Closed tournaments are the only thing protecting the so called top players.
Most of them would be rated around 24-2500, if they were to play more Open. how do you draw against someone you outrade by 500+ points!??
How many teams ended up unpaired due to visa issues?
<Comment deleted by user>
<Comment deleted by user>
Not sure how many due to visa issues but the first round pairing page shows 19 unpaired teams:
chess-results.com/tnr967173.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=1
