Tournament (After 10 year haitus...)

Good morning everyone,

*This is my first post on this forum, so if I placed this in the wrong section, please let me know.

I used to play regularly back in high school and stopped once I started college. I found my passion again and finally started training/studying again in the past few months and noticed there was a tournament coming up not too far away from where I live.

It’s the 7^th Annual Reno Larry Evans Memorial (https://sites.google.com/site/renochessclub/lem/tournament#EntryInstructions)

I personally feel my chess has improved (definitely personal opinion), but I haven’t had the opportunity to play OTB in a while, so the majority of my games have been online. I’ve been playing elsewhere, but transitioning over to Chess.com.

My USCF rating back in early 2008 was the following (this was based on 46 games):

• Regular: 1,376
• Quick: 1,352
• Blitz: Unrated

My rating from another site from the past few days have been:

• Classical: 1,748
• Rapid: 1,722
• Blitz: Unrated

I completely understand that online ratings are definitely inflated, so I’m assuming my rating is much lower than the 1,700s. I was considering entering into the tournament and it looks like I would fall under the “D” Section. And this leads to my questions:

• I regularly play 30+0 games and am definitely more comfortable with longer times compared to shorter blitz games. This tournament is 40 moves/2 hours, SD/1 hour, 5 second delay. From your experience is this a drastic change?
• If I apply for the tournament now, would I be in the “D” Section even if I haven’t played in a tournament in over a decade?
• If I apply under the “D” Section now, join a chess club and in the 2 months prior to the competition get a rating over 1,400 would I automatically be placed in the “C” Section?
• I’m assuming I need to be a USCF member before I apply, correct? If so, how long is the process?
• Do you think if I prepare for the tournament for the next two months (reviewing end-game/middle-game, tactics, and at least one game per day), I will do well? $150 entry fee is on the larger end for me, so want to be sure I justify it for the wife.

I know this was quite a lengthy first post, but its has been a while and want to understand the topic before committing. I appreciate any feedback or suggestions. Thank you!

Qazwsx10

Hey, welcome to Chess.com!

The USCF actually have an official club here on Chess.com - you'll need to supply your USCF ID, but they run official events here, so I think it would be a great discussion forum for you as you get back into it: https://www.chess.com/club/uschess

Thanks for being a Chess.com member,

David, moderator

I was informed that you don't lose your USCF rating.  Therefore, you would play in the under 1400 section. 1376 is your rating.  

It's a separate code base, so I guess they haven't believed that there's enough demand for those on the Android yet to justify the development cost. If you make known your desire for it in the Site Feedback & Suggestions forum, that will probably help bump it up the priority list.

I've got an iPhone, and I don't believe it supports that other variants either; I'm not even sure it supports Live Chess tournaments, I've never tried to play one on there, because I usually only play there when I have a few minutes to spare, and tournaments require a much bigger block of time.

I'm going to focus on the below question as others better placed to answer what section to enter and what you'd be eligible for:

'Do you think if I prepare for the tournament for the next two months (reviewing end-game/middle-game, tactics, and at least one game per day), I will do well? $150 entry fee is on the larger end for me, so want to be sure I justify it for the wife. '

Firstly, carefully manage your own (and your wife's) expectations. Working hard for 2 months is no guarantee of a good or bad tournament in a 6-round Swiss.

Work out what 'do well' means for you and I would strongly recommend separating that from the match result. Six games is too small a sample to let results tell the story of your weekend. We all play to win games but mentally decide what type of losses you're OK with too. Typically, I'm fine losing a game at a weekend tournament if I think my opponent has outplayed me and I haven't lost to any obvious tactics. I get really frustrated if I make a glaring unforced error. So for me, a success criteria is don't drop any pawns to tactics in the first ten moves and don't hang any pieces.

Two months is a dangerous amount of time because it's not enough to significantly increase your strength and it's short enough it could quickly go by and you've done no prep. If you're a regular player (online) but rusty OTB, then I think you're going to get the most bang for your buck in terms of practice time by focusing on

- Match practice (online or otherwise) at the time control for the tournament.

- Working on your tournament thought process and move selection

- Sharpening your tactics

I regularly play 30+0 games and am definitely more comfortable with longer times compared to shorter blitz games. This tournament is 40 moves/2 hours, SD/1 hour, 5 second delay. From your experience is this a drastic change?

If I understand this correctly, this is you've got 2 hours to use your first 40 moves and then an additional hour at that point with a 5 second increment. That's a long time control, and completely different to 30+0. You're transitioning from a thinking time per move of less than 1 minute to 3 minutes per move even if you only go to 40 moves. THEN, you both get another hour. Especially if you're out of practice at OTB tournaments it's going to be really easy for you to not make the most of this. If you spend 1 minute per move and your opponent is spending 3 that is going to be around a 100-150 grading point difference in my opinion. You'll need to re-adapt and slow right down, even in the opening moves. Linking this back to the success criteria for yourself, one I would recommend is no blunders with more than an hour on your clock. There's no excuse for blundering with that amount of time remaining. Being ultra-cautious about your moves when you have a long time left will carry you safely into what is hopefully a playable middlegame.

Thank you for all of the feedback everyone! It's only a few days left until the tournament begins (this Friday). I've spend the last two months with playing daily games, tactics using chesstempo, and book preparation (I went through Silman's Complete Endgame Course and half way through Silman's Amateur's Mind).

I feel way better than how I used to play about 10 years ago! I definitely feel more in control of my games have a more set plan as I play now. I played a few games OTB at a local chess club, but for the rest I've started a game online and just been playing over a physical board to get used to the difference.

Thank you for all of the feedback everyone. Do you have any last minute suggestions for the last few days before the tournament? I don't plan on learning anything new, just reviewing the two books (Endgame and Amateur's Mind) and doing a basic overview of openings I usually like to play.

Thanks again!

Qazwsx10

I am a USCF life member since around 1969 (I am 71 years old). I love chess and play on chess.com almost every day. I have not played in a tournament in about 50 years and my last USCF rating was  1686. If you have not joined the USCF (United Stated Chess Federation) yet I would recommend  that you call them and join before the tournament 888-512-4377. Many tournaments allow you to join upon entry but this will give you one less thing to worry about.       The USCF is a great organization and they produce an excellent magazine every month (Chess Life) I would  recommend the premium membership otherwise you only receive the magazine on-line. Good luck in the tournament , we all like to win but most important is to enjoy  the experience. I have learned to enjoy the journey. Good Luck  Ed Voehl

No final tips from me other than ensure you eat and sleep well before the tournament so you're coming into it with as much energy as you can.

Good luck at the weekend and let us know how you get on.

Thank you for the advice, Ed! It was actually a requirement to be a USCF member for this tournament, so I actually had to sign up. Granted I haven't been a member for almost 10 years now. I had originally signed up with the electronic magazine, but do you think there's a benefit for the physical copy?

Thank you! I'm trying to stick to my normal schedule up until then. One think I am a little worried about is stamina. Since each game can potentially be up to 6 hours, do you know what kind of foods are generally acceptable to eat during a game? As in, can I eat a protein bar at the table, or should move to a different area? I'm assuming any non-alcoholic beverage is allowed (e.g., coffee, water, etc.).

Yeah, drinks are absolutely fine. Usually I'll take a couple of bottles of sparkling water with me. I love coffee, but prefer to avoid it for Chess because I don't want an energy lull 1-2 hours later as the caffeine wears off. In terms of food, again there should (in my experience) be no real rules prohibiting most snacks, but I'd recommend something you can easily and quietly eat (no rustling!). Protein bars should be no issues at all.

Hi everyone,

I'm going to be posting my games once have sometime to upload them, but just wanted to let everyone know that it was a very fun tournament! Out of 6 games, I ended up with 3.5. Definitely disappointed with one of my games, but overall, a very enjoyable experience!

Qazwsx10