hello

    I have never played a live tournament before and there is a USCF rated tourny in my town next month. So my questions are.... if i play and lose all my matches what would my USCF rating be?  Are there any other rules i should know about such as the "touch move"? Should i play even thou im not the greatest player in the world or should i wait until i get a little better?

                                      Thank You,

                                          KSC (Gungnir)

Hi Gungnir,

Congratulations!  Entering a live over the board tournament is fun, sometimes exhausing, but always interesting.

Your rating will depend on a number of variables.  Among them are:

• What is the rating of your opponents
• How many opponents did you play against?

Your rating will be 'provisional' until you have played at least 20 tournament games. 

No one can tell you WHEN to enter a tournament.  You should enter a live tournament if you feel like you will get something out of it-- whether it's just the experience, or whether it's really learning more about your strengths/weaknesses.

A few rules you should understand:

*Yes, it WILL be touch move.  The only exception is when you want to adjust your piece, in which case you need to say "I adjust" or "J'adoube" before you touch the piece.  You can do this to your pieces or your opponents pieces, but I believe you can only do it during your move.

*You will be using a clock.  Make sure you understand what the time controls are going to be.  Most standard tournaments use 40/2 and sudden death 60.  What this means is that you must make your first 40 moves within 2 hours.  If your game exceeds 40 moves, then you exceed your 2 first 2 hours, then you have 60 minutes to complete the rest of your moves.

I wouldn't worry too much about what your rating will look like, even if you lose all your games.  In the first tournament I ever played in, my first opponent was an International Master; needless to say, he got very bored playing against me.  LOL.

Good luck!

Carey

You'd have a provisional rating of the rating of your opponents -400. Add each round this way and divide by the number of rounds. If you get a draw your performance for that round is equal to the rating of the opponent. If you beat him, +400. When you've got more games the rating is figured with a different formula.

You should observe touch-move and know about the clock. Record your game. Don't talk to your opponent or otherwise distract him during the game unless offering a draw i.e. official business. Try to read the USCF rules on this beforehand.

Should you wait and study? I don't know. All losses wouldn't be the end of the world. Maybe just the beginning of a chess career.

Noticed something new at USCF rating section new type of stats, see sample. New USCF Stats plus varies search options, as well Norms achived.

Plus some older stats that CXR has had for years although not as popular as USCF our official USA chess rating system.

FIDE - The "World Chess Federation" which GM Karpov is running for President.

Glad to see these USCF upgrades to make our chess rating system makes more useful such as other sports have for like football, baseball, etc. Of course there much more that could be added, such as stats by win using white and black and much more.

Chess.com has good system as well and I'm sure Eric has more upgrades planed.

I strongly urge you to play! There is no chess experience quite as intense as playing in a live tournament, in a room filled with other players, all of whom are concentrating as hard as they can. This is real chess!

You will probably find in hard to play your very best under these new conditions, but that will be true whenever you take the plunge, so why wait? You will learn a lot about your strengths and weaknesses--both chess-wise and psychological. Studying is important, but real chess is a game of irrevocable decisions, made in real time. To get good at it, you have to do it.

If you're pleasant about it, your stronger opponents will often go over your game with you, which can be an education in itself. And it's fun to get up every once in a while and take a quick look at what's happening on the other boards. Forget the rating! In the long run, ratings follow ability, and playing is the best was to increase your ability