First over the board tournament, suggestion openings ideas etc.

I am thinking to enter my first OTB tournament in 2 weeks or so and actually.. we can say my first OTB games as well... 

For last 10 years perhaps i have something like 5 casual over the board games some hundreds of online games.  But for last 2-3 years i have played thousands of bullet, blitz and rapid online games.

My weak point is perhaps the openings. At online speed chess you don't care much about openings anyway and everyone starts with just opening principles. I am strong at tactics and endgames. But i am very weak at calculating deep.  I am attacking player with unsound sacs, but i do good with positional play as well, but not much.

I played vast variaty of openings - But most of them not deep and not much accurate. 1 year ago i did not know my style or openings so i have worked a lot on that area.

So i narrow it down to only 3 openings - 1 white 2 black.

I made Dutch my mein weapon as black against pretty much anything except 1.e4

Against e4 i played all kinds of openings - french, caro can, scandi, little bit sicilian but i dont like it much, and recently only e5. Anything except 1..e5 and ..c5 gives me solid position but is not that easy to win unless other player makes some blunders.  I want to attack and win my first OTB games. So thats why i switch to 1...e5. But i get crushed against scotch. And i am wondering should i play very defensive for my first oTB games... I might be mouse in real life, but at least lets fight in chess... it might work some solid scandi or karo kon.. but its embarassing.

I abandoned positional play and focused more on attack. So i hate when i lose my central pawns, specially e4/e5 white/black. Thats why i lose a lot against scotch because you have to take that d4 pawn and their e4 remains still and they attack me.

So my general question is... What to play whit black when you want to win on first OTB tour?

With white i played 1.d4 - All - London, Torre attack, Colle, Queen gambit.. I got succes but out of opening i get pretty much nothing. 

Now i play 1.e4 - little bit of everything - Kings gambit but too risky, so i choosed Vienna opening, Scotch i dont like it, cuz against strong opponent i cant attack. Vienna is kinda like dutch so it works well for me (without g3 bg2 system). I have huge problems against french... it kills my attack and i hate it.. i am strong against sicilian or 1..e5. I do well against scandi too. Just karo can and french gives me trouble, cuz i dont want to play slow positional game with white.

So my question is with black.. how do you play for a win - Do you play something you are comfortable, do you play attacking risky line? Do you play something that you know your opponent will strugle, but you might strugle as well? Do you gamble with opening that you might not know well but your opponent might be wondering the same?..

My bullet and blitz is around 2000 online here and 1800 rapid.  OTB i know is very different and hard specially first games... I might have problem with visualization but its 60+30 so i have plenty of time to concentrate.

Which section to enter? Open one with a lot of 2200-2400 rated playes - but its unrated ,  Or Rated one with players up to 2200, but a lot of them are in 1400-1800 area, many of them underrated.  I dont want to receive something like 1500 first rating.. terrible and will take century to step up the ladder, because we have something like 3 tournaments per year and currently cant travel to other cities.

I am thinking against 1..e4 to try black lion, but at the tournament i am absolutely sure, cuz we are like russians, they all know and all play 1.e4 e5 and black lions is kinda same... Do i play Nf6 on move 2.. but is counter my instintc, but i kill my opponent attack.. not sure.. do i go all in with early f5 or something.. but its 60+30 i will get unpatiom and will lose quick cuz i cant see very deep.... i hate long time controls.

..

You didn't ask about this, but I'd like to suggest one thing. Get your set and board for the tournament and start playing on it as soon as possible. If you've been staring at the 2d board on the computer for years, a real-life board and set is going to look a little weird at first.

Also, make sure to tell yourself to slow down, constantly. I played my first OTB tournament after a year-long period where I played nothing but 1 0 and 0 1 on ICC. It can be difficult to shake the habit of moving too quickly OTB.

Lastly, and this goes without saying, but the games and your opponents are going to be much, much different from what you are used to. Do not underestimate them, even if they are what you might consider low-rated. They have a lot of time to think, and they are going to be a lot more careful about protecting their stuff that you have seen online. Believe me.

Just play and have fun... first tournament doesn't even matter much, it's just an experience. 

Don't overthink it lol

Yea. I will show respect to all of them, specially kids.. all fo them underrated and very strong. But i think i will get angry at some point.. will make fast move and sac something and will cry later...

3d board and pieces will be a huge problem. I have practice about 50 games and more with online 3d pieces and board (real 3d beta from settings) and some tactics.. its really hard man..

And just several games using my actual chess set. It's like reducing my skills with 500 points.  Is just too much time and is frustrating to sit and wait for example in 30 min games. As an recent past bullet and blitz addict.. i can't concentrate too much on 1 move. My calculation is crap. And its wasting time.. Not sure what to do.. 2nd day we have 3 rounds.. can you believe this.. 3 rounds 60+30 each.. thats like 7 hours for single day... i lose focus and i get tired on 30 min single game... even experienced players say they get tired... haha overkill.. will drink pills and redbulls and will have plenty of sleep and eat good.

But yea will practice in next 2 weeks will see what will happen , might join unrated section.. will see.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes! I am considering playing my first OTB games soon as well, maybe in the next few months.

Played few 30 min each online games using my actual chess set. It's worse than i imagined. Lost them all with one win, but very bad one. Just terrible. Not only i hang pawns left and right, but i could not see a lot even if i stare long enough. Tough process was chaos.  Not only that my time managment was ridiculuis. I was in time trouble in all of them with just 15-20 moves made overall. And i got tired as hell...

The lack of practice, 3d board vision and lack of actual chess club to go and play with real people is killing me. And those kids and veterans in the tournament have hundreds of games done...

It's like challeging 60 years old classical chess player to 5 min blitz game online - where he did not touch computer and mouse in his life at all or saw 2d screen. He would not even make 3 moves...

Your vision on the 3D board will improve, but it does take time. Stick with it!

yea i hope so, will try again in next days. Have to say it's way more enjoyable. I wish i could have a club to stay there half a day for next weeks, that could improve me significantly.

I had played 1000 + online games and my rating is also 1100 + in all formats here but I have played very less game on OTB when I entered my first tournament I had loosed most of the match because of 3d board in 2d screen the positions looks very different as compared to OTB I have missed simple/ basic tactics and does not able to calculate accurately I have loosed even with a 800 rated player because 1) I was not able to see threats 2)I was missing simple / basic tactics. 3 ) I was not able to calculate accurately.so my suggestion for you is 1) Don't play too much of blitz or bullet here.it will damage your natural game. 2)play on your OTB as much as you can I suggest you to play at least 5-10 matches daily.if you don't have any body to play on real board then keep your board in front of your laptop for analysing your games. 3) solve tactics on your real board. 4) don't use too much chess apps available on app store or play store I suggest you to use real books don't pdf. if u are not good at openings then read some good opening books. All the best for your next tournament.

Thank you. I did it. My vision improved sleighty i expect more. I still make terrible blunders that i would never make. Losing to a lot weaker players than me. Played overall 15 online  games for 3 days (mixed 30/0 15/10) using real board. Score so far 3 wins 12 loses. But some of the players used engine help and some i lost on time. Will try 30+5 in next games. 15/10 way too fast.

If it continue like this i would be very dissapointed and might not go. I am not sure how i would improve so fast for less than 10 days until start of tournament. 

Not sure where to enter Secion A - rated up to 2200 elo rated players, Section B Unrated Open section - a lot of masters above 2200 (some FM/IM/GM's) very high chance i play them and i will get crushed quick but is without rating and only 10-15 people so far there).

Over the Board, as opposed to playing on the internet.

Yes, OTB means a real game played on a board with physical pieces, face to face with your opponent. Also, usually when you say OTB you are talking about an official rated game.