How Can I Become A Decent OTB Player?

Here's an article I just read. It is one of the best articles I've read. In addition to giving you an idea of how Silman writes, it is also extremely valuable for anyone transitioning from blitz/bullet to slower games.

http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-evaluate-a-position

thank you for all of the recommendations... I'm playing slow again, today with a guy that's ~1900 on here and peaked over 2000 otb... I'm playing MUCH better slow than I ever could at blitz... at 10mins we were 1-1-1. I actually don't like being rushed anymore... I used far more time than he did and that's pretty much okay with me. Can someone please explain how K factor matters?

It's like a Max Factor.

Found it:

The k-factor is a number in the formula used to calculate ratings. It determines how many rating points you gain or lose in one game. For example, if you beat someone with the same rating as you, on ICC you will gain 16 rating points, and in FIDE you will gain only 7.5 rating points. This is because the k-factor on ICC is 32, and the k-factor in FIDE is 15 (for people with ratings below 2400). 

In Fide's rating system, k-factor is used to accelerate the rating variations of some populations : people U20 and people who have played under 30 rated games in FIDE. For those people, rating variations will be twice as fast as for established players.

focus on the board not the player

Good to know... Does this only apply to FIDE rated tournaments or do they look at member organizations and the player's number of games there?

FIDE only.. By the way... whats the real difference between fide tour and a national tour when many times here in local fide tour all players are from same country or even city... what it makes that it counts as fide rated..and some times not.. ofc some are big int tournaments, but not always.

You play same people you play at club and then again in a tour but this time its fide rated.. dont get it.. 

One interesting thing that happened while playing was that the 1900 told another guy that I can't plat fast either and that we should both play slower. :-) I definitely prefer slow chess for the time being.

codexone, I don't see where anyone else has said this to you yet...you could play slower games here as well.  Almost no matter what, I'm betting you are already a more than decent OTB player if you take your time.  Blitz ratings here are deflated (the standard ratings aren't, but the blitz ones are).  So...1700 blitz is probably 1900 slow.  Let's just say you are a fast thinker and your advantage won't hold up once your opponent has more time--I still think you are good for 1700 OTB (and that's certainly decent, at least in my book).

codexone, I don't see where anyone else has said this to you yet...you could play slower games here as well.

RCMorea is correct. You can play slow time controls at chess.com. Here's a spin-off group from chess.com where you can play 45|45 or 90|30 games. They are good people. I've encountered no cheaters or spoilsports, and the guy who runs it, SirIvanhoe, is great too.

http://slowchessleague.org/

The best preparation for OTB tournament play I can think of -- aside from OTB itself -- is slow chess. Slow chess really is a different game from blitz or bullet or even 30 minute time controls.

Time budgeting is a whole 'nother world when you can spend 2-3 minutes a move and occasionally splurge 5-30 minutes.

Among other things, slow chess is about stamina. You want to be rested and focused. Be careful with sugar and caffeine.

I understand, but I'm spending my time online training and studying...

I'm actually starting to learn how weak I really am... Of course I've always understood the difference between my ratings and higher ones, but when your failure rate is so high and you're being exposed to so many new ideas that require you to think a little differently...

I'm looking forward to seeing my improvement on a biweekly/weekly basis when playing OTB. 

That explains a lot.