[rtpg]

I don't know how Chess is classified, but isn't it possible that the men's side of the tourney just starts with more points due to historical imbalances?

For example, if we assumed that the current state had men having twice as many points as women of equivalent skill, it might take a while for people to climb up right?

More generally, it's not like people's skill are well ordered. If so, what would be the point of the tournaments! It seems like having a bit of mixing of levels in the beginning of the tournament would be more interesting. Especially if it's not single elimination