Have I Been Sandbagging for Nine Years. Help?!

Practicing long games and solving puzzles are both good IMO.  Make sure it's not those blitz puzzles.  Solve the whole thing in your mind before you make the first move.

To make sure you're doing slow, deliberate calculation, I even recommend to write down the lines you calculate (after you're done calculating them).  Sure for the puzzles, but you might also find this interesting vs the computer in a position where you feel like a move is dangerous and the computer might hit you with a tactic.  That way you can see exactly what you planned and exactly what you missed.

Because in blitz we don't really visualize positions when we calculate right :)  We mostly blind calculate (don't know how to describe it).  To practice for a tournament try to visualize the future position at the end of a line as clearly as you can.

For every game you play in any OTB tournament, when you are seated at the chessboard. The very first thing you do is check your BEFORE I MAKE A MOVE CHECKLIST 2 TIMES, the whole time that you are analyzing your move you are SITTING ON YOUR HANDS. DO NOT REMOVE YOUR HAND FROM UNDER YOUR LEG UNTIL YOU HAVE DECIDED ON YOUR NEXT. AFTER MAKING THE MOVE AND WRITING ON YOUR SCORESHEET, IMMEDIATELY PLACE YOUR HAND BACK UNDERNEATH YOUR LEG!!!!!!

DodgeIntrepidAttack, what is the top cash prize amount that makes you want to cheat with your rating?  Is it a lot of money? 

If it is, indeed, a lot of cash, then I think the organizers would agree that your cheating makes sense.

Isn't it amazing when a 1200 at the club gives you way more trouble than a 1900?  At least it's better than facing off against people online in 5-10 minute blitz games that can somehow calculate more accurately than any world champion in classic time controls! :D

A perfect example of why there should be no cash prizes for the lower rating brackets, and especially no cash prizes for brackets that allow unrated/provisional players.  

I hope a sandbagger clocks you in the first round...

No, wait...that would just be perpetuating the problem.  I hope you blunder your queen to an 8 year old. ;)

Yes, I know...you didn't intend to sandbag by not playing all these years.  The ethical thing to do is play in some regular tourneys with no/small cash prizes first until your rating stabilizes.

Thats not sandbagging. Sandbagging is deliberately losing games to lower your rating. You are just prepping for a tournament. If you are too good for that class now, what are you supposed to do? Just not play again, ever?

Intrepidattack:- Don't forget to practice with a real chess board.

practice Pattern Recognition. it is actually very helpful. I can recognize an opprotunity for a smothered mate way in advance (rarely do I get to execute. but I try) I am working on that as well as other things to get me in shape to go to tournoments. tactics, endgames, middle games. my openings are as simple as ever I just develop after a few moves unless it is a line that I like and tend to get. so do a bit of everything but focus on tactics and endgames you will win most games there.

I'd train the thought process, especially the calculation process, since it is very diffrent in longtime controls. First you need to develop a universal though process and calculation method (there is more to it than just knowing the concept of "candidate moves") and then you need to train it.

Just having a checklist at home or even next to you won't help because in the game you need to concentrate on the concrete position, the thought process must be trained and automated already. A good help might be a mind map that you have next to you in your training games against shredder, until the steps become natural and you for examle never forget to do the "security check" at the end, before you do a move.

If you mange this and get a feeling for long time controls (how much time you have to spend per move etc.), learn when to think/calculate and where to save time, then i think you might have quite a well result in that u1200 tournament. You have 1560 in bullet, my bullet is around 1400 and with training the tought process i've beaten a couple of 1800-1900 FIDE guys in the last OTB tournament (my FIDE elo is around 1750, rising), so you should do even better and EAT those u1200 players for breakfast.

I seriously lol'd at blundering to an eight year old... I would be mentally crushed for months.

I think the ethical thing to do is to play in my ratings class, play as hard as I can, and keep on moving up the ladders. 

I would suggest playing your long practice games against humans. Why would you play against a computer?

I actually ran into my old chess partner from a decade ago and he's a 1790 something now that I'd love to practice with, but everyone is busy with their families for the holidays and I need my practice to be as regiminted and rigorous as possible.

I'd like to seriously improve as a player and not stop after these next two, I'd just like to win these next two. 

I will be using a tournament set next to my engine though...

This is pretty much how I'm practicing in the den, I'm going to give it 2-3 hours a day of study... (Working from home makes that pretty easy.)

I agree, it's incorrect to say he's cheating or sandbagging. I was in that position a year ago- hadn't played a tournament in 4 years but had been practicing with good players at our school's chess club... Turns out I was a lot stronger than my rating of 1018. But that's the good thing about a provisional rating- it corrects itself quickly. I played 5 games and my rating went up >300 points. No sandbagging for me I guess.

I think you're doing this the right way. Keep your tactics sharp, make sure you have a little endgame knowledge, stay patient at the board (don't do what many of my youthful opponents do, namely use ten minutes for 50 moves), and don't take any opponents lightly. My one loss in that tournament was to an unrated guy who is now an A class player, so definitely don't look past anyone.

One last piece of advice that will sound a bit weird: embrace winning. Be willing to do the work at the board for an entire game. Don't feel bad or guilty for beating an opponent. Don't go easy when you're up two pawns. I know the sandbagging thing was a bit tongue-in-cheek but there's no shame in being skilled. Best of luck... And Merry Christmas to all

Darn you for improving.  :(