How did a 1699 rated player end up in a 1001 - 1200 rated tournament?

http://www.chess.com/tournament/18th-chesscom-quick-knockouts-1001-1200

Group #5

I don't understand how this makes any sense...

Yeah he should have been automatically moved when it started.

That is strange - they must have finished a bunch of games at once or something, but I've never seen a rating rise that fast.  My guess is chess.com made a mistake.  They shouldn't have registered for that section anyway.  I agree with you - that doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, it's weird - I see a bunch of others that are WAY over too.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem if people are a little but over. And I like playing people who are better than me. I usually play 1400ish rated players. I'd just like to have a decent chance in a tournament for once...

Actually, rating bursts can occur from time to time, and it's him who's in danger. If he wins he increases by +1 and if he loses you get a lot of points! So, it's your chance to get a good win, go get it!

It wasn't a rating burst though, his rating was over 1600 when the tournament started.

Maybe I'm missing something, but looking back over his previous games it doesn't look like he ever had a rating close to 1200....

I wondered that with a 1200-1400 tournament that I am in as well. I think there is a way to cheat the system that i am just not aware of. There is a person ranked like 18xx in my tournament. That kind of discourages me because I will more than likely lose if we ever meet. :( Rating bursts would explain a few over, but not more than that. I think. :)

So how does one go about alerting chess.com staff about this?

Send them an email at help@chess.com?

Thanks Malachi!