First of all, good for you. Getting your hands on the pieces and setting out for battle is good for the chessic soul.
1) You'll probably have no trouble with the rules; and if you do, there will be tournament directors (TDs) there you can ask. Be ready to keep score of your game, and don't forget to turn off your cell phone before the start of each round.
2) If you're pre-registered for the tournament, you probably won't have to do anything--your name and rating (if any) will already be in the system, and they'll be ready to pair you for the round. If you're nervous, though, it never hurts to check in with whatever TD is running the signup table. Once you're signed in, you need to wait until they put up the pairings for the round. These will tell you what board you're playing at, against whom, and with what color. Once the pairings are up, you can go and sit down. If you're black, you can set up your board (black generally gets first choice of equipment). Make sure you've been to the bathroom.
3) Snacks and drinks are OK, but try to make sure they don't make a lot of noise. You have the right to adjust the pieces (provided you say "J'adoube" or "I adjust" before you do, so as not to fall afoul of the touch-move rule), but try not to mess with your opponent's pieces too much unless they're really out of whack. But really, "Don't be a jerk" covers the vast majority of cases.
4) Unless you're playing in a higher section like U2000 or up, you'll wind up playing a lot of kids no matter what...though you're right that you'll probably be playing more in the lower section. U1400 should have a fair number of adults, though. I wouldn't recommend "playing up" too much just to avoid the kids--you'll quickly get used to having them as opponents, and start focusing on the board rather than the opponent.
[Having said this, I immediately recognized it as a lie. After a series of losses in a summer tournament, I found myself playing fairly strong kids in the final two rounds. I resolved to play very aggressively, to accept nothing less than two wins. In a couple of cases I made moves that I knew were probably second-best, but which I thought would be more unnerving for a less-experienced opponent. I won both games, though in the end neither one cried.]
Have fun!
!
I'm signed up and ready to go for my first OTB tournament in two weeks, the Thanksgiving Open in St. Louis.
For the actual chess, I'm about as ready as I can be. I've been playing my ICC standard games out on my tournament board and set, just using a computer to input the moves, and I feel like my computer board vision will translate reasonably well.
I'm more worried about the actual mechanics and experience of being at the tournament, especially since it is a fairly big one and not just a local club quads event or anything.
Some questions:
1) Are there any rules I should be aware of that come up in low-level games? I'm aware of the basics of the touch rule, offering draws and no talking, ut that's about it.
2) I arrive at the tournament hall around 8:30 a.m. First round starts at 9. I'm assuming there will be some sort of check-in, but what do I do from there?
3) Besides "don't talk during the game" and "don't be a jerk," what are some basic OTB etiquette rules I should know?
4) I'll be playing in the U1400 section. I'm a little worried that will be mostly scholastic players. I'd feel a little odd being the only adult playing a bunch of kids. Should I consider moving up a section to U1800? I'm 1504 at ICC Standard, which I guess is maybe 1150-1200 USCF.