Chess Tournaments

I have been thinking if I should go to the 7th annual Southwest Class Championships but it is 216 miles(3 hours and 19 minutes) from my place and cost lots of money. Should I go to chess tournaments that are very far and costly?

There are probably tournaments a lot closer to where you live. Your profile says you live in Austin, Texas.  https://www.austinchesstournaments.com/ says there are two tournaments upcoming in Austin in the next couple of months, which won't require over night hotel stays, hours of driving and all that.

I have never been to a big, important, yet costly tournament such as this one before. However, I would recommend that you spend a decent amount of time working on your game before the tournament if you want to go. You will be atleast 1600 strength within a month if you solve tactics consistently for 1.5 hours a day on chesstempo.com. I think you will have a great time if you are atleast 1600 strength by then. It is a great feeling to feel like you are playing at a level above your official rating!  Trust me.

On the other hand, it won't be as much fun if you aren't going to work hard to improve between now and then. In that case, you simply wouldn't do as well and the whole experience wouldn't be as great.

All in all, you should make a decision based on how much you are willing to improve between now and then and wether you think the potential fun (which is based on your playing strength by the time the tournament comes around) outways the price or not. That is a decision that you will have to make for yourself.

notmtwain make a fair point. You should definitely look more into local tournaments as well. They just aren't as big, but they are a great place to start.

You should register for the Austin Chess Club Championship here: https://www.austinchesstournaments.com/events/651

It is one of the largest tournaments every year in Austin.

  My only suggestion would be if u decide to go try to get a group of your chess friends to also go. You could share the cost of gas and a room and it would be alot more fun. Myself i only have attended small,cheap,local tournaments but i would like to do one big one someday.

hey not only where do u type ur quesation in at in this forum but where is it that u look at ur own games plus can u pls, teach, coach, or help me please