Since the plan isn't up and running yet, I thought we might post the groups here, I'll start with my own which has 13 members:
Sorted after Higest rating as of January 7, 2005.

1645 ouroboros
1548 dc3
1494 0rbital
1455 Nicky Butt
1395 lechler
1375 DOlivier2004
1378 adev
1311 Bluesbro
1298 scubagold
1297 antonymayhew
1296 Welshjumbo
1224 alexnicholson
1137 adam42

Taken from another thread:

Exy 1929
bobbyboomer 1622
neight 1584
Al Franken 1208
SbecspeledrX 1431
shapoa p1445
vrobke 1637
felldancer 1493
spats 1460
boman2k 1305
tomak 1318
simonh11 1370
sinclaireric 1487

--

TRACKHEAD21 2156
BluesChord 1377
shortgoth1 1353
Polynikes 1349
ColinW 1346
Grandmaster bater 1318
Gwaihir 1294
lraonne 1184
lausey 1165
smckinnon 1150
frostbite99 1118
RynSchp 1039

--

chesskid1: 1230
VillaFan: 1297
ericfrelicot: 1915
inspector5251: 1431
pebbler: 1216
Oleg Margolin: 1627
tommyq007: 1534
Phillidor284: 1634
Joop506: 1980
unclescooby: 1508
davy: 1289

--

Koen 1975
rosaline 1927
B Rock 1794
Vovachka 1726
BrainB5 1478
MIODude 1437
Meio 1258
Souska 1186
LJ 1155
wolfbynyte 1141
Officer Dibble 1133
tangledman 919

--

Cludi, 2086
jmayes, 1780
terminnater, 1723
mateulose, 1604
glenton, 1555
ivangrice, 1554
ohfreak, 1423
mooney1979, 1400
squaccerman, 1380
CK, 1344
hahabe, 1319
playing4time, 1300
Fear the Reaper, 1110

--

sastorey 1941
Quirine 1925
sealion 1788
seanpbutler 1760
Marko Krale 1709
mikenay 1602
malinga 1516
Ch L 1430
hughes 1377
TimmyToilet 1374
nonnymoose 1293
Atomt 1264

--

caissad4 1776
Obiah 1252
Celsius1 1397
Nook7 1532
qqoulam 1423
bazik 1475
crosljam 1443
geordieboy 1190
Genet 1458
thecastler 1450
mrbobs 1455
NicolaiS 1325

--

mickeyt - 1194
Tornado100 - 1205
dfm65 - 1262
rhb - 1331
Lord Byron - 1421
meule - 1430
Babaskar - 1440
darvlay - 1453
Maroczy - 1603
Starkey - 1605
Zumdahl - 1789
Gatecrasher - 1888

--

Talem16 1884 Hihgest rating (1884)
Prax946 1589 (1613)
Rambo71 1136 (1246)
revmar 1321 (1380)
Kingo2000 1620 (1683)
Stearnsc 1241 (1268)
Croc 1116 (1237)
Von bilin 1381 (1383)
dlowe 1297 (1318)
anom-asil 1668 (1701)
marsdog 1643 (1643)
kyngj 1367 (1367)

--

SteveC
1866 ivanhoe
1831 David G
1252 moscow23
1237 dcd111
1567 DeepThought
1520 dwchess
1472 Faith No More
1180 pparrish
1316 headsy
853 omnislash
1534 flexmore

Posted earler in site ideas:
03 Jan '05 13:07 :: 0 recommendations
It finally started
I guess it is 37 groups of 12 and one group of 11, so at the least 38 players go on to round two.

My group:
1.crusoe
2.abigham
3.Zipdrive Nightmare
4.RBHILL
5.beermaestro
6.I Diddy
7.jose teixeira
8.marcof2
9.johnjava21
10.WIZ
11.toffee
12.Taqju

300-500 entrants requires groupsize 8
LOL 455 players and groups of 12.

Personally my hope is ppl play these games fast (which seems to be what is happening) and Russ allows the top 2 to advance. It seems kinda rediculous to have a 455 player tournament go down to a 35 or so person tournament in just one round. I know there's only so much time left a year, but that chucks a lot of ppl out of the biggest tourney of the year very quickly and respectively they hardly get a chance. For most ppl, the 2005 championship is merely the "January championship" at this rate. Of course, in the event of a 2 way tie for first in a group, the second place wildcard is discarded for that group.

no1marauder 1900
TanCoul 1845
marinkataomb 1604
Elphinstone 1585
Klingon Don 1465
bastmate 1456
jose sureda 1440
rkmmax 1434
Olly1703 1318
KurtHoegh 1201
jcandance 1102
Robotic Mick 1076

Originally posted by TanCoul
marinkataomb 1604

Originally posted by TanCoul
Sorry, marinkatomb

Originally posted by mateulose
Personally my hope is ppl play these games fast (which seems to be what is happening) and Russ allows the top 2 to advance. It seems kinda rediculous to have a 455 player tournament go down to a 35 or so person tournament in just one round. I know there's only so much time left a year, but that chucks a lot of ppl out of the biggest tourney of the year ve ...[text shortened]... vent of a 2 way tie for first in a group, the second place wildcard is discarded for that group.

Originally posted by cludi
Taken from another thread:

Exy 1929
bobbyboomer 1622
neight 1584
Al Franken 1208
SbecspeledrX 1431
shapoa p1445
vrobke 1637
felldancer 1493
spats 1460
boman2k 1305
tomak 1318
simonh11 1370
sinclaireric 1487

--

TRACKHEAD21 2156
BluesChord 1377
shortgoth1 1353
Polynikes 1349
ColinW 1346
Grandmaster bater 1318
Gwaihir ...[text shortened]... 20 dwchess
1472 Faith No More
1180 pparrish
1316 headsy
853 omnislash
1534 flexmore

Originally posted by marinakatomb
LOL, Marin[b]akatomb 😉[/b]

and here's mine:

1041 Tarpey
1049 philko
1087 Dark Schneider
1163 smikkel 1
1223 smythe
1256 kody magic
1383 kw72uk
1444 JimmyBilly
1449 spinit6
1577 sembhi
1593 Macroman
1645 Dragofonz

hushpuppy(1980)
gumbie(1468)
makiev(1610)
ROOMS2004(1648)
macca(1336)
dj1free(1257)
gareis(1254)
Asher123(1018)
martyclark(1388)
CliffLandin(1062)
wucky3(1255)
Scheel(1453)

I hope they allow at least 2 into the next round. 4 would be nice. If you have a couple of bad games it could be finished for you. I think it would be nice to have this tournament run for most of the year if possible.

No doubt at least 2, you could even make a good argument for 3 or 4.

I suspect all my games will be over in the next week or so, although some may go for months yet !?!

My group.

cantspell 1495
Lazerblue 1454
rutmans 1441
DTH 1325
bzartman1 1311
adramforall 1229
4everknight 1226
bokesun 1217
Grand Master Supreme 1138
PeteTheCheat 998
Nilfisk 948
D43MON 726

Looking at some of the other groups I think I got off lightly in the draw ! Having said that, I suspect I still won't make it through :-)