 2.

Obviously I haven't been clear enough. I appreciate that the OP wants a round robin, but a Swiss with N players and N-1 rounds gives you that (unless you allow replays, which can be allowed in some Swiss events). By telling the Swiss algorithm that every match is a draw before they are played, you will get a schedule that will achieve what I understand the OP to want. While I accept that your proposal will work fine for the first round, I'm not clear how you would get a generic process for the later rounds that would prevent 1 playing 2 until the last round. I believe that the Swiss algorithm would achieve that.

It's possible that I'm still not clear. It's late enough for me to want my bed, so please let me know if I'm not & I'll try to do better tomorrow.

Regards,

John Davies

No, the Swiss system will actually optimize that people of equal strength play against each other as soon as possible - where equal strength is determined mostly by the performance in the tournament. That is, if I win the first three rounds, I will play against someone else who has won in the first three rounds (unless I'm the odd one out, in which I most likely play against someone with 2.5/3).