How to prep for an OTB tournament?

(ik the category for this post is online tournaments, shush)

Hello everyone. Exactly 2 weeks from now, I have an OTB tournament. I believe this is my 7th tournament, with my previous one being my first in the open section (rather than only playing in scholastic), where I succeeded and played much above my rating, getting a draw against an NM. This next one is also in the open section, and I believe I'm going to be facing my toughest competition yet.

So here is my question: What can I do in the next two weeks for me to get in my absolute best chess form for the tournament? All advice is very much appreciated.

1. Study the most theoretical endgames. This includes rook and pawn, queen and queen, ect
2. Work on endgame checkmates. At your level you should be able to checkmate with all the basics (queen, rook, two bishops) and learn how to do knight and bishop AND ALSO TWO KNIGHTS VS PAWN. Difficult, but you should know these. Better safe than heading home red-faced.
3. Make sure you know your lines! At your level, these players are doing the main, critical lines of your openings. Review them, but don't get neurotic.
4. Do NOT play ANY CHESS the day before the tournament. Mentally prepare yourself and rest.

DM me after the tournament with your results!

Being a fan and only a beginner player I don't know how much advice I can give, although I've had success at other sports such as fencing.  My best advice from the biggest missed potential I have is do whatever you can to prepare for the length of time and endurance it takes to win.  If you can only last 6 games and you'd have to play a total of 8 games to win the tournament, then you need to have the endurance to last that long, both mentally and physically.  (I once had a tournament in fencing that I did well in, but petered out due to lack of endurance and placed 8th, where if I had had the endurance I may have done better).

@1

'15 to 20 days in the fresh air, in the country' - Botvinnik

Take some physical activity like long walk every day, brush up on your openings intend to use in that tournament, get proper sleep, don't play or practice too much during this time u must be hungry for chess by the time tournament starts, I assume it will be a classical or rapid time control tournament, what ever the time control is play a few practice games with that same time control during this time playing the same openings u intend to play in the tournament, hopefully this advice may be of use to u , regards

There are a few things you can do:

1. Practice your tactics to stay sharp.

2. Drill your openings to ensure you remember your desired lines.

3. If you know some of the stronger players in the section, you can try to look up their games to see what openings they play.  Do not spend too much time on this as the main goal is to make sure you are comfortable with what they might throw at you.

Regarding playing, I tend to play 1-2 rapid games a day in the lead up to such events.  Playing too much can lead you to burn out, but playing too little can start to accumulate rust.  Try to find where your balance is to maintain your "freshness".

Finally, make sure you get plenty of sleep in the lead up to the event!  Do not underestimate how important that is!

@8

Timman was lazy and often slept past noon.

My personal experience is that Botvinnik was right.
I performed best after prior outdoor physical exercise (walking, cycling, swimming, gardening).

Play a little bit of chess, but not too much. I recommended doing some puzzles and 30-40 minutes of playing. You don't want to get burnt out because OTB tournaments are long

I believe you should solve some tactics few days before the tournament to get your brain into the right shape. Those can be just simple puzzles which you solve in about 2 minutes. I believe those are the most effective to kind of boost your form before the tournament. Those really difficult puzzles are more suitable for a long term training. If the tournament is really important to you, it would also be reasonable to look at your opening lines and try to remember them before the tournament, also think about what are you going to play for example against 1.e4, 1.d4... and so on, and the same for white. The day when the tournament will start, I recommend not to do anything in terms of chess except for preparation for the opponent. The same during the tournament, no blitz, minimum analysis. Just don't spend your energy on the things you don't have to. Chesswise just games and preparation during the tournament. Good thing is also to do something other than chess during the tournament, maybe go for a run in the morning. Anyways good luck and hope this helps.