Makes sense, thanks!
Considering entering first tournament
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I agree that a tournament environment is so much different and stressful to many and you might find yourself out of your element and play worse than usual, and that regular tournament players who play in the big events are usually stronger than their rating because they spend a lot of time studying so that they can have a better chance to win those big prizes. If possible try to find a tournament that you can visit beforehand as a spectator and see what it's like. Practice writing moves down in your online games, or better yet find someone you can play in person with a clock and writing your moves down. Learn the basic tournament rules, it'll be less stressful and lower the chance of you getting into a situation that involves a TD or someone trying to pull a fast one on you due to your inexperience with tournament rules. Playing in tournaments can be a lot of fun, I hope you have fun and let us know how it goes! I think you should play in the U1800 or under section but wouldn't play in any section lower than 1400. I'm sure you're better than 1400.
You're obviously not a beginner. Playing in lower sections wouldn't be fair to the actual beginners (and wouldn't be much fun for you, sitting there for a few hours, winning every game without even trying). As for doing badly killing your rating, that would only be true if you don't plan on playing many tournaments. If you play regularly, it doesn't matter where you start (plenty of titled players started as kids with terrible ratings).
I'd enter the one that you think would give you competition. U1600, U1800... I agree with windmill64, not U1400 or any below that. I suppose the downside to this is you might not win any prize money.
Man up and play in the Open section. You won't be expected to win there so all the pressure is off and you can actually enjoy this type of competitive atmosphere while playing. Remember, ratings are only used for first round pairing purposes in swiss tournaments.
Nobody told me I could use a helmet.
Not the football vs. soccer topic again!
Since your are (Unrated) and you decide to play in the prize money sections of the tournament, make sure you read all the fine print because most times there are many restrictions on the amount of prize-money unrated players are allowed to win. OTB tourny's are FUN and competitive but remember you are operating in a strict envirorment where tournament "rules" are strictly enforced ! GOOD-LUCK 
owltuna wrote:
Playing in the U1600 section will give you a tough enough field. Playing in U1200 if you think you are a strong player might be playing down too far, but don't underestimate the opposition in any case. If they didn't know how to play chess, they wouldn't be spending money for a USCF membership and tourney entrance fee.
Oops, I may have been too dismissive of lower sections. This is good advice. It's safe to assume everyone there, almost no matter how low the rating, knows the basics and will try to play a sound game e.g. develop all their pieces, attempt to check for threats on every move, etc.
It's just the lower the rating the more often they slip up. If you can help it, I'd not even look at the opponent's rating until after the game is over. Just assume they're a worthy opponent and focus on playing your best game. (This has the added benefit of making the experience more enjoyable overall, IMO.)
A lot of good advice, yeah I think it's safe to say that for my first tournament I really just want to enjoy the experience. I wouldn't say I'm naturally gifted at chess but i've really put a lot of work into getting from about 1000 on here in blitz to the 1700's in about three years total of seriously playing chess. This tournament I just want to enjoy, so I think the u1600 will be the best balance of a challenge but also not super intimidating. Thanks everyone, I'll let you know how it goes!
lemonchesspie wrote:
Hey all,
I'm thinking about entering the Chess Congress coming to Philadelphia at the end of November. I've never played in a tournament but my blitz rating is hovering around 1700 and I feel like I'm about ready to give it a crack. Since I don't have a USCF rating yet I can enter the any of the sections of the tournament i want, i.e. under 1000, under 1200, under 1400 etc. My question is, should I enter the one that I feel will provide me competition similar to my own level, or since it's my first tournament should i enter one of the lower sections and what would the downsides be? Like if I did do really bad against low competition would it kill my potential rating for a long-time potentially?
Depends on your motives for playing.
Money? - Enter a lower rated section
Fun? - Any section
Learning? - SOmthing close to your blitz rating
Be carful though. if this is your furst OTB tournament and regulat time controls, the blitz wil lcome out, and youll start moving to fast.
If i were you, I would enter a section closer to my rating.
If you are unrated, whatever section you enter, if you win you will only win the Unrated Prize, not overall 1st.
The Unrated Prize is much lower than 3rd in most cases.
So think about that.
top prize in u1400 is 600, u1600 900, but yeah I really don't expect to win a prize anyway, mainly looking for fun and to experience my first tourney.
Hey all,
I'm thinking about entering the Chess Congress coming to Philadelphia at the end of November. I've never played in a tournament but my blitz rating is hovering around 1700 and I feel like I'm about ready to give it a crack. Since I don't have a USCF rating yet I can enter the any of the sections of the tournament i want, i.e. under 1000, under 1200, under 1400 etc. My question is, should I enter the one that I feel will provide me competition similar to my own level, or since it's my first tournament should i enter one of the lower sections and what would the downsides be? Like if I did do really bad against low competition would it kill my potential rating for a long-time potentially?