I have played in my fair share of tournaments... in my experience the reason you have performed poorly even after so much prepartion is for a few reasons.
-If you study more, you may feel more prepared but also feel like you SHOULD play better which may induce nervousness. (I don't really have a solution to this, this may tie into the next point)
-The day before a tournament review openings for maybe 30 minutes and do a few tactics and that's all. Don't exhaust youself looking through every opening sideline your opponent can play or doing 4 hours of tactics.
-Don't worry about the so much about the result (cliche I know). Although the result is obviously a huge indicator of your progress, looking to play the good moves may help to keep your nervousness to a minimum and ensure your sanity :). Also, think of losing and making mistakes as an opportunity to learn!
I hope this came as helpful rather than a lecture...
All the Best!
Zach
Hi all. Unlike the vast majority of the site, I actually play in nationally rated USCF tournaments. Sometimes, I play really well; other times I play like somebody rated 900. I don't know why, but sometimes I get really uptight before a tournament, and other times I just tend not to take the tournament as seriously. There have been tournaments where I have been prepping for weeks nonstop like the LI G/45 tournaments and do horribly in and others in which I do not prep for and do amazingly well in (such as the 2011 greater NY Scholastics in which I took 9th place out of 60 competitors. I know. It's just a game and not worth getting uptight over. Well, easier said than done. My question is for those of you who actually play nationally rated tournaments, what do you do prior to the start of the first round to play to your maximum potential? Also, if you get nervous or uptight in game, what do you do to help yourself relax and play with more precision? The LI Open is coming up (a continental tournament) and I would really like to win the u1700 section.