USCF OR FIDE

Which is better to join, i would like to start doing tounements onc ei get around 1300 here on chess.com

Why wait though? Start playing in tournaments now.

becuse where i live the nearest tournements are about 8 hours away atleast so if i go to a tounement i would prefer not to get obliterated

i'm struggling to find a location remote enough in rural Utah that it is eight hours from the nearest USCF tournament.

Maybe he travels by horse and buggy.

@Ziryab - not sure what the Utah thing has to do wth it but if the OP is worried about being "obliterated" they will be waiting a long, long time before playing or will be really depressed when they get "obliterated" in their first tournament, no matter how long they wait to start playing.

Yes, the earlier you start playing official OTB games, the better.

The OP says that eight hours of travel is required to get to a tournament. There is no where in Montana where that is true. He either lives in the remotest part of Utah or in the Alaska Bush.

An individual cannot join FIDE anyway , national federations join FIDE . 

You only join FIDE directly if you plan on playing in their FIDE Arena Online site. Otherwise, you join your national federation, US Chess if your flag is correct, and then if and when you play in a FIDE rated event (and a smaller percentage of US events get FIDE rated outside of larger cities/events), you will automatically get a FIDE ID from that. I played one round of USCF and FIDE rated blitz tourney (as a house player) and got my ID from that.

Alright guys this has all been very helpfull thank you! as for the people wondering why i had to go so far is becuse i live in kansas and the nearest tournements are all in texas, from where im at in texas it is about 8 hours atleast, i checked the USCF site and that is the nearest tournements

Googling for Kansas Chess.  Here's some Kansas chess clubs.

http://www.kansaschess.org/htdocs/KCAAffiliateChessClubs.htm

You must be in the boonies of Kansas. The Kansas Open was in Wichita this last Summer; probably will be in the KC area next year. There has been a tourney in Lindsborg the last couple of years.

Depending on what part of the state you are in Oklahoma City might be closer to you and they hold stuff quite a bit.  So, if you are near the OK panhandle, that might be a good location.

Kirzan excluded

Do not depend upon the tournament listings in Chess Life or on the USCF website. There are many events that do not get listed there.

You need to find clubs and contact their officers. 

I've driven the width of Kansas. That takes no longer than it does to eat a Stuckey's cinnamon roll.

What's a house player?

Usually just a rated player that is available when there are an odd number of players. They don't pay an entry and don't qualify for prizes. Allows every one to play each round instead of having to sit around and wait for the next round.

You pretty much have to join USCF in the US to play in tournaments. But it's not worth the money. The magazine is piss poor,and what are they doing for the players,besides maintaining their rating?

The magazine is not that bad. There was one really good article in the past two years: a story about Kenneth Regan. Most issues have articles that are good for twenty minutes of instruction for average class players.

I'd say that it is easily worth $10 per year. 

thanks i now see that ther ei s atournement only a few hours a awy from me