Tips for rapid improvement?

@PTERANODON7 -

A little nervousness is to be expected.  When playing just breath deeply and focus.  On each move, first try to identify immediate threats to you (are all your pieces protected?).  Having done that, see if there are any useful threats you can create for your opponent to deal with - in other words try to create problems for your opponent to solve as much as possible  Oh, and be sure to develop ALL your pieces as rapidly as you can in the opening - this is extremely important - (you are already behind if you have fewer developed pieces than your opponent).

Finally, all you can do is the best you can.  As this is your first tournament take it as a learning experience.  And above all, have fun!

I think we would all be curious to find out how you make out in your tournament.  Good luck to you!

playing beforehand is how you stay prepared for the game  At least, tahts what i do  If you dont want to play, just solve some tactics in the puzzle trainer, and we can play after round 1 (unless your tournament is all on one day? In which case, i can analyze your games after if you post them here) And good luck at the tournament!

Thank you!

Regarding development of your pieces.  This includes connecting your rooks on the first rank (i.e., this means that your other pieces are no longer occupying the first rank, and that you have castled).  And if files become open (clear of all pawns) or semi-open (i.e., only your opponent's pawns are on the file), or likely to become so, it is generally a good idea to post your rooks such that they have influence on, and command of, these files.

Regarding the latter concept of open files, this is a specific case of the more general theme of opening lines for your pieces -  the rooks, bishops and Queen - so that they can benefit from, and make use of open lines (files and diagonals).  These pieces need open lines so as to influence as much of the board as possible. 

So once you have developed ALL your pieces, begin to think of ways that you can open lines for these pieces.  For opening files, this is accomplished generally via pawn exchanges.

The point of all this is to give your pieces more potential for "activity", and for them to be able to influence more squares on the board (called "scope").  All other things being equal, the player with the greater activity and scope for his pieces generally enjoys an advantage.  Other than a material advantage, this is probably the single most important advantage to strive for in a game.

This instructive video makes the point (revealed at minute 15:10) that "activity is the underlying principle which governs all chess games"....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ugDFOoevyI