In tournaments, many players want to play in higher-rated events.  Many 1200 players like to play in the u1800 and u2000 events.  Many 1800 players like to play in the u2300 and u2500 events.  Playing in these high-rated events can be beneficial or it can be harmful.  Here are some benefits and risks…
 
Benefits
If you are training hard on a daily basis and making great progress, it is sometimes very good to play high-rated events.  It will give you a clear picture on how the higher players perform and it will give you a test to see if you have been practicing effectively.  Take time between each game to write statistics on your opponents and write his strengths and weaknesses.  After losing a match to a very high-rated opponent, write down 5-10 ways that you need to improve if you want to someday reach that level.  Again, if you are training hard and making great progress, then playing high players will give you a good goal of what you need to do.
 
Risks
If you  are merely trying to improve your rating, then playing high-events is sometimes detrimental.  Instead of trying to strategize on how to reach that level and how to improve to get to that level, you might be merely hoping to have one great win that will boost your level.  Hoping for a win is not a way to major improvement.  Hoping that your opponent will play poorly is also not a way to major improvement.  Hoping to merely boost your rating without boosting your level is also not a way to major improvement.
 
For my personal students, I recommend that they try to play 10-15 matches on a tournament day.  I suggest that they enter both lower and higher events.  The lower events will push them to win matches at their level.   The higher events will give them a goal to work toward.