Is it okay to have a tournament section of Under 1250 rather than Under 1300 because I need one more player for the Open section? That extra person is above 1250. If I have an Under 1300 section, I will have only 7 for the Open section and 9 for the lower section.
Here is a National Championship tournament which also had U1250 and U750 sections.
Are you saying you announced u1300 & you are changing it last minute based on turnout and essentially forcing the 1250-1299 player to basically play up? If that is it then no. If you are just designing the sections then it is wide open. I believe there is at least one organizer that uses under xx01 to make some folks at their floor happy (perhaps under xx50 is a better way).
In $mall local tournaments I think it is better to just to announce it as something like swiss style pairings with multiple sections by rating possible.
I have not already set 1300. I want to set 1250 from a list players who signed up in the Open. I put the following in the Online TLA:
“Each section will have 4 to 12 players at the discretion of the tournament director.”
Everyone signed up for the Open section which is the only section available right now.
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You have given yourself an awful lot of discretion to set the sections. The question is whether the players like the way you wield that discretion. Those who may be unhappy with how you divided the sections are less likely to return in the future. That is why most tournaments specify how the sections will be determined, to avoid claims of favoritism. For example: “8 player sections. Lowest section 8-15 players depending on turnout.”
I was able to set the 2nd section to Under 1300 because one more, higher rated player joined the tournament.