
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
A chess competition involves two 7th-grade students and some 8th-grade students. Each pair of participants plays one game, with the winner earning 1 point and the loser earning 0 points. If the game ends in a draw, each player gets half a point. It is known that the two 7th-grade students scored a total of 8 points, and all the 8th-grade students scored the same number of points. Find the number of 8th-grade participants in the chess competition.

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