I am expecting this attitude to prevail in England. A FIDE rated tournament is judged not by the opportunities it offers to play, and perhaps win, interesting games of chess, but by those of gaming the system to gain a few rating points.Roger de Coverly wrote: From the point of view of players who are usually IM or GM cannon fodder, they are putting their FIDE rating at risk when paired against someone rated 200 points or more below, but don't have the potential upside when facing the titled players.
It is particularly unfortunate when juniors are encouraged by their coaches to follow this line ( perhaps because those coaches are judged by the rating progress of their charges? ). I'm sure this is not the biggest reason why English juniors lag so far behind their European peers, but it can't help.