Is it worth playing in tournaments (OTB) when you know you are going to suck?

On the other hand, playing in tournaments may be a big waste of time. If a person hadn't studied theory as thoroughly as possible, chances are that he/she will not learn much in OTB games in tourneys. I've seen many players who didn't do the work but went on to play in tourneys only to stay lifetime 16,17,1800 players.

I'd go even further. Even with lots of training, it's really hard to improve at chess. Therefore, one has to be truly dedicated. It may be hard to hear this but there's a reason why most people don't really improve at chess. Those who do and achieve the master level are but a tiny minority of those who tried.

Without pain, without sacrifice we would have nothing. Honestly, you should definetely play as many tournaments as possible. Don´t worry about your rating points, when you don´t risk to lose some you will never gain any. I would just do a lot of preparation for your next big tournament. First of all you go through your opening repertoire. You check out all the main lines you play, remember the most important theory lines and play through Grandmaster games in order to understand the typical plans in every opening you play. The first step for you to improve should be to get a playable position against every opponent and even win some games just because of your opening knowledge. When you know the names of your opponents before the round starts you should also research them in your database and check what they play against your openings. This will give you new stuff to prepare. The opening repertoire is the most important thing for you at the moment, but you should also do tactics every day and analyse your and strong players games. I woudnt play any more blitz or bullet games until you finish the work on your opening repertoire. Afterwards you can play a lot of 5 min games in order to see where you still lack some opening knowledge. 

Ah, and from my own experience I can say you improve just by playing a lot of tournaments if(!) you also practise things I mentioned above. 

Good luck!

Thanks for your opinions, SpiritoftheVictory and Till!

Learning an opening is hard and I realize there are many holes in my repertoire. I was thinking, playing games in tournaments is one of the best way to learn theory especially if you are in an unfamiliar territory because you get to think for yourself and play moves that makes the most sense to you. 

and Till, I agree, that going through grandmaster games and "knowing" them helps out alot in the long run, and has gotten me wins because i "knew" the key ideas for the particular positions. 

My 2 weakness right now would be converting a winning position (not a won game), and thinking of plans in the middlegame. I think the latter is curable by playing many long games but i wonder what to do to convert my advantages in the game... 

I think Till's opening statement is quite right, by the way. Perhaps I put too much emphasis towards avoiding risk-taking. Chess can hurt one's ego and you need to take the risks when you're sure you can psychologically handle losing & pain. And, like Till said, you might wanna do a lot of preparation. Openings is just one area. I would actually recommend purchasing the Diamond Membership and dong chess mentor lessons & watching videos. I am sure you will benefit a lot from those. When you've learned more about every areas of the game, you can test yourself in tournaments. And, like Till said, play as many as you can. You're still gonna suffer some losses though. But, at least you'll be well-prepared both in terms of knowledge & psychologically. As the Russian saying goes "Hard on the learning field, easy on the battlefield."

Best of luck.

Too much attention paid towards the opening phase, IMO. If you have a decent positional understanding and a degree of technique there's no problem at all winning from equal, or even slightly inferior positions.

Simple recipe: Play a lot, analyse carefully AND systematically, try avoiding the mistakes you've made in the past. Inaccuracies in the opening are of little importance.

ummm the same as it would be for any other sport? just a guess I'll hazard that it would be the same as it is for any other sport. obviously not. althletes will sometimes not play if there are extenuating circumstances present preventing them from being able to perform. injuries? fairly certain that is rather common in all sports no? 

is this some type of weird way of asking if it's worth it to play the lottery?

some people think it is stupid and a tax the poor impose upon themselves reasoning that the odds are impossible with some people going even further claiming that it is highly manipulated and controlled (rigged) and not what it purports to be at all.

hello? same for any other sport?

asking if it's worth it to play the lottery? I don't really understand

It will be very strange for me and foolish to think that, if i play lower rated players i will learn nothing. You guys think you can beat easy every single player who is 100-250 points lower than you? Simular rated player does not mean he knows what you know and lower rated opponent does not mean you are better in every single detail of the game. If i am rated 1700-1750 and if i can choose to enter U1800 or U2000, i will choose u1800, becouse playing players at your level and win not only will stable your game and learn from it, but will boost your confidience more that winning a lucky game agains 1900+ and losing 4 by mistakes you will never make, if faced lower rated. Ofcourse that's not that much true at 2500 level for example. But 1200-1800 players still make a lot of blunders and they can't convert winning position every time when they have one. 

And the other post one mentions one player who thinks he will learn more by playing 400 rated people above him. Wow, he probably will be GM if he plays stockfish!!!

is this some type of weird way of asking if it's worth it to play the lottery?

well some people contend that it is a tax the poor impose upon themselves with some going even further to say that it is highly manipulated/controlled at the highest levels (i.e. rigged)

I would hazard that this would be the same for chess as it is with any other sport...sometimes athletes don't play because of injury?...not sure I really understand the confusion or what the op is getting at...

I just want to say thank you all for the encouragement, especially JamieDelarosa and her idea of positive thinking. I went on to play in a local tournament this weekend, where I scored 1 Win and 4 draws against  1700 average opponents which solidified my confidence and I feel like I am more ready for Pan-Ams in December. 

I can post the games with analysis if anyone is interested. 

P.S. I also got to meet frequent forum poster CP6033 in person!

Change your attitude, do your best. If you play in a tournament(otb) with players of different levels higher than yours you may not win any games until your 2nd or 3rd tournament. However the experience will help you to improve your game.

I can post the games with analysis if anyone is interested.

Oraoradeki, I am interested in your victory. I would like to see your games and analysis.

Diakonia is absolutely correct. The points routine can be a hangnail if you hold onto these points like they've begun to define your very personhood. I'm currently at 700 ELO but beat a guy with a 1345 ELO two three days ago. Big damn deal. Glad I've dipped down because I'm not playing pussyfoot anymore. "I'm not careless but I do care less." When I was preoccupied with the damned points they soon became nothing more than a distraction. You're playing timidly, fearfully and psychologically you've fallen into the cognitive trap believing what you feel while perhaps wholly unaware that feelings aren't factual. Piss poor thermostat to gauge your skill level. Get over yourself. I'm TBI survivor and played 7 years before I won my first game. I kept playing because slow going is better than no going." A battle buddy I had in the Army used to say if a guy was afraid to move he was already tagged and bagged. He was right cause I saw it regularly with guys ate up with timidity. It's betwix the ears. Worst that could happen is you get your ass thoroughly stomped in tournament and piss away entry fee. But if you learn from losing was it really a loss? Hell no. We don't fail we get feedback. Flip it dude. Your self talk is tripping you out so relax cause it's a game. Do your best and then leave the sucker alone. Get out of that nugget brother. If you believe in luck you're flat out of it. Humiliation is its own convincing. Lose as much as humanly possible and then feel your pulse. Still breathing ain't ya, Power Play? FIDO = Forget It Drive On! ☝🏼🙏🏽

Played 7 years before you win your first game ? Wow thats willpower! I remember times i quit chess for months because i lost 5 games in a row

For those curious, here is my report on the Pan-Ams

http://www.chess.com/blog/Oraoradeki/a-1796s-adventure-in-the-pan-american-intercollegiate-chess-championships

If you believe in luck, you are a moron

You do know sandbagging is against the rules, and could lead to serious consequences right?

Surprisingly, the best remedy to a slump is to stay away from the game. After a horrible Christmas season (where I, a 1700 getting outplayed by 1400s and 1500s), I stopped tournaments for 3 months and made a comeback winning a U1900 section of a tournament outright. I also realized it is important to only play the game while you enjoy it – there is no point blindly playing/ playing due to obligation.

 

I know sandbagging is more common in the States, and I assume it is due to bigger prize money. To be honest, I think it is best to let the sandbagger be, since they have to go through the effort to lower their rating (which is not an easy thing in my opinion). World Open, which finished recently has some strict anti-sandbagging measures with people who had a past rating of +30 of rating floor within 1 year will get significantly lower prize money.

As for Canada, it is different. Many people choose to pay extra entry fee to play up sections. I see this as another attempt to manipulate one’s own rating, but organizers encourage it so that they can profit from it. I think people should have more fun with the game than worrying about rating points.

I would like to say sorry to all players who are having fun in playing tournament. First of all, games are engaging and are created for us to have fun. And tournament is the best place to find it. But in my opinion, if you want to learn chess at a greater pace, you have to play matched games so that you can analyze your game later and have a pacing you need to review lines and variations to prepare for your next match.

Are you kidding me or something?

Of course it is worth it!

Losing is a gift if you know ho to use it.

You can analyze the games(Even If you lost them) ad learn a lot and kick their faces in the other game!