First OTB Tournament

I'm relatively new to Chessatwork, but am already quite addicted. I'm planning on attending my first OTB tournament in a couple of months. Any general advice as to what equipment to bring etc. so that I don't come across as too much of a pathetic newbie and country mouse? Also, any general procedural/etiquette advice would be gratefully received. Thanks.

Originally posted by Dhango
I'm relatively new to Chessatwork, but am already quite addicted. I'm planning on attending my first OTB tournament in a couple of months. Any general advice as to what equipment to bring etc. so that I don't come across as too much of a pathetic newbie and country mouse? Also, any general procedural/etiquette advice would be gratefully received. Thanks.

Originally posted by wib
Buy (or bring) a decent chess set (nuttin fancy) with a roll-up board. Also a clock. Again, it doesn't have to be high-end stuff. The touney may provide chess sets, boards and clocks, but sometimes they don't. Just depends on where you play and how much money the sponsors had. 🙂

If it turns out you don't need all of that, no biggie, just put'em back ...[text shortened]... s your personal preference what you may want to bring to drink or snack on.

Good luck!

Few more things:
- u cannot talk to your opponent except offering the draw ( any other remarks are made by means of judge )
- u can offer the draw IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU moved. This is because offering the draw when the opponent is in the middle of thinking on his move can break his mindflow.
- u cannot offer the draw more than three times during the game: in lower levels there are players who in worse positions begin to disturb their opponents by offering the draw after each their move.

Originally posted by Vovochka
- u cannot offer the draw more than three times during the game: in lower levels there are players who in worse positions begin to disturb their opponents by offering the draw after each their move.

Originally posted by Dhango
I'm relatively new to Chessatwork, but am already quite addicted. I'm planning on attending my first OTB tournament in a couple of months. Any general advice as to what equipment to bring etc. so that I don't come across as too much of ...[text shortened]... procedural/etiquette advice would be gratefully received. Thanks.

Thanks for all the advice. The tournament is in another state, so it's not possible for me to attend the actual club beforehand. I am going to go observe another tournament this weekend, however. One of the member has agreed to show me around and I suppose I'll get a chance to ask any questions not yet answered.

You will find some interesting characters while playing. Don't let their eccentricities disturb your play. I played an elderly man who insisted on calling me "Doctor Zhivago" before, during, and after the game. I played a man who wore surgical gloves to avoid touching the pieces with his bare hands. I played a man with no arms, who moved the pieces with a bent coat hanger he clenched between his teeth, who beat me so badly I wanted to wrap the coat hanger around his neck. I played a little girl in pigtails who kept running back to her father for advice. Luckily, he was a worse player than she was. I played a man who entered all sections of the tournament and strode from room to room as if playing a simultaneous. he lost all his games quite cheerfully. I played a poor-sighted man who kept dropping his pieces on the LINES between the squares, so that i was constantly confused about where everything was. And, lastly, I played a man who insisted on using his medieval chess set with elephants for rooks and little men with spears for pawns. After twenty or so moves he announced checkmate. I said, "Where do you see checkmate?" "There!" he said, plopping down his elephant next to my queen. We spent the next fifteen minutes arguing about which one was the king and which the queen. His contention was the one with the crown was the king and the queen had a cross on it because in the middle ages the queen always went to church. "It's just common sense," he said. "Look it up, moron!"

Great stories. Medeival Man is my favorite. I used to be a competitive bridge player, and my most memorable opponent was a blind player who did everything by feel using custom made braille cards. Of course, because of the duplicate deal structure of bridge tournaments, he always had to bring enough decks to supply the entire tournament simultaneously, about 30 or so. He was definitely the stronger player of his partnership, and they always whooped us.

Dr. S

If you are going to a tournament make sure you have something to eat/drink with you in case you can't buy it there.
(just remember to eat it Between the games otherwise you will be considered rude)

Originally posted by buddy2
You will find some interesting characters while playing. Don't let their eccentricities disturb your play. I played an elderly man who insisted on calling me "Doctor Zhivago" before, during, and after the game. I played a man who wore surgical gloves to avoid touching the pieces with his bare hands. I played a man with no arms, who moved the pieces wit ...[text shortened]... the queen always went to church. "It's just common sense," he said. "Look it up, moron!"

Originally posted by arrakis
I once had a player in a bar. As White he played 1.e5 and after c5 2.Qh5 e6 3.Qxc5 BxQ?? he immediately announced that I had cheated! I told him there was no way to cheat and that he played badly. He told the crowd around us that I had cheated because I did not announce "On Guard!" He claimed the rules state you have to announce "On Guard" when the qu ...[text shortened]... s attacked. Sad thing is most of the people in the bar didn't know if it was true or not. 🙁

I have one that beats all of these. I was playing in a tourney at a small club about a half hour away from my house. And I started playing and used the Pirc against some guy or something and he said, "Ah, a hypermodernist eh?" And at the time I had no idea what the hell that meant. So we go on and I start to get the advantage and soon I win a pawn. Keep in mind that this kid is just throwing everything he has at my king like some kind of freak. So finally he breaks down and really nonchalantly says, looking right at me, "You know I hate you right!?" Stunned, I said, "How come?", and replies with "You are 15 and I am 16 so I should be beating you!". I just shrugged it off and pulled my hat down further and just started to analyze again. All of a sudden he pipes in in this crazy voice, "TICK TOCK TICK TOCK. Your clock is running down and you are going to lose on time!". I had had enough and called over the TD. He questioned the kid, who had the genius reply, "You can't prove anything!". So the TD just stood there for a while and the kid stopped doing everything that he was doing before, and by then a group had started to mass by our game. So finally the TD walks away, and by this time I am crushing the kid. He drops a piece and I take it. The moment that realizes it he stands up, his chair goes flying backwards, and he grabs his king. He starts screaming, "I AM GONNA THROW THIS AT YOU!" I just sat there and told him that if it will calm him down or make him feel better, that he should indeed throw it at me. After my remark, he calmly put the king down and grabbed his water bottle and dumped it on me. The TD, who came back after his screaming bonanza, immediately threw him out. I thought it was over, but this kid's mom runs in! I am thinking, oh crap, this is getting worse. She comes over to me and whispers in my ear that her kid didn't take his medication today. That kid got banned from the club for a while, and when he did show up again, he politely apologized, but I am still never playing him again. Hahaha....good times!

Originally posted by wib
Buy (or bring) a decent chess set (nuttin fancy) with a roll-up board. Also a clock. Again, it doesn't have to be high-end stuff. The touney may provide chess sets, boards and clocks, but sometimes they don't. Just depends on where you play and how much money the sponsors had. 🙂

If it turns out you don't need all of that, no biggie, just put'em back ...[text shortened]... s your personal preference what you may want to bring to drink or snack on.

Good luck!

Yea, sometimes thepeople you run into are just plain scarey, and chess and the tension it brings is not the best environment for that type of person. I used to work in a summer camp for violent and disturbed teenagers. There were plenty of cards and checkers, but chess was nowhere in sight.