it there any way we can prepare for a chess tournament.
Mine for exemple is a 5 round tournament. 75 min for 40 move + 60 min for the mate.
I am sure there is a lot of player that can't find an adequate way to prepare there mind, and enter the tournament, nervous..... much too agited to do anything..
To take the pressure off your mind go in expecting nothing.
When you get to round 5 with 4 wins let me know and I'll tell you how to play the final round no pressure.
OK - perhaps I was reading 'worried butterflies' in your posts.
Wednesday + Thurday, if you can, get a book out and play over
some light games containing the openings you hope to employ.
Must be complete games.
Do it on a board to get the 3d vision up and running.
This was my weekend routine.
Get Friday night bye usually ½pt. - save yourself for two games a day.
You will get a slice of the pie on 4½ in a 5 rounder.
Playing on a Friday night has 3 outcomes.
You win - great, you will have tough opponents all weekend if you keep that up.
You draw - Great, you could have got that ½ point for nothing with no effort.
You Lose - Great. You could have saved all that effort and got ½.
So don't play on the Friday night, get ½ point bye and usually avoid
the winners (the tough ones) till Sunday.
Friday:
A good night's sleep No looking at lines till 3-4 am
the time for that has passed.
Saturday:
Get to the tournament earlier,
Look at your opponents grade.
If you are higher don't get over confident.
If you are lower make him prove it
It's good to know a grade. Your opponent will know yours
and quite often play accordingly.
Do not play something odd to get your stronger opponent
out of the book. Play your normal game.
Find your seat and get use to the set, board, lightning.
5 minutes before the 'off' find a quiet place and get yourself into the zone.
At the board DO NOT make your opening move until you are ready.
This can take 3-4 minutes but don't play until you are ready.
Get into 'game of my life' mode.
7 minutes before playing a move is the most time I have taken.
This also can and often does knock your opponent out of his zone.
Once the clocks have started it's war and any 'legal' trick in the book is valid.
If your opponent is late - ignore it.
When they turn up - you must put yourself back in the zone
and under no circumstances play v his clock.
Sunday - same as Saturday.
Last round in with a chance of the prizes.
Don't bother trying to work out all the permitations.
If you play to win then everthing will work in your favour.
Originally posted by greenpawn34 Get Friday night bye usually ½pt. - save yourself for two games a day.
You will get a slice of the pie on 4½ in a 5 rounder.
Play Chess and Good Luck
A lot of good advice. For this one, I do things differently.
In my case, Saturday was a three game day, but you could take a bye in the 3rd round on Saturday.
Simply put, I am there to play, so I never took a bye.
There were a minimum number of games in a year to get a rating (in the ECF), so every game counted. And by the third game of the day, both players are tired. But then I regularly play after work on a weekday, so I am capable of playing tired.
Originally posted by greenpawn34 The three games a day on a Saturday is murder.
I played in one years and years ago. My brain turned to water.
Taking the 1st round ½ pt bye is a sound strategy.
Wimp! - when I was growing up, all the local tournaments were "tornados" - 4 rounds, all on Saturday at about 40/75 or 40/90. You'd start at 7:00 AM or something and finish past midnight.
As far as preparation, I agree with most of what Greenpawn said above. Getting a good night's sleep on Friday is really important. I used to lay off chess for a day or two before a tournament (no blitz anyway and only light study). I found if I studied too much right before the tournament, I didn't remember it well, and if I palyed too much, sometimes I was burned out by the time the tournament happened.
My games are masterpieces created on a blank checkered canvas .
You would not shove a piece paper under Shakespear's and ask
him to write 3/4 plays a day.
We are talking games of class v good chess players.
Not a crowd of country hicks playing blitz in some American back water. 😉
Every player has his pre tournament routine and when you find one
that works you stick to it.
The good nights sleep came from a GM (I won't name drop) in 1979/80
he was in Edinburgh and I had his compnay for a day.
I making myself a right pain by asking him this and that - mostly about openings.
Well you have to.
If you have a good player in your company, pick his brain, you will
get something.
He would shrug amd mutter, shrug and mutter. The way good players do
when being plagued by a player they don't rate.
"What's the best way to prepare for a tournament?" I asked.
"A good night's sleep." he shouted.
...and with that he pulled the blankets over his head and ignored me for the
rest of the night. It was 3 am.
Originally posted by greenpawn34 OK - perhaps I was reading 'worried butterflies' in your posts.
Wednesday + Thurday, if you can, get a book out and play over
some light games containing the openings you hope to employ.
Must be complete games.
Do it on a board to get the 3d vision up and running.
This was my weekend routine.
Get Friday night bye usually ½pt. - save yoursel ...[text shortened]... play to win then everthing will work in your favour.
Play Chess and Good Luck
Personally, I like playing a Friday night game; you're usually done by 10 PM anyway and most Saturday rounds don't start until noon so I don't see why you can't get a good sleep. Playing Friday let's you dip your toe in the water.
In many tourneys in the States, if you lose on Friday you can re-enter the tourney and start fresh on Saturday by paying a fee (which is generally a fraction of the original entry fee). Personally I wouldn't do it as it seems a bit unsporting but the option is there.
Lose your first game and re-enter. Wow I must get them to do that here.
If you win your first game you will get a winner on Saturday morning.
Here 10.00 am start. If you win that you get a 2 out of 2 on Saturday afternoon.
Then you are facing a 3 out 3 winner Sunday morning (10.am start).
Always getting a tough opponent.
Taking the ½ pt. bye can see you glide through the Saturday and then
only worry about get some 2½ guy on Sunday morning so you are saving
up your energy for the important must win last round.
The really strong and expectant winners play on the Friday night
and have 3/3 on Sunday morning - you want to avoid these guys.
Some say they want to play these good players so you learn something.
I say you only learn how crap you are and you should try your upmost
to avoid them. (OK a wee joke there).
Also usually I was working on Friday this made that nights game uncomfortable,
I'd lose and have a sleepless night.
Chess tournament
12 Jan '10 18:50
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