9th Chess.com Tournament (1201-1400) - Round 1

There are people in this bracket with ratings in the 1600s and 1700s.  The bulk of us are rated 12-1400 though.  Not surprisingly, the high ratings all seem to be undefeated.  This doesn't seem quite fair.  Why does this happen?

To register, the minimum number of games completed is 5 for basic members and zero for premium members. The rating of such players is unknown.

Edit: Meant to say the strength, not rating, of such players is unknown.

Additionally though, these tournaments take a long time. A player in the nominal range will never win a medal. Improve or perish.

Some member-created tournaments attempt to exclude the unreliably rated players. You still have to improve though.

http://www.chess.com/tournament/1st-alternative-bracket-tournament-1301-1500

Okay, thanks.

One more question...

What happens when you have a tie in round 1?  For instance, I and another player each won 9 of 10 games.  We split the two games that we played against each other, so of course our tiebreak number will be exactly the same as well (we are group 75).

Since only 1 player moves on, how is it decided which one of us two will advance?

Thanks

Both players will move on if both the score and tiebreak are equal.

Thank you!