If you know who you might be playing i'd suggest that you prepare for them. Also just stick to what you know and don't play any new openings.
My tips.
Play your strongest opening always.
Concentrate on your mental power, it's too late to improve now that the tournament is at hand, now you must make sure you play to your best ability.
Rules of mental power:
1. do not think- Thinking is a huge waste of energy in a chess game. Approach the game one move at a time, look at the position, make the best move you can see in the position. Opponent moves, now repeat. Do not try to think all the variations.
2. relax, you have lots of time, you do not need to see the road to victory, just play 1 move at a time, and concentrate on the move at hand. Worrying about the end result will distract you from the present move, which is where you need your energy.
3. do not be intimidated, who cares if your opponent is a national master, do your best to block the rating of your opponent out of your mind. Thinking that you are better or worse than the opponent before the game is dangerous and will affect your ability to play your best game. Just play 1 move at a time and do your best in every move.
4. be ready for the next game, if you won forget about it, if you lost forget about it. Now is the next game and you will do your best in this game! Make your goal to play every game to the best of your ability.
5. be humble and cortious, humility will help you see good moves, if your opponent has negative energy (feeling superior or competing with blood lust) it will hinder his/her ability to se good moves. With positive relaxed humble energy you will see the good moves and play to the best of your ability.
6. keep your cool, you will face opponents with different styles, trust your own style, trust your own moves and the way you approach the game. 1 move at the time, there is no hurry! Trust that when you do your best every move and keep doing that the road to victory will present itself.
7. don't be greedy. If the position is a draw, do not try to force a win, let your opponent do that.
8. play with you heart, remember that you love this game and let it show.
Have fun and don't be scared to win the tournament!
Play your strongest opening always.
Concentrate on your mental power, it's too late to improve now that the tournament is at hand, now you must make sure you play to your best ability.
Rules of mental power:
1. do not think- Thinking is a huge waste of energy in a chess game. Approach the game one move at a time, look at the position, make the best move you can see in the position. Opponent moves, now repeat. Do not try to think all the variations.
2. relax, you have lots of time, you do not need to see the road to victory, just play 1 move at a time, and concentrate on the move at hand. Worrying about the end result will distract you from the present move, which is where you need your energy.
3. do not be intimidated, who cares if your opponent is a national master, do your best to block the rating of your opponent out of your mind. Thinking that you are better or worse than the opponent before the game is dangerous and will affect your ability to play your best game. Just play 1 move at a time and do your best in every move.
4. be ready for the next game, if you won forget about it, if you lost forget about it. Now is the next game and you will do your best in this game! Make your goal to play every game to the best of your ability.
5. be humble and cortious, humility will help you see good moves, if your opponent has negative energy (feeling superior or competing with blood lust) it will hinder his/her ability to se good moves. With positive relaxed humble energy you will see the good moves and play to the best of your ability.
6. keep your cool, you will face opponents with different styles, trust your own style, trust your own moves and the way you approach the game. 1 move at the time, there is no hurry! Trust that when you do your best every move and keep doing that the road to victory will present itself.
7. don't be greedy. If the position is a draw, do not try to force a win, let your opponent do that.
8. play with you heart, remember that you love this game and let it show.
Have fun and don't be scared to win the tournament!
@bog601 #1
I believe that the (not just here) suggested opening preparations are possible boomerang ideas.
Because after opening preparation you would better first test the ideas in my opinion.
If you are going to put a lot of time in a "new" opening line that you never played before, just by reading but not testing it, it might backfire.
I like to test new opening lines and ideas in blitz first, preferably against lots of different opponents, before using it in a "serious" game.
For your tourney I would suggest that you eat well and get some piece of mind before and during the tourney, because too much chess on your mind can be a drawback during such a tourney with long time controls.
I would also recommend to work on endgames as tourney preparation. The most useful is rook endings.
If I look at my thousands of blitz games I see quite some opponents lacking in rook endings (I actually lack in some rook endings as well, but in general I am quite good at them).
Rook endings are the most occuring endgames in chess.
Work on them, and you will eat the fruits of your hard work later.
Good luck, have fun !
I believe that the (not just here) suggested opening preparations are possible boomerang ideas.
Because after opening preparation you would better first test the ideas in my opinion.
If you are going to put a lot of time in a "new" opening line that you never played before, just by reading but not testing it, it might backfire.
I like to test new opening lines and ideas in blitz first, preferably against lots of different opponents, before using it in a "serious" game.
For your tourney I would suggest that you eat well and get some piece of mind before and during the tourney, because too much chess on your mind can be a drawback during such a tourney with long time controls.
I would also recommend to work on endgames as tourney preparation. The most useful is rook endings.
If I look at my thousands of blitz games I see quite some opponents lacking in rook endings (I actually lack in some rook endings as well, but in general I am quite good at them).
Rook endings are the most occuring endgames in chess.
Work on them, and you will eat the fruits of your hard work later.
Good luck, have fun !
You might wish to see if you can find a website that has what is called a chess tree. What it does is it shows you that given the position that you are seeing, you can see which moves were played, which one was played more often, and what kind of success rate came as a result of playing that move.
You can use that also to try to determine why a specific move was played as opposed to another move and try to figure out what that player was trying to achieve with the selection of moves that they made.
Since this is your first tournament, you are going to be nervous at the start. Make sure to arrive early to get a sense of where the tables are and where they post the matches.
Remember to get up and stretch your legs so that you don't start to cramp from nervous tension.
Make sure to take your time and not rush though the game. Better to lose on time and play well then to lose a game because you went too fast and not taking time to analyze the position.
I hope that you have an enjoyable tournament and let us know how it turns out.
You can use that also to try to determine why a specific move was played as opposed to another move and try to figure out what that player was trying to achieve with the selection of moves that they made.
Since this is your first tournament, you are going to be nervous at the start. Make sure to arrive early to get a sense of where the tables are and where they post the matches.
Remember to get up and stretch your legs so that you don't start to cramp from nervous tension.
Make sure to take your time and not rush though the game. Better to lose on time and play well then to lose a game because you went too fast and not taking time to analyze the position.
I hope that you have an enjoyable tournament and let us know how it turns out.
Thanks for all the tips! :) Much appreciated...!
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