
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
In a chess tournament, an odd number of players participate, with each player competing against every other player exactly once. The scoring system awards 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. It is known that two of the players together scored a total of 16 points, and the average score of the other players is an even number. How many players participated in this tournament?

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
user