OTB - how to get started?

Hi,

I live in Chicago and I'm seriously thinking about taking the plunge into OTB chess.  I've been playing quite a bit vs the computer and on Chess.com for the past several years, but I haven't ever really played a serious game OTB.  I was wondering if anyone could recommend the best way to get started?

I don't have a lot of spare time, and I would like to get an OTB (USCF) rating to see how I measure up, so I'm thinking I should probably just jump into playing tournaments.  I think I'd rather play serious, slow time control games too, rather than casual games.

Is there anyone in the Chicago area that could recommend a good USCF-rated tournament to start with, for someone with practically no OTB experience?

Also, I'm wondering what rating range I should enter for my first tourney.  Based on people's games I've seen and playing a couple of computer opponents with 'simulated' USCF ratings, I'm guessing I would probably feel at home somewhere around the 1500-1600 range.  Although, given it would be my first OTB tourney and I'll be a bit new to playing with the board, clock, manually recording my moves, etc., I'm thinking maybe under-1500 would be a good place to get my feet wet.

Any suggestions or advice would be welcome!  :-)

The obvious place to start would be to find a local club and do one of their weekly rated tournaments before you jump into something "bigtime".  Have you looked for some nearby clubs onsite?  (click "share" in the top green ribbon bar, then "local chess")

There are probably some weekly tournament, 5/0, 7/0 , 10/0 or 15/0 is oftern used in Iceland. Don't just jump into 90/30 tournament  or so, it takes time to prepare. It can be hard to play in many hours.

Hi baddogno, thanks for the input.  I have been looking on here and also the USCF website, however:

a) There don't seem to be many clubs within easy reach of the downtown Chicago area (where I live)

b) The ones I've seen seem to be fairly casual (i.e. midweek evening meetups) and I can't find many that say they do USCF-rated tournaments.

If anyone knows of any clubs in the Chicago area that do regular USCF-rated tourneys, please let me know!

Yes, I am self-taught - never really had any lessons.  I've mostly been reading through Dan Heisman's Novice Nook column recently - it's really good and I think it's helped me a lot to improve my game.  That rating is Online though - with the opening book and as much time as I want.  I'm not sure how it would transfer into an OTB rating, but that's what I want to find out!  :-)

Try the Illinois Chess Association.  That's the official USCF affiliated state organization.  They do have a website.

@ skakmadurinn & unlimitedsnow:

The thing is, I'm not that into blitz - I haven't played any blitz or bullet on here at all.  I'm really looking for slow time control chess, as I'm more interested in quality than quantity and I've read that it's better for improving your game.  Even so though, I might try the blitz on here, as you suggest unlimitedsnow - playing different time controls might give me more insight into where my stengths and weaknesses are.

@ baddogno:

Thanks again - I'll certainly check them out  :-)

You might try the North Shore Chess Center in Skokie or the Evanston Chess Club.  

Hi woton, thanks - do you have any addresses or links that I can check out?  Do they do tournaments?

http://www.nachess.org/nscc/general-info

http://evanstonchess.org/

I don't know anything about them.  I live across the lake and have seen them listed in the Chess Life tournament section.

http://www.uschess.org/tlas/upcoming.php

Also, you might ask around about a chess club near Midway Airport.  I haven't seen any listings for them for awhile, so they may no longer exist.

Hey, thanks woton - I will definitely check them out and I really appreciate your advice  :-)

So, after a year of playing almost exclusively online correspondence, Time4Tea decides to take the plunge into the world of OTB chess!  I've signed up for the Illinois Open at the end of August (8/30 - 9/1) - it's a 6-round swiss-style tourney.

I'm going for a 2-day schedule, so the first day (Sunday) will be pretty intensive: three 45-minute games with 5 second delay, then one 90/30; then there'll be two 90/30 games on the Monday.

I'm pretty excited, but I'm not quite sure what to expect.  I've entered the 'reserve' section, which is for players under 1800 USCF - looks like currently there is a range of people signed up, from about 1000 up to 1600+.  I'm not expecting to do particularly well, especially given that I won't be used to playing with a physical board and I'm not used to taking notation during the game, but it'll be my first step at playing some proper OTB chess and I'm sure it'll be good fun 

So, on my agenda in the 3 weeks or so before the tournament:

• Play through/analyze some master games on a physical board, to help get used to visualizing with it.
• Play as many live 45/5 games as I can (the fastest time control I'll be playing), and practice taking notation while I play.
• Make sure I understand all the rules properly (touch-move, etc.)

Otb chess is a lot different than online. I prefer Otb because i feel more incouraged to work at my highest stregnth.

Good luck in your first OTB tournament! OTB is to me a lot more exciting than online. Be sure to manage your clock well, I find it hard to adapt from one time control to another.

Good luck. Again: Good luck!!! :)

Very useful in otb is to look first at your opponents threats, then look at your own moves and then look at what your opponent can Do against your own plans. Its always better to doublecheck lines instead of losing a game because of a simple blunder.

P.s. Always ask your opponents for a analysis of the game when it finsihed. You can learn a lot of that, talk to some other chess players and normally they all accept to the analysis.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments and advice!  I know that managing my clock is going to be a big factor, especially in the first few 45/5 games.  Till_98:  don't worry, I am certainly planning to try and consider all my opponent's possible threats.  To be honest, I think a bigger problem for me is going to be to not let that get to the point of paranoia, where I spend too long thinking and lose on time  :-)

Another thing I need to decide on is what to play as White vs e4, e5.  Until recently, I've been doing well with the King's Gambit and I'm familar with quite a few of the lines and ideas.  However, I've just switched to the Italian Game instead, which I'm really enjoying, but haven't played many games with yet.  I'll probably go with the Italian (look forward, not back) and just make sure to book up a bit on the Latvian, Petrov, Philidor, etc.

hi based on my own tournament experience I can say that modern chess is a lot about preparation and tricking. When you have a line that you consistenly play your opponents will prepare against that and you might run into some very sharp lines, which you have never seen before. Its always hard to find the right continuation in a practical over the board game. Thats why you should prepare yourself for (if possible) every OTB game. Here some of the main advantages of preparing for a tournament game:

1.You start the game with increased confidence

2.You start the game with increased knowledge

3.When your opponents runs into your prepared opening lines you will be able to play this part of the game very quickly and you will get a big time advantage. This time you can use in the following middlegame part. Its of vital importance that you play an opening not only good but also relatively fast. Bobby Fischer also made use of this. He mostly had a time advantage and more time in the critical middlegame.

4.Due to the 3 previous points your chances to win the game are considerably risen.

But dont expect that your opponent will always play along. His goal is opposed to yours: He always tries to traverse your plans. With regard to the direct use of preparation, its only in circa 50% of the cases of value. At first blush this might appear disappointing, but considered more closely its completly okay. Even in our chess life we have to be realists. And there, we can be happy, when we:

1.start despite our inability, to look in the brain of our opponent, in half of our games with noticeable advantage

2.gained chess knowledge/wisdom , what is always of use.

In your example: You play the Italian game with 3.Bc4. You need to be prepared for Bc5 and Nf6 now. For both moves its the best to have 2 answers in reserve. Against Nf6 you can decide to go for the Ng5 lines or not and against the Bc5 main line you have the choice to play after 4.c3 Nf6 either d4 or d3. Prepare both lines so nobody will knoew what you play. Its also useful to ahve one surprise weapon in your repertoire. I would suggest you the Evans-Gambit, which is a reasonable opening and you will surely be able to destroy an unprepared opponent( Evans Gambit: 4.b4).

Try to do this with all of your opening lines and over the time you will have a completed opening repertoire which you can play against every player in the world with lots of secret lines in reserve. Another weapon of every modern master is to change the move order. Try to assemble this in your repertoire to confuse the opponent and to avoid some side line preparations. Of course you need either books or a good engine with opening books integrated to prepare all these lines.

Hope I helped you with this post, preparation is nowadys really one of the most important things to win a game.

Cheers, Till :)

still alive? lol