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At first glance, what De Luxe wrote would actually decrease the importance of the rating. Because those with a low rating will end up in the lower bracket and still have excellent chances to climb out of it, without even risking encountering the top 8. And the top 8 will be battling each other, not just long before the final stages, but from the very first round. :smile11:
Here are my suggestions:
1. For groups.
Absolutely standard, even distribution into tiers. The number of tiers is equal to the number of places in the group. Like in the FIFA World Cup.
Consequence: the lower your rating, the greater the chance of playing against stronger opponents, and vice versa.
2. For the playoffs.
At each stage, everyone is divided into three groups.
"Top-1/3" is guaranteed to play against "Bottom-1/3".
"Middle-1/3" plays among themselves.
If it doesn't divide evenly, it's easy to round to one side or the other.
For example, for 32 people:
the top 10 will play against the bottom 10, and the middle 12 will play among themselves.