When I was in Russia this summer I had no pressure while competing. I just took a 20 minute bus ride, paid my 5$ fee and played matches until I couldn't stand on the floor anymore. Now compare this with an out of a state trip to play an event where only one player advances out of the group. And a gang of underrated kids is out there hungry for the blood.
True dat.
When I was in Korea, over any metro city with 500,000 or more population, you could fall out of an airplane to any random place in the city and be a 5-0 minute bike ride away from a club. There were club comps every month. The regional TT tourney circuit was either held in your city, or we carpooled there or a 30 minute bus or up to hour subway ride got you there. National TT tourneys we would carpool, sometimes I organized sponsorship for our squad and made a big trip/fun time out of it all.
I failed to discuss our infrastructure in detail but in USA, we built cities when we all had our own horses and wanted a long ride to do anything. We didn't want stuff too close. That doesn't work for a metropolis.
Sometimes you have GIANT RR events or SUPER TIER events, these are getting more popular to ensure everyone gets some value.
USA people who play sanctioned tourneys are SO WORRIED and PROTECTIVE of their ratings it is hilarious what they do.
Personally, I have been under-rated forever. I always run into old geezers my level with lower rating (or kids) and you cannot beat all 5-7 of them you face, number will catch up with you if you are evenly matched mostly.