I agree with most here who have commented, nothing like OTB competition. With that said, make sure you enter an Under section (U1200 or U1300) and just a head's up so you are not surprised; scholastic chess is huge in the U.S. so you will probably be competing against kids, some as young as 5 or 6 years of age in some of your rounds.
Is it a bad idea to participate in tournaments when you are still very new to chess?

I agree with most here who have commented, nothing like OTB competition. With that said, make sure you enter an Under section (U1200 or U1300) and just a head's up so you are not surprised; scholastic chess is huge in the U.S. so you will probably be competing against kids, some as young as 5 or 6 years of age in some of your rounds.
Oh yeah, good point.
I went to my first tournament at age 21, and my first round pairing was a kid who looked about 10 years old which I wasn't expecting.

I agree with most here who have commented, nothing like OTB competition. With that said, make sure you enter an Under section (U1200 or U1300) and just a head's up so you are not surprised; scholastic chess is huge in the U.S. so you will probably be competing against kids, some as young as 5 or 6 years of age in some of your rounds.
Oh yeah, good point.
I went to my first tournament at age 21, and my first round pairing was a kid who looked about 10 years old which I wasn't expecting.
What was your rating back then?

After my first few tournaments I was holding steady at a 1300 USCF rating.
I didn't have a chess.com rating because this was some years before chess.com existed.

@cyberwaffle I see that you play Bullet and Blitz but not Rapid on here. I conclude that you like the faster time controls. If that is true, if you want to play a LOT of rated chess over the weekend, instead of playing in the big National Open tournament, consider playing in the Beginners side events. The time control is 30 +5s increment. The Beginners tournaments are 1-day tournaments on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 6-round swiss system. You can play one, two or all three days, giving you 6, 12 or 18 rated games.
Details can be found at https://www.vegaschessfestival.com/national-open/ (click on the Beginners tab)
@cyberwaffle I see that you play Bullet and Blitz but not Rapid on here. I conclude that you like the faster time controls. If that is true, if you want to play a LOT of rated chess over the weekend, instead of playing in the big National Open tournament, consider playing in the Beginners side events. The time control is 30 +5s increment. The Beginners tournaments are 1-day tournaments on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 6-round swiss system. You can play one, two or all three days, giving you 6, 12 or 18 rated games.
Details can be found at https://www.vegaschessfestival.com/national-open/ (click on the Beginners tab)
I actually play a lot more of the longer time controls on here usually 20 min/20 min and just occasionally play blitz or bullet to unwind (I think you may have clicked on my profile on one of the times I was playing blitz) but I play far more rapid on here then the faster time controls.
And I was planning on doing the beginner section that you are suggesting for 2 days for a total of 12 games but the time control isn't 30s + 5s increments its actually 30m +5s increments so its longer games which is good for me. The front page of the site is a bit misleading making it look like 30s + 5s but if click the beginners tab on the site it clarifies that its 30 minutes + 5 seconds.
But, thanks I appreciate the suggestion because I think I would get destroyed if I joined the open tournament XD

Is that a problem?
I thought you would be playing in the tournament to gain experience and to learn?
Is that a problem?
I thought you would be playing in the tournament to gain experience and to learn?
Well, no but I think it would be much better if I played in the beginners tournament rather than the open tournament where I could face players >2300 rating
Some people PAY MONEY to have a 1-vs-1 game with a 2300+ player.
Well I would be paying money to do so because it would be $200 more, also I would get 9 games instead of 12. Although the open section is Fide rated so that's a point in its favor, but I am leaning much more towards the beginner section I am fine with playing against people more on my level.

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U should go play in them as soon as possible, whether u think ur ready or not. I've seen it over and over, players who only want to play rated tournaments when they're really ready never go play because they're never "really ready". It's a psychological thing to get out of playing, they're afraid to see real world results. Ur ready whether or not u think u r.
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