Sharjah Masters

 Back in the day (before the dawn of the 21st Century), there was a kind of arms race between tournament organisers about who could organise the highest category tournament. The tournament was almost always a round robin, and the category was determined by the average rating of the field. However the category system was eventually abandoned by FIDE, and such measurements lost their value.

However, the competition between organisers seems to have been restarted, although it is now Swiss tournaments that seem to be the battleground. The current Sharjah Masters is a 78 player swiss, with all 78 players holding the title of Grandmaster. The bottom seed is still rated above 2500 and the 'bottom half' starts at 2607

One Australian player is taking part, GM Temur Kuybokarov. He was in the unfamiliar position of being the lower rated player in round 1, and lost his first game. There were a number of draws, and even 3 upset wins. However the top few boards went according to rating, including the game on board 2

 

Gukesh D (2732) - Vescovi,Giovanni (2606) [C65]
Sharjah Masters 2023 Chess.com (1), 17.05.2023

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8. Re1 Nd7 9. h3 Bh5 10. Nf1 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Bg5 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Nxe3 Nb6 14. Rad1 a6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. d4 f6 17. Qg3 Qe8 18. f4 exf4 19. Qxf4 Qf7 20. b3 a5 21. Nf5 a4 22. c4 axb3 23. axb3 Nd7 24. b4 Rfd8 25. c5 dxc5 26. Qg3 Qf8 27. bxc5 Ra7 28. Rf1 g6 29. e5 Kh8 30. Nh4 f5 31. Rde1 Re8 32. Nxg6+ hxg6 33. Qxg6 1-0