how to prepare for an otb chess tournament

   hello guys I guess I'm hungry for blogging since this is my second in one day!

   Today as you have probably noticed is about preparing for a otb tournament. What is otb you may ask? OTB stands for- Over The Board. Which means a chess game over the board where you are actually playing face to face! Crazy right? Anyway we are, or you are, here to read on how to prepare for otb.

 step one: Always shake hands with your opponent before you start a match. Why. because it is polite and exceptions only apply if you are an online troll, but this won't be online so I guess exceptions don't apply.

step two: the person playing the black pieces starts the timer by pushing the button in the middle and most important DON'T be the person asking how to start the timer

step three: start the game. Why? Because that's why you are at the tournament..... i hope.

step four: moving a piece. I guess this would actually be step three and one half.

step three and one half: moving a piece. Make sure you use the hand you move a piece with to stop your clock. It is actually a rule in competitive chess!

step five: write down your move you just made on a score sheet.

   Now we are starting on a new bridge of tournament rules: Behavior

step six: Don't ever distract your opponent with faces, hand movements, or other distracting things such as: talking with friends, making noises, trash-talk, or say 'why did you do that'? Or if you eat a snack take it to a different place like the corner!

step seven: do not offer draws to many times. It is very annoying and preference ask only 2 draws maximum.

step eight: The famous touch rule! If you touch a piece you have to move that piece! So take your time.

step nine: illegal moves. Don't do an illegal move. Simple right? So just learn all the illegal moves

step ten: shake hands.... again.  At the end of the game shake hands with your opponent no matter if you won or lost. It is again polite.

step eleven(if you win): be happy for yourself, but don't become cocky and most importantly keep playing chess.

step twelve(if you lose): never pick up a chess piece again! You suck and don't belong in the chess community. Just kidding just know that you did your best and you can always improve