On the other hand it's been shown that going public releases the same chemical response in your brain as if you had actually did the goal, making you less likely to complete it even if people check on you
I feel like nobody saw this. The important part is that telling people about your goal feels like accomplishing the goal to your brain, which lowers your drive to actually do whatever it was. You got the rush of accomplishment already. Telling everyone your resolutions makes it harder to complete them, which is why you should generally keep them to yourself.
The exception is really only when you're telling a group of people that is actually going to keep you accountable - not just friends, but people who have the same goal, or who are doing the same things. Trying to get in shape? Tell some other people you know that work out, join their workout group, or start one. Mutual accountability. But telling everyone you're gonna start working out this year god help you, you'll probably work out a week before dropping it.
That... seems pretty dumb. I'd be pretty annoyed to go to a large tournament just to be told that I wouldn't get to play against top players. If I can't play against those people, why am I even
going? That's a
huge part of the draw for many, many players that come to these tournaments that don't expect to get out of pools.
There are regionals I've gone to where I easily beat the entire pool besides the people that got out of the pool - those top seeds. If I hadn't gotten to play those guys that were that much better, it would've been pretty dissatisfying, and I probably wouldn't have bothered to go again.
I can see why they're doing it, in a way, but it doesn't really seem necessary, and seems more than a little detrimental.