I'm in favor of 16 groups of 4 players each. There isn't much time for the group stage – each player has 3 games in their group. Each player will have at least 3 games. Pasha, I didn't understand the issue about players not making it out of the group? If several players have the same number of points, there's the Berger coefficient, head-to-head results, and who finished all the games faster – we already have experience with this in tournaments. Then, from the round of 16, it's an Olympic-style bracket. In my opinion, this is a good option.