How about some more tournaments which have 10 or 12 contestents please. I know the arguments against, but this would give 'middle and lower' grade people more chances to win games against similarly graded opponents. If you only have 2 or 3 opponents, the make up of gradings is usually 1750/1600/1450/1200 (for example) whereas larger numbers of players make for smaller grading differences between players, and usually better/more appropriate games.
We would need longer time banks.........but that's no problem. A TB of say 160 days would also get round the holiday problem
Regards
Alasdair Roberts (aka Sardodos)