i need help i am new to chess only 7 months though i am 31 years old interested in otb tournaments but dont know if i can be competative i have achieved a 1400 standard rating on free chess server but know little about tournament chess would like any advice i can get wether to play tournament now or wait? mikefeasel1977@yahoo.com
Not that I can say much about ratings…my own rating is dismal…but I can say that if you approach the game wondering only about the rating you will become disappointed. It is far better to simply have a love for the game, and whether you can play competitively at some particular rating or not doesn’t really matter. Just play the game…love the game…have fun!!
My opinion, for what its worth…
- Don
Others may disagree, but online ratings are IMHO often higher than OTB ratings, especially if you’re playing mostly 5 minute games.
However, you should be able to find a number of events in Ohio at which there will be players against whom you should be competitive.
See main.uschess.org/index.php?optio … Itemid=199
There are also a number of chess clubs in Ohio that may be holding events not listed in Chess Life.
Keep in mind that most over the board chess tournaments are NOT single elimination. You get to play every round and usually you will be paired with someone who has the same score in the tournament as yourself.
Am I the only one around here who can actually relate to the original poster? I also started playing as an adult, and I remember being worried that I just wasn’t good enough yet to start playing in USCF tournaments. I understood that they aren’t elimination tournaments, so I’d get to play every game, but I worried that if I lost every game in my first tournament, I’d get so discouraged that I might not want to come back. So I stuck to playing on the internet, where I could always find opponents around my own level, and after 3 years, I finally joined USCF and played in my first tournament. IIRC, at that first tourney, I beat a guy rated 1400 and lost my other 3 games. I stayed near the bottom of the pack among adult players for probably another year after that.
If there are tournaments in your area that are divided into sections, this isn’t as big a concern, since you can play in the bottom section as an adult beginner and face at least some opponents at your level. The problem is that many areas only have open Swiss style tournaments, where the beginner will face opponents rated 1500+ USCF and might never get a chance to play the guys at his own level. I remember one of my first tourneys, when I was in the 1200’s, I played a Swiss tourney where my lowest rated opponent was around 1650. Needless to say, not only did I lose every game, but I got discouraged by the fact that none of them were even close. There were other players there rated 1200-1400 who I could have been competitive against, but I never got the chance to play them because of the way the Swiss system works (I got a point from an early bye, which screwed me over for pairing the rest of the tournament).
So to answer the original question, if your rating on FICS is 1400 standard based on playing seriously in slow games, then that’s probably about 1000-1200 equivalent USCF rating. At most USCF adult tournaments, that means you’ll get clobbered. But as I said, if there are clubs in your area that divide things by section, then it’s not as big an issue, since you can play in the beginner section. You might want to wait until you improve to 1600ish FICS standard before trying to play in an open Swiss, though.
The difference between on-line and OTB ratings isn’t clear-cut. I’m actually rated LOWER on-line (FICS and ICC) than USCF OTB. Especially my blitz rating.
A new USCF OTB player will have his best results playing at a time control he’s comfortable with. If he’s been playing “standard” on-line time controls (which are in a big range), he might be best at G/30 through G/60 time controls (which are way too fast for my comfort – that’s why my on-line ratings are lower).
If he’s used to playing with a large increment (10 seconds or more) it might be a bit of an adjustment to play at the “standard” 5 second delay – it might be a good idea to practice a little with the shorter (or no) increments in his on-line play.
And, IMHO, there’s nothing wrong with playing USCF OTB chess with a rating in the 1000 - 1200 range. That’s where I started, after all. Most of my competition was in the same ratings range (and they were all adult players).
The difference between on-line and OTB ratings isn’t clear-cut. I’m actually rated LOWER on-line (FICS and ICC) than USCF OTB. Especially my blitz rating.
A new USCF OTB player will have his best results playing at a time control he’s comfortable with. If he’s been playing “standard” on-line time controls (which are in a big range), he might be best at G/30 through G/60 time controls (which are way too fast for my comfort – that’s why my on-line ratings are lower).
If he’s used to playing with a large increment (10 seconds or more) it might be a bit of an adjustment to play at the “standard” 5 second delay – it might be a good idea to practice a little with the shorter (or no) increments in his on-line play.
And, IMHO, there’s nothing wrong with playing USCF OTB chess with a rating in the 1000 - 1200 range. That’s where I started, after all. Most of my competition was in the same ratings range (and they were all adult players).
If you can find tournaments where you’ll play others rated in that range, then that’s great. Around here, there are clubs now that have weekly play divided into sections by rating, so that’s not a problem. But when I first started, those clubs didn’t exist. So the only tournaments in the area were open Swiss style, where my lowest rated opponents were 1400+. I’m glad I waited 3 years to join USCF and start playing in tournaments. If I’d tried playing that level of competition a year or two earlier, I’m sure I would have lost every single game in my first 3 or 4 tournaments and probably gotten frustrated enough to quit chess altogether.
As for the differential between online and USCF ratings, I find that new players who take their online ratings in slow games seriously and then join USCF tend to end up with starting USCF ratings 250-500 points lower. Once you’ve got established ratings in both, there’s less of a correlation, because you usually don’t play with the same level of seriousness in both. I’ve gone from 1250 to 1600 USCF, and my FICS rating in slow games has actually stayed just about the same as it was when I first joined USCF! I know I’m a MUCH stronger player than I was, but I just don’t play my best online, between distractions at home, not caring quite as much about the results, faster time controls, etc.
I am also one whose OTB rating is higher than online, at least on FICS. When I used to have an ICC account some years ago, my online rating then was higher than my OTB rating but, in the years since, I have probably improved and also become more comfortable with longer time controls and that has been reflected in my OTB rating now being higher than my online rating.
It’s funny but the first “proper” tournament I ever went to was at a local club in England when I was 16 or 17. For me, it was quite the opposite… I thought I would go to the club and do really well. I was soon brought down to earth! I think it was 2 months before I even got my first draw and that was a game I should have won (I was so desperate by that point, I accepted my opponent’s draw offer despite his position being totally lost!). That was a round robin tournament, so I was playing people with both higher and lower ratings and I can sympathise with being regularly paired against opponents you feel you don’t even have a fighting chance against.
My suggestion would be to not look at your opponent’s rating when checking the pairings. If that’s not possible because their rating is right next to their name, at least try to block it out of your mind. Your opponent’s rating shouldn’t matter. Always play the board, not the opponent. That’s a lesson I thought I had learned a long time ago but I lost a recent game where I know I was playing my opponent and not the position on the board. I had never lost to him and had always outwitted him tactically in our games so I went in for a dubious line and ended up with a worse game. After I had lost the game, I spent some time reflecting on what had gone wrong and I realized that, before any key/important move (and perhaps before ANY move), I need to ask myself: “Would I play this move against a Master?” If the answer is No, then surely the move is suspect and I am guilty of thinking too much about my opponent and not playing the move that is objectively best on the board.
Just some suggestions, for what they are worth!
I also started playing chess when I was 31, way too many years ago now. Of course back then there wasn’t any internet let alone places like FICS.
A little over a year ago I had 2 adults come to my newly formed chess club wanting to learn how to play chess competitively. In January, they both started playing tournament, USCF rated chess. They both love it and are hooked as the rest of us.
I have a few suggestions:
- Don’t worry about the ratings, but do worry about the ratings. What I mean is that you shouldn’t worry about your online ratings to compare to your Over the Board (OTB) rated chess ability. I know that many compare the two, but as a beginner they often are completely different and have no correlation.
You should worry about the ratings of the players in the tournaments you start to play in for ratings, but I’ll get to that later.
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Since you know how the pieces move and the rules of the game by playing on FICS, that is good but not enough. You really need to get some experience keeping the game score and using the chess clock and getting used to the rules and nature of tournament chess. It is a fact that you can and will lose games from not knowing and being used to these things. For instance there is a lot to the touch move rule. And if you aren’t aware of it, an opponent may very well take advantage of this in a game to your disadvantage. Also, keeping the game score can be a real problem if you aren’t skilled at it. And it is a rule that you need to keep the notation and use a chess clock in tournament/rated play.
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The this end I suggest you actually go and watch a tournament in action. I would suggest getting there about 1/2 hour or so after the beginning of the first round, or any round for that matter. I would find the Tournament Director who is most likely the one standing there watching over things or even doing some work at the main organizing area where there usually is a computer. I would introduce myself and tell this person you are really interested in playing tournament chess but only have internet chess experience. I am sure he or she will happily talk with you and give you some advice. You will then usually be able to go watch some of the games in action. While doing that you will see players of varying abilities do what you will be doing when you play. You can watch them use their clocks and keep score and all that jazz. You can even look at the games to see what is happening in them. Of course you will need to be silent while doing this saying nothing to the players while their game is going. You will also need to make sure your cell phone is either totally silenced or simply turned off before going into the playing area. The game is between the 2 opponents and no one else is allowed to say anything to them about the game, especially if you see one person has not hit his clock button after moving, or if someone has run out of time.
By going to watch a tournament like this you will better know how to act when you are playing. After their games, you can of course talk to some of the players. And perhaps you might even get someone that wants to play some chess in the non-playing area with you for fun between rounds.
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Get as much experience playing chess with an opponent using the clock. Playing G10 or so with a 5 second delay is good.
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With the above experience under your belt, you will have a much more successful tournament experience your first few times. Realize also, that your rating will change dramatically for your first 8 rated games, because those games use the + and - 400 points of your opponent’s rating for your rating. This is you take your opponent’s rating + 400 points if you win, and you get your opponent’s rating - 400 points if you lose. If you draw, you take your opponent’s rating. This occurs for each game, taking that average of your first 8 game ratings to give you your provisional rating. After 8 games, they use the rating formula to calculate your rating. This gives much smaller changes in your rating per game.
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The most important thing to realize and remember is to enjoy yourself. You will get better as long as you pay attention to your chess. Learn from your mistakes, even in games you might have won. You will become a better chess player and your enjoyment of the game will go up along with your rating.
I’d like to reiterate Ron’s advice about playing some informal games with a clock. I remember the first few times I used a clock. I felt that I had to move a lot faster than was actually required. It took several games before I got my timing right.
Pete K.
Practicing notation is a good idea. When you’re playing on the internet you don’t have to worry about that. I would suggest while playing a slow game online write down the moves as your playing. You’ll get a feel for notation and you can always double check yourself against what the compute has recorded.
It’s probably better to feel little under qualified, then get the rude awaking that I got in my first tournament. I thought I was hot stuff because I could beat everyone at school including the teachers. I learned quickly the difference between a good casual player and a so-so tournament player. The so-so tournament will probably still beat the good casual player.
I play much better in rated tournaments than online or even other in person games. Online chess seems to be all about playing fast instead of playing your best.
The area I live in has tournaments that are swiss style meaning that low rated players will play mostly people who are rated higher which can be discouraging. It can also be one of the best ways to improve your game.
I’m currently teaching my wife the game. She’s hoping to play in her first tournament in a month. To prepare, we play all our games using the following guidlines;
We use a clock for all games. We put enough time on it so time is not an issue, but using the clock is becoming second nature. If you don’t have one and want to get your own I suggest this one; chessset.com/prochess.html the Competition Game Clock Pro by Saitek
Also purchase a score book; the same site sells them for $1.49. Record all your moves. This will make it second nature so it’s not an issue at tournament and it also allows you to go back over your games and see where you goofed.
I’ve drilled it into my wifes head so many times that its now second nature - 1. opponent makes move 2. record move. 3. put pencil down 4. now enter thinking mode and consider move. 5. make move. 6. hit button on clock 7. reord move When new the act of recording moves and messing with clock can interfer with your game. Train yourself to do these things so that you no longer have to think about them,then they will not bother/scare you when you go to tournament. You also will not forget to hit the clock and allow your opponent to do all his thinking on your time. I played beside a guy last weekend that forgot to hit his clock for at least 10 moves, both players making all their moves on his time. Unfortunatly, the rules state no one may point it out to him; except of course his opponent.
Get a book to study. A good endgame book is good, few players are great endgamers and if you can play a good endgame you can often outplay people rated higher than you. If you can’t afford a book yet, check your library; ours has quite a few. Also check the online sites that publish copies of public domain books. Many good chess books were written long ago and are now public domain.
Play on a correspondence web site as a way to study/improve your openings. I’d suggest schemingmind.com They are very good, have a training group and best of all, when you study your move you can click a button that brings up a tree of moves and the stats for each. Many are annotated.
Sorry, I’ve rambled a bit and chased a rabbit or two. Best of luck.
I’d like to add one more thing. INHO, forget about waiting and jump in. So what if you start out getting beat most of the time. I dare say that is the case for most of us and most will tell you they loved going and couldn’t wait to get to the next tournament. When starting out, it’s normal to worry about your rating, but never let that overshadow the love of the game. The rating is totally secondary and a poor reason to base when you start your ‘tournament experience.’ My wife is completely new, will probably get annilalated at her first tournament (she just began learning the game at begining of year) but I plan on entering her in her first in April. She knows what to expect but can’t wait.
Once again, I disagree. Everyone says “Stop worrying about your rating”, as if a new player just wants a high number next to their name. That’s not what new players worry about.
When I first started playing, I used my online rating to measure my progress and try to assess if I was “good enough” to play in USCF tournaments, but I wasn’t worried about earning a good USCF rating. The rating was just a way of approximating whether or not I thought I was good enough to show up at a USCF tournament without losing every game. As it turns out, I waited 3 years before joining USCF and playing in a tournament (mostly due to lack of tournaments in the area), and I still only won 1 game in my first tournament. If I’d joined USCF 2 years earlier, I can guarantee I would have lost every single game in my first 2 or 3 tournaments, gotten frustrated, and given up on chess altogether.
And I’ve seen it with other players since then, too. We have adults who show up to one tournament, get clobbered, and we never see them again. With kids, at least they have scholastic tournaments where they play against other beginners. And around here these days, there are clubs that are divided into sections, even among adults, so it’s better for the beginners.
But if someone only has local clubs available that do open Swiss style tournaments, then I’d recommend that they wait until they can hit at least 1600 slow rating on FICS or ICC before playing in one of those.
The other side of the coin – often overlooked by those anticipating their first OTB tournament – is that the OTB tournament experience itself is a necessary step in improving one’s game.
To put it another way, if you don’t play in OTB tournaments, you may never become “good enough to play in tournaments”.
Bill Smythe
That’s very true Bill. However, I do not think that going to watch and observe a tournament in action before playing in one will delay the tournament playing experience enough to cause damage to the tournament ability.
I say that going to observe a tournament in action as a spectator is a valuable and necessary thing to do for an adult that has never played in a tournament. I know, I was one.
The experience of watching people use the clocks, keep the score notation and handle the tournament environment is invaluable before actually jumping in and playing yourself. When playing, there are a lot of things that can get your attention and actually distract you from playing chess. To know of these things by observation, just a one time tournament observation, will give a person knowledge and familiarity of what to expect when playing.
Also the one visit to a tournament gives the opportunity to talk with various people to learn more of the tournament playing experience. From the TD, a person can learn quite a bit. And the opportunity to chat with the TD is good right after the start of a round. Also, if people know that a person is just getting started like this, they will happily chat them up and even play some skittle games between rounds with them.
So, I do recommend a new person take a little time to just get acquainted with tournaments before jumping in.
[quote="
But if someone only has local clubs available that do open Swiss style tournaments, then I’d recommend that they wait until they can hit at least 1600 slow rating on FICS or ICC before playing in one of those.[/quote]
Baloney… Sorry, I can’t hit 1600 on FICS or ICC either one. But out of the four tournaments (swiss) that I’ve played in Feb and March I’ve won prize money twice. Granted once I barely covered my entry fee, but the other time I won 250… I just went over my records and the average rating of the people I played against was 300 points above me. Out of 18 games I won 6. But most importantly is the training I’ve picked up. Last night I stayed up till the wee hours with a guy that is fantastic at openings. I’ve played him several times at club, watched him coach others. But what I got out of those three hours was worth the whole weekend.
Yes it can be frustrating to show up and your first game is against someone 600 points higher than you, the second drops all the way to a mere 400 higher than you. But imho, if you’re truely a competetive chess player, even one at an early and untrained stage of development - getting your clock cleaned will not deter you. I finished a tournament today in which I did very poorly. One point in a five round tournament. I knew going in that I wasn’t going to do well; I just got over the flu, only slept three hours out of seventy-two. But the idea of letting a chance to play go by and staying home sounds crazy to me… lol…
I played a tournament 25 years ago. Then one thing and another, and I quit playing over the board chess all together untill a couple months ago. So I’m in the same boat as the original poster. Just shedding my provisional rating. Fortunately there a fair amount of opportunity around here. I get to play in 12 rated games this month, 10 last month.
But I would strongly caution using online servers as a measuring stick for anything. Some folks play equally well online. Some even better. Some like myself, are just the opposite for a variety of reasons. Another thing to watch out for is the trend online to play faster and faster games. 25 years ago speed chess was something we did at the end of club night to fill up the time too short to play a full game. Now it’s become the norm. And 5 min. blitz is just too long. Shorter bullet, lightning ect games are the thing… Fast food chess, cuz who want to commit to 30 min with someone who might take really long moves just so I can take time to think about what I’m doing? 
rant mode off
bt
just my opinion, you got what you paid for…
As I said, I’ve seen several players show up for local club tourneys that aren’t divided into sections by rating, lose every single game, and we never see them again. I came pretty close to being one of those players when I first started. Maybe I would have just stopped tournament play for a couple of years and come back after preparing on the internet some. I don’t know. But I do know how discouraging it is to play in a tournament when you’re first starting out where not only do you lose every single game, but none of them are even remotely competitive.
With that I agree completely. For that reason, I dislike the swiss. My primary contention however, is in using online play as a measuring stick for anything. There are plenty of people who do well in tournaments who would never play if online results were the litmus test for jumping in. I’m one.
After this thread got started I put together a excel sheet with the results of my games. I’ve played in four swiss tournaments. The ave. rating of the players in the tournaments was 600 points higher than me. This was somewhat misleading due to playing in one tournament that had a very high percentage of masters and grandmasters. If you factor those dozen people out then the ave drops to 400. The ave rating of the people I played was 250 points higher than me. I won 1/3 of the games played. I won all games played by people rated 300 points higher than me and below with two exceptions.
What does all this mean? Not much. 
I was complaining about the swiss system myself last weekend at a tournament to a TD for the same reasons provided by people here. But when I looked at my stats, I realized I was doing better than I thought. And I had a couple games this weekend that I lost to much higher players but was quite proud of.
And the flip side is that I live in an area that tournaments do not draw enough people to do sectionals. If you only have 22 people at a tournament you can do swiss or quads. I’m lucky in that we get frequent rated play.
I think that the swiss thing is a tough situation for a new player, but a key factor in retaining players is club participation. Losing at tournament is not so bad if you’ve got some friends made at club that are building you up and letting you know its just part of the learning process that we all go thru. And then playing thru thier games with them and helping them see where they went wrong ect… I’m a big believer in club participation as a key element of long term chess enjoyment.