Ok, so i started playing chess in November 2008, and today i signed up to my first ever OTB tournament.

The Tournament is called BnBank Blitz Tournament, and as the name says, all games are blitz(5 minutes). Anyone regardless of rating, age or having a club or not are allowed to participate in this Tournament. It is qualifying round in 5 different norwegian citys first, and then its the Final. Here the winner of each city final will play against players like: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Per Heine Nielsen and more GMs and WGM...obviously that will not be me, but i am allowed to believe in miracles...

I am just participating for fun and because i want to try to play an OTB tourny, and i have no ambitions of beating a lot of players...I guess there will be a lot of strong amatuers...

I have a few questions to all members with tournament experience:

1) How should i prepare for such tournament?

2) What special rules and etiquette should i be aware of playing OTB tournament(how do you do when resigning etc?, can i touch pieces before moving? any special blitz rules? etc)

3) Any general tips?

It is touch move. Sometimes the move doesnt count until you hit the clock, that gives you an opportunity to take the move back. In most cases as the time gets down, you quit writting down the moves and the tendency is to hit the clock with the left hand before you have made the move with the right hand. So, in some Tourneys, you have to use the same hand to make the move and hit the clock.

Hope this helps a little!

Rick R

I used to play a lot of tourney chess, not for awhile now though.  I CAN give some advice.

1. Prepare by playing a lot of blitz games against higher rated players here.  You learn more losing to good players than by beating bad ones.

2.  Etiquette for blitz is pretty much the same: shake your opponents hand before and after each game, don't be distracting by tapping your fingers or eating at the table, that sort of thing.  just use common sense and good manners and you'll be fine.

3.  HAVE FUN!  I think a lot of people get nervous before tourneys (i know i did), and are afraid that they'll make fantastic blunders.  I certainly did, but that's ok.  Just play as you normally would.  getting stressed out over something you love doing makes you not like it any more.  have fun, be a good sport, and play good, solid chess.

-motts

hello-

And welcome to OTB tournament play.

Im not sure how the rules are regulated in norway but i would say they are very similar to USCF regulations. 

1) For a beginner i would do vision drills, like looking at your board w/o pieces and place a immaginary knight and try to name out each square lets say hes placed on d4 where can he go? Nc6, Ne6, Nb3,Nb5, Nf3, and Nf4. (hopefully i got em right i tried doing that in my head) and if the knight is placed on Nd4 how does he get to d3 in 3 moves? answer:1) Nb3 2)Nc1 3)Nc3 ( i hope thats right) The more you do this the better your vision improves 

2) Touch-Move! end of story. in a 5 minute blitz you touch your piece and ignore the check you forfiet and lose the game.    Also you dont have to say check outload he/she will know if she ignores it and moves some passive piece just take the king and you win!

3) general tips??? do a lot of end game puzzles and review your openings.  Time management is key too.

EDIT: if he/she moves some random piece and ingores your check. STOP THE CLOCK! and raise your hand for the arbitrator. The arbitrator will either disqualify your opponent or add time to your flag. So keep your eyes open! drink a lot of water and eat a tuna sandwich or sushi before a match =) OMEGA 3-6-9! FTW!

Psychological warfare. Constantly.

Thank you guys. You all have some good tips here, and this really helps. As i comes to me being nervous, its not that i will make blunder or bad moves that makes me nervous, but its how to behave or what to do in different situations...You guys mentioned some key things, and thank you for that. But what if i want to resign a game? What do i do then? Just say it out loud, og make my king fall?

And is it common to try writing down your moves in blitz games? I cant see how i am supposed to get time for that sort of thing...

in blitz you are not required to annotate.

If your losing significantly and see no hope. You can just offer your hand and say good game or just lightly drop your king and offer your hand and GG.  

THen walk to the tournament board and either right 0,1, 1/2 by your name and your opponent.

You don't have to keep score in blitz. Just play as many blitz games as you can before hands, know your openings as deeply as possible, have fun.

have fun and try your best and get a good sleep and say good game to your oppoents when you are done playing the games and you have time talk to them have a conservation

conversation

Thank you guys, for all your knowledge...It really helps.

1.enjoy it 2. do not panic 3. play read up on chess traps 4. make sure you take a pen with you to write moves down if it's blitz then forget number 4. 5.look at some of your old games on here

6. this might sound crazy but take somthing for good luck with you lol

Et godt lyn tips er å ikke regne for mye, før du skjønner at det er noe i stillingen. Bare prøv å unngå bukker- hold stillingen ved like og ikke gjør noen utfall før du skjønner at det er noe/ at du må handle.

Dvs, spill overfladisk og fort.

Det er ganske stor forskjell på lyn på icc, chess.com og i virkelig sjakk.

På nettet kan folk gjøre trekket på forhånd og aldri gå tom for tid, i det virkelige liv er ikke det mulig.

-Ellers så er det nok av gode lyn-haier som dukker opp på den turneringen, spør de om tips

- Shake hands before the game

- Move, then press the clock with the same hand

- If you want to castle, always move the king first then the rook, otherwise you've touched the rook and have to do a rook move (castling is a king move)

- Illegal move = end of game in blitz

- You don't have to say "check", in fact you'll get people staring at you if you do, just don't speak during the game

- To resign, just say "I resign" and offer your hand

- If this is your first tournament and even your first blitz experience, you're likely to forget pressing your clock now and then. A few practice games won't hurt.

Oh yes, and if some pieces tumble over, you have to set them up correctly again in your own time.

Aaand of course, the most important thing since it's blitz: in case your opponent runs out of time, you have to notice this, and claim the win (basically point at the clock and say "flag"). If you don't notice in time and both players run out, it's a draw.

If you want to offer a draw: make your move and ask "draw?" just before you hit the clock.

if you want to resign: in uk people ussualy say  something like "well played" and but  really think the same ;-).

Try to play faster than your opponent even if you can't find a good move.One min in blitz worths quite a lot rating points.

If you are lucky enough to promote a pawn stop the  clock find a queen put it in the board and start the clock.

OK thanks for all your comments and good words...I have one more question regarding winning on time. Is it bad etiquette to win on time...lets take a example where i am down a lot of material, and if we had time my opponent would have won pretty easily, but he has really little time, and i have a lot of time...is it bad to just play fast moves, and avoid checkmate, and then claim victory when he/shes time is up?

Some advice on this similar thread.

Alt som teller er seier, hvordan du vinner spiller ingen rolle, bare du følger reglene. Om du spiller fort vil du ikke klare å spille like godt som om du spilte sakte, så det sier seg selv: Det er ingen vits i å sutre pga tap på tid i vinststilling.

Hva er poenget med klokka da?

Det er regler på hvor lite materiell du kan ha og fortsatt vinne på tid, om du ikke klarer å matte teoretisk, kan du heller ikke vinne på tid.

Feks om du har 2 springere og ingen bønder, kan du ikke vinne på tid, da blir partiet dømt til remis, så sant en av partene sier ifra.

Om du har 1 bonde derimot, vinner du på tid pga du kan teoretisk få ny dame.

Så derfor, om du leder stort med materiell og har dårlig tid, bytt bort de gjennlevende brikkene til motparten, alle bøndene og brikker som kan matte. Da vil du aldri kunne tape partiet.

Remember, in blitz, anything can happen. My only tournament win against a titled player was in a Blitz tourney. Don't feel intimidated.