Hi,

I have a one-day 5 round swiss tournament this weekend. Anyone want to share preparing tips? 

This is a very small and considerably weak tournament as it is Scholastic, and the average USCF rating can't be over 1400 even in the Open(K-12) section. However, there are some good 1700's that might be tough to play against. I have few experience and this is only my second tournament. 

Here is my result of the first one: Unluckly stumbled upon the defending champion in the first round, lost on time to him.. and couldn't concentrate on the second one and lost to someone much weaker. I was able to pull myself together and win the rest finishing 8th place.Here is the general game overview

Game 1: Black, Ruy Lopez 1-0(Lost), Game 2: White,Queen's Gambit Declined 0-1(Lost) Game 3: Black, Italian Game 0-1(Won) Game 4: forgot Game 5:White, Queen's Gambit Declined 1-0(Won)

I never play d4 now 

I aim to do better this time, and I think getting some preparing advice here might be of great help!Anything from openings to psychology are great! Thanks in advance!(sorry if I wrote too much)

Play what you know best ... stay at the board the whole time, if possible ... play the board, not the player ... use all your time, but wisely ... sit on your hands till you are sure your move will not miss a threat or blunder a piece ... and ABOVE ALL: have fun! 

Remember... 1.a4!

This deserves a bump, as I too am preparing for my FIRST Swiss this Saturday. I'm a bit older than you...well... a lot, but for some reason got the itch to play chess a few years ago.

I chatted with an Expert level player after a tournament, a college student, and he told me that he did not have a good tournament mainly because he did not get adequate sleep.

Regarding sleep - I think it takes a solid week of going to bed at the same time everynight for maximum brain performance, otherwise you are subjecting yourself to jet lag, with cognition taking a serious hit.

Coffee and/or energy drinks will not solve this problem come tournament day, becuase what your brain really neeeds is to go through all FOUR cycles of REM sleep, otherwise, it won't get the full charge.

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I see that you play the Petroff Defense. I've been looking into that as an alternative to my normal 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 with the Black pieces. 

Does it bother you when White chooses to play this move order in the Petroff: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3, for which 3...Nc6 is the main reply?

It then transposes into the four knights, which I am not all that thrilled about. I'd rather see White play the main line with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5, because then the play, at least at my level, leads to more opportunities for mistakes from White that Black can cash in on.

Since it's five rounds in one day, you can't have that long of a time control. Therefore, it's imperative to make sure you're using all of your time. Be careful of playing moves too quickly. Always take the time to make sure your opponent doesn't have any unanswerable threats after your next move. As for openings, you're probably not yet at the level where it's really important to worry about them so much. Look up what you played in the MCO or a similar book and decide after the game how you would have played differently. After you've played a bunch of games, your opening tree will expand a bit if you do that. Don't get discouraged by losses, they're free chess lessons and, as such, are probably more valuable than wins. Most of all, have fun. If it's not fun, why do it?

yeah

Musikamole wrote: This deserves a bump, as I too am preparing for my FIRST Swiss this Saturday. I'm a bit older than you...well... a lot, but for some reason got the itch to play chess a few years ago. I chatted with an Expert level player after a tournament, a college student, and he told me that he did not have a good tournament mainly because he did not get adequate sleep. Regarding sleep - I think it takes a solid week of going to bed at the same time everynight for maximum brain performance, otherwise you are subjecting yourself to jet lag, with cognition taking a serious hit. Coffee and/or energy drinks will not solve this problem come tournament day, becuase what your brain really neeeds is to go through all FOUR cycles of REM sleep, otherwise, it won't get the full charge. --- I see that you play the Petroff Defense. I've been looking into that as an alternative to my normal 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 with the Black pieces.  Does it bother you when White chooses to play this move order in the Petroff: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3, for which 3...Nc6 is the main reply? It then transposes into the four knights, which I am not all that thrilled about. I'd rather see White play the main line with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5, because then the play, at least at my level, leads to more opportunities for mistakes from White that Black can cash in on. Dont play into 4 nights I play petroff and in that position I play Bb4 take a look at my games