How much preparation do I really need?

Hello everyone,

I am rated 1440 and have not played in a tournament in a while, so I am kinda rusty. My main strength relies in my tactical and endgame skills. I am not especially good at planning, and my openings are somewhat rusty. I am going to start playing in some tournaments again soon, but due to lack of time to study everything I need to, I have decided to mainly focus on improving my planning/strategies in the game. I don't have the time needed to completely master all the openings that I play. Do you think it will be sufficient for if I focus mainly on improving my overall planning/strategies, or should I spend a significant amount of time on openings too? I feel that becoming much better at planning will compensate for my lack of opening knowledge, but I would like your suggestions too. If not, could you suggest some general opening books(I already have Watson's Mastering the Chess Openings Volume 1 and 2), but they have not helped me much, especially when I encounter some random variations that are not covered in great detail in those books. Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Rohan

??

I don`t think one needs to prepare for a tournament.

If chess is your hobby that is all the preparation you need.

hmm, but I will play some opponents who are much stronger and higher rated than me..

I think studying for planning and strategies is enough if you don't really have time. You don't need to memorize too many opening lines. You can play an opening just by knowing the idea behind it,and that is part of what's being covered in strategizing/planning. Just improve that, do some tactics and review basic endgame positions. Hope I helped.  

haha yea! i was also thinking along the same lines. but yea thanks! 

your welcome :)