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@chessteenager. You really want to win a tournament? Hire a chess coach. This is the best way to improve playing chess. You must be studying hard but  so are many of your opponents.

The important thing is the pickles. Do what you have to do. Kosher, Polish, Dill, whatever, just get them as soon as possible!

I have never heard of the pickle theory of improvement?

That might be because they're NMs at OTB, not blitz. 

Don't waste your time and money.  The only people who really need coaches are young titled players; the rest are just trying to show off how important they are (or think they are).

I agree, pickles are much more cost-effective and work for players at any level.

Florida is the best chess state in the southeast ... hands down . 

Not surprising that the states which produce the best young players are the three most populous states in order lol.

Florida happens to be #4 by population by the way.

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2865?!  eek!

Is Caruana living in FL now ?? 

Yeah, seems Caruana is just edging out his closest competitor... at 2640 lol.  Who by the way has an awesome name... "Lars Bo Hansen"

If I were him I'd be one of those people who is inexplicably known by all three of his names.

No one answered how he found my tounrmanet record. I never posed it. Once again look at my opponents and who THEY played in that oturnament. The ones i beat especially the 5th and 6th round. 

Florida is tough in the under 18 year old category as well. We have around 5-6 players over 2000 and trust me when i say they show up to every single scholastic tournament i go to. and each scholastic tournamnet only has around ehhhh 50-60 people.

I will play over annotated games of world champions and annotate thems myselves which is the clear cuncensus but...are morhpy and steinitz really a good idea to study? arent they a bit outdated? I mean i dont think illl ever see many Kings gambit or evans gambit games OTB. And all of us know Caruana probably isnt a 2800 after Tata steel. Thats just impractical. Theres no way for me to get a chess coach. I live in a town called homestead an im fairly certain i am one of the strongest players within a 50 mile radius around here. Were not big on chess in South south Florida. Its North Miami which develops the best players. 

I know everyone says study grandmaster games. BUt does it help too take heavy annotated notes on the games? I can timagine doing it and nothing taking notes because i will need something to read about for repition into my memory. 

You have your real name on your profile here. People can get your rating history, tournament history, etc. by using the player lookup on the USCF website. (I posted a link to your tournament history page in this post, but I edited it out in case you decide you want to be more private here in the future)

Umm, your real name is on your profile...

http://www.uschess.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,181/

They're both rated 1300.  The 5th round guy's best game was either his win against a 900 or his draw against a 1200.

The 6th round guy's best game was his win against a 1500.  Unfortunately that doesn't make you 1500 by default :p  Also that 1500 was drawn by an 1100 and 1200 so maybe it just wasn't that guy's day.

Not that you're the only chess player that thinks this way, lots of people talk themselves up.  It's just your misfortune that we can actually look this stuff up  : /

What you did do was gain some 60 points in 1 tournament.  So yes, that and your chess.com ratings make me think you are likely underrated :)

How long should i be taking on a game. And when filtering the games im sure i shouldnt be looking at morphy games at the age of 8 where do i start? when he was 15? how many of each world champions game do i watch and study and write?

If u win at this tourn. ,what happens ? A few handshakes....maybe some opponents-nice game! The world will not shake,nor will u be any different the next day. Let chess be a hobby u enjoy playing.Truth is if u were going to be great player your talent would have expressed itself years ago.Apply that energy to your education and push toward something worthwhile like making the world a better place because of your efforts. Good Luck---I know u can make a difference.

Play hard, make pressure, and don't miss any opportunities or mistakes. Study tactics 50%, endgames 40%, and openings 10%, as most of the time high schoolers have no knowledge whatsoever.

So why do you have to win this tournament? If it was me though I would just train as much as possible, like playing games and studying them intently if I won or if I lost. Really what I think you should spend more time on though would be studying every single game you had.