After 2200, the rating scale tightens up so that 200 points (perhaps less) indicates an almost sure win.

This is not correct. The scale is the same both at the lower and the higher end. A 200-point difference in rating predicts that the weaker player will score a proportion of points equal to 1/(1+10^(200/400)) = 1/(1+sqrt(10)) = 1/4.16 = 24%.

The difference between lower and higher ratings is mostly the percentage of draws, which are considered half a win for each player. So a 1200 player against a 1000 player might have

75% wins
2% draws
23% losses

whereas a 2800 player against a 2600 player might have

54% wins
44% draws
2% losses

but in either case the 200-point rating gap says the same thing about the split of total points. If the weaker player scores 24% of the points, is it an "almost sure win"? You need to quantify what you mean.

No, the OP is correct; or at least he used to be. They've changed the rating formulas to be much more complex and now it is difficult to explain without a background in mathematics. However, I think the new system is close enough that the basic aspect of tightening the ratings bands still holds.

Under the older system, for ratings that had achieved the 2200-point threshold the k-value was halved. Thus it took longer to move up to higher rating thresholds. A 400 point difference at a full K value was equivalent to a 200 point difference at half-K.

There was a scientific paper written on a similar subject describing Go as having something like 26 levels of skill and chess having about half as many. But then I would say that as I love Go.

I could be talked into 11 levels, but 26 probably uses a different assumption of 'level.' After all, there are only 56 or so skill levels, and I doubt you'd say that every two levels will "almost always" beat two lower.

The flights (and bridge ratings in general) do not measure skill so much as experience. Because ratings only go up, never down, they only provide bare hints as to ability.

I'm no expert but every game has at least 3 levels Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. Even Tic Tac Toe probably has 3 levels.

although most people are advanced after 2 games. Both of those occuring around age 5.

"1st game": Most people pass this level after their first or second game, but some people don't "get it" until 3 or more games.

At the master level I would expect to see someone who wins an average of 45-50% of their games and scores and average of 8.5+ points per game.

Masters think about probabilities in much more detail than Experts (knowing whether to keep an ‘A’ or ‘E’ on the rack in a given situation based on the remaining pool of tiles to maximize bingo possibilities)