Hello, I am planning to go to the National Scholastic in May 2024 (K-8th), This will be my first important otb tournament; I have a current uscf rating of 1079, a lichess tactics rating of ~2050, for white I play the reti and transpose into the catalan, for black I play the caro-kann and the slav defense. Any ideas of what to study or any opening changes?
Any help/advice is much appreciated!
Thanks,
slownarrowattack
if you go to analysis, and check the opening book. you can see what moves you played in different positions. You might want to check out what variations you do well in and what variations often lead to you losing. That way you can work at your weak points by studying these openings.
Also don't forget to study endgames. We are often tempted to work mostly on openings, but especially at lower levels, opponents will often do something slightly wrong which will take you away from opening theory without giving you a win right away. Your openings should be good enough for your level, no more.
Thank you for the advice!
Every week, well 8 out of 10 save time to train your variation of Queen's Gambit Accepted. Minimum 6 training games and QGA puzzles. Each side.
You can defend with it plus dominate with white. White can't avoid it like they can play exchange Slav to keep out of theory. You can force QGA every time with black. You can't necessarily get Chebanenko when you want or other variations.
This gives you 2 more openings so it is harder to prepare for you if anyone checked your previous games.
Lots of lower rated players take on c4 but don't prep that much on what to do afterwards lol.
Then also put extra time defeating the Panov and do Panov puzzles and learn Stafford Gambit/Petrov lines in spare time. Like a few training games every other week.
You have 6 months to gradually learn Stafford Gambit and what to do if declined. Watch Eric Rosen. Don't play any rated games or games that can be viewed by others so you can use it as secret weapon if you are struggling. Then it doesn't hurt to try it. Just do training games and with friends so you know it well. If other openings are working then keep it in your pocket for another tournament.
But... Become a QGA god.
This is excellent blog...
www.chessable.com/blog/queens-gambit-accepted/#:~:text=The%20principal%20battleground%20of%20the,refute%20the%20Queen%27s%20Gambit%20Accepted.
Thank you!
Given your opening choices, it sounds like you're probably a positional type. Along those lines, I would recommend 1 d4 as White without a fianchetto (since the Reti and especially the Catalan can get pretty hairy and hard to follow); and perhaps a straight QGD instead of the Slav (which again can bristle with complications).
At any rate, it's good to see that you are asking about this several months ahead of time, instead of a week or so before the tourney begins (as so many on here seem to do). I'm also glad that you're not speak of "training," which is rather pretentious (unless you're an international player).
And as far as practice goes...keep on solving Puzzles here (especially ones with a set task, such as mates in 2 or 3). And play games too. Only lay off the Blitz (which is not very likely to be teaching you much) and concentrate on Rapid and Classical. Also play em rated, not unrated...which should help you to take the whole business a bit more seriously. :)
Thanks!
Walk daily, climb some hills on weekends, eat healthy foods, drink adequate amount of water. Have fun and make friends in the tournament. Have a pleasant experience!
I think that you've played other OTB tournaments you're aware of the big things to think about. You're ahead of me in that I've only played in a few local club games OTB since the 90s and back then I only played in local clubs. Good Luck and have fun!
I don't know why you want to change openings before going in, other than to add something to your options. I don't know that it can be that important for you yet unless you're really unhappy with your openings with black. I'd suggest just reducing the moves that put you out of your comfort zone in the lines you do play. Know your strengths. If you tend to win in the ending, think about how to transition into endings. If you like middle games, think about how to keep it crowded. It's less about advantage/disadvantage (well, it is about that) but also about where you play well.
But I think more important are the real-life things as suggested by Professor74. Don't over think every loss and don't gloat over any win. Get up and walk around if it helps. If you try that and doesn't, don't worry about it. Breath well, oxygen is your friend.
It can't hurt to work on endings, but not just learning them but the having stock positions down cold so you can work on moving quickly when low on the clock. So with end games you know, as opposed to remember, work on the variations on them over and over so they become automatic and you can play the moves fast IF YOU"RE LOW ON TIME. Don't rush just because you can if you're not low on time obviously.
I drew a won ending I remembered well, but didn't "know", on a move where the guys I gave rides to the club were growing impatient with my game to finish. One guy plops down next to me and hollers over to the other guy "He's almost done here." I rushed and blew it. So, don't give anyone rides to the tournament might be a suggestion.
