Another one is playing when you don't want to. Online, you can always shut your computer but you have an obligation in OTB chess to play a game at a certain time. This can be challenging when the tournament is not going well.
Great video man. Good to get advice from someone who JUST did what you're about to do. This is something that us who have been playing 20ish years can't say. Keep up stuff like this.
Good video. I played a bunch of OTB tournaments back in the 80-90s. My very first was in Washington DC (1982), where I ended up playing against one of the top rated women in the US at the time, Joan Schlich. Got my ass kicked, but it was fun learning the process and having her go over the game at the end. Going to other tournaments was great because I had the opportunity to watch several GMs like Sammy Reshevsky, and others in one in LA.
This was really informative. Thanks! (I'm over 50, so I played 3d OTB most of my life, but never in a tournament where I had to notate moves... I wish my city had a chess club so I could attempt it.)
You should treat a classical game like a test. Bring good snacks and you should also get up periodically to refresh your brain and perspective. Also try and have a chess buddy to do online virtual OTB practice games to help you with 3D vision. Let's say a time control of at least 25min with 5sec delay. Setup your board and when your friend makes a move online you move the piece on a physical board and write down the moves. After you move on the physical board make the move online. Obviously this is easier if it own an electronic chess board but it's not 100% needed. Lastly if your opponent is an adult ask them if they want to go over the game in a side room. It's constructive and fun to get opponents perspective on the game.
The thing about pieces obscuring others is absolutely true. In one of my first OTB tournament games, I played a poor move because one of my pawns was hiding behind my own king and I didn't see it. It sounds stupid but there it is. Actually when I joined a chess club, I was stunned by how large the tournament pieces are compared with a home set!
Good job! When I first played in a chess tournament, Bobby Fischer had recently won the World Championship (1972). Unlike most of your viewers, up until then I had never played a weak opponent (Dad and older brothers only). Some more observations: 1. Your first opponent may be much stronger or much weaker than you. This is true whether your opponent is 80 or 8, female or male, and even experienced or new. But most OTB tournament players are stronger than casual players. 2. Know that some opponents will not be polite. Vent any anger with your good moves. No rage moves or rage quits. 3. You don't have to resign. But if your opponent is clearly beating you (say, up two pieces), you may want to conserve your energy for the next game and resign. If you want to keep playing, keep playing. 4. You can refuse a draw offer. It often (usually) means your winning chances are better. Some pawnless end games are dead drawn. My rule is I don't accept a draw offer unless it's clear to me it's dead drawn, or I am dead tired (twice in 50 years). 5. You will lose some games due to face-to-face pressure. You will also probably win some games for the same reason. 6. After the tournament, look up the games in an openings database and/or chess engine. See that you did make some brilliant moves, as did your opponents. And some painful ones, 7. Have fun! Almost all players are both there to have fun and are very competitive.
You make some really good points here. I particularly like the first point on how strong players can be almost any age and gender. Some very young kids are super strong. In the UK we have an 8-year-old girl who is over 1800 FIDE and already has the WFM title. And she’s not even the top player in her age group!
This was a really enjoyable video! You're definitely right. The difference between 2d and 3d calculation, and the psychological aspect of it were things that hadn't been covered in other videos I've seen. I have my first tournament (only rapid, not classical) coming up in a few days, so this was great advice!
One point worth noting if you’re not already aware is that you don’t have to notate in rapidplay. Good luck in your tournament if you haven’t already played it!
Great video, I played my first tournament at 35yo last year and experienced many of the same issues. Trying to slow down and not play at the pace of my opponent when they play quickly is one piece of advice I can offer!
I played in my first OTB classical tournament last week. I very much agree with everything in this video, i know I did not hold a poker face when after blundering. In addition, somethings that greatly improved my experience, I went with a team of players from my school, but if that's not possible, I highly recommend going with a friend so that you can prep openings and review games together. Furthermore, if your opponent is up for it, review the game with them after, you can learn your mistakes and their thought process while playing. The BIG thing for me was having the mental state to push through a difficult game. After playing for 2-3 hours and being in a losing/worse position, it's natural to want to feel to give up, and start slacking in calculation/spotting tactics, but never give up. In my round 4 game I made a mistake that I thought cost me the game, but I was still +2 reviewing in engine after the game, so I learned that I should play my best in the moment, regardless of the game so far or my opponent.
Great insight about never letting up. Not sure your playing strength but something to always remember is that your opponent (if they’re about the same elo is you) is just as capable of making a mistake as you are. Play the position on the board to the best of your abilities and stay focused until you are 99.9% certain of how you could convert the win from the other side
Great video! I had the opposite situation; after years of playing tournments, The Internet and Chess computers were invented. I play online by transfering the moves to my standard tourament set, and play and record the game as usual. I also only play classical time controls, which limits how many humans are willing to play me.
All he says is true and very important; This also results in you LOSING more often, these variables have a much bigger effect on those who wrongly think; “ I am ready and I am going to surprise a lot of people on how GOOD I am “ -- NOT!! The face to face, over the board is a massive change, but -- it is a SO MUCH BETTER EXPERIENCE! Your online level is DEFINITELY NOT. As GOOD when you play your first HANDFUL of over the board games!! You still can gain a lot of insight and LEARN how to use online chess in a BETTER WAY- to help improve your REAL CHESS ( over the board)!
I learned chess 64 years ago and played it for about 25 years OTB. Then I had a break before starting to play online when online first started, which was about 10 years later, which I also gave up after a few years. I've recently started playing online again, and last month I joined a club and started playing OTB. I can say that my "OTB skills" hadn't disappeared. Notation was still automatic, and I haven't been put off by any of the other elements. Now, if I can just get back to my former strength...
@cameronginochio I read a couple beginner chessboooks which helped me, but beyond that they have been pointless. I still miss obvious hanged pieces and tactics. I think puzzles and analyzing my games is all I should bother with. But writing down moves I think might help big time with focus and viziualisation.
I recently started teaching chess to beginners, OTB, and insist they start to write moves from about the second lesson. I want them to become like me, who can just visualise each square on the board without thinking. It works.
Interesting perspective (to me). You played in a tournament while you were still fairly new to OTB, so some of what you're describing is about OTB and some is about formal games and tournaments. Anyone who played chess before about 1995 was playing OTB and most people who played formal games had been playing informally OTB for a while beforehand, so your trajectory seems novel, but I realise it's probably quite common.
I think it’s just so easy and convenient to play chess now on our devices that OTB play is truly a novel practice for most chess players nowadays. Unless you grew up playing chess in school where you’ve built a community of fellow students who you know play chess, it’s rather hard to find people in real life who play. Of course there are groups and clubs but when the barrier to entry for online play is literally zero, it makes sense that many don’t play OTB
last weekend went for my first otb tournament (at age 30) That was rapid chess tournament, so judge said it's not mandatory to note down the moves. Also very frustrating thing about otb chess is that noone has to notify you if you're checked. And then you have to move the piece you touched. This way my crushing game turned into a draw. And yes, it could be hurtfull for many to lose to 10 year old kids
I was surprised at how exhausting my first tournament was. This was in the 1970's so it was hard to even get a game against anyone near my playing ability at home (90% of the games I played I destroyed my opponent, the other 10% my opponent destroyed me), so tournaments had more of an appeal to me then than they do now.
Yeah I just realized about that 2d vs 3d thing that because of online chess I am forever centering my pieces OTB since I learned chess originally from an actual board a lot of this video actually "bounces off" but that one hits rather hard 🤦🤦🤦😭😭😭
Not only is it 3D v 2D…the computer perfectly places every piece in the middle of the square facing the same direction. With OTB play the pieces get all askew.
You can adjust the pieces; however, you should say "J'adoube" before doing so. I should note that some players deliberately leave pieces askew to try and upset their opponent, but can in turn get annoyed when you adjust them. Getting annoyed is not good for your chess.
I've been playing at a club for a couple months to get over the face-to-face anxiety. Did you do that before the tournament? (edit: I'm trying to find the courage to do my first OTB tournament at 52) Edit 2: I recently played a club game where my opponent made an illegal move while I was distracted by recording the moves and did not even notice the godlike power of the right illegal move (mated in 18 moves)
Funnily enough I didn’t have the courage to go to our local club until AFTER my tournament. It felt more personal than a tournament. I’ve since been to several action quad nights and it’s been a great experience. Huge bummer that your only club experience resulted in an illegal move, but hopefully it was unintentional and I’m sure not the norm! Mistakes happen all the time. All that said, can’t emphasize enough how fun I think tournaments are and you should definitely go!
@@cameronginochiochess The illegal move was a one-time thing out of dozens of games, just wanted to share an experience where move recording in a rapid game proved enough of a distraction that I missed something.
Thank you very much for the video. I’m going to my first tournament in 3 days. I have a question, why should we notate our moves in the tournament? Do we take the sheets with us home or the Tournament organizers take them?
Best of luck in your tournament! Not sure where you’re located but if the tournament is sanctioned by your country’s governing body (for example in the U.S. it’s USCF) then it’s likely that notating moves is required by the rules. Depends on time control but anything longer than 30 min requires notation here im pretty sure. The reason notation is required is because it forces both players to keep a log of the game in case there are any disputes over things like illegal moves, three-fold repetition for a draw, 50 move rule, stalemate, etc. If you don’t notate but your opponent does, if there is ever a dispute with the arbiter it’s basically whatever your opponent says goes because they are the only one with a log of game (and would be the same situation vice versa). In practice it’s also nice to notate because then you can analyze the game later! In the tournaments I’ve played in, I haven’t had to turn in my sheet. Hope this helps!
@@cameronginochiochess THANK YOU VERY MUCH! that really helped me. It's necessery to notate in my place too. I was always curious why should we do it because I think it takes many time and distract us during the game beside the clock itself, So it really needs practice to not waste time. I’m grateful for your detailed response, wish you all the best in your upcoming tournaments too ✨🤍
I wanted ask if my chess set is acceptable to bring to an OTB tournament. It’s the Official World Set Studio Set which is said to be about 13% smaller overall than the official world chess set, the set used by FIDE tournaments. Thank you
Good video. OTB, longer time control, so much more thinking time. Can be mentally draining! And think on this. 3 minute game online, one mistake doesn't matter too much, on to the next game. But now make that same mistake after 3 HOURS of concentration. 😢 You should have played "back in the day" when i started (late 1970s). Smoking FFS! You try seeing the board through a haze of smoke! 🙂.
Another one is playing when you don't want to. Online, you can always shut your computer but you have an obligation in OTB chess to play a game at a certain time. This can be challenging when the tournament is not going well.
Great video man. Good to get advice from someone who JUST did what you're about to do. This is something that us who have been playing 20ish years can't say. Keep up stuff like this.
🙏🏼 thank you!
Good video. I played a bunch of OTB tournaments back in the 80-90s. My very first was in Washington DC (1982), where I ended up playing against one of the top rated women in the US at the time, Joan Schlich. Got my ass kicked, but it was fun learning the process and having her go over the game at the end. Going to other tournaments was great because I had the opportunity to watch several GMs like Sammy Reshevsky, and others in one in LA.
This was really informative. Thanks! (I'm over 50, so I played 3d OTB most of my life, but never in a tournament where I had to notate moves... I wish my city had a chess club so I could attempt it.)
Thank you! I'm bummed you don't have the opportunity to play locally. Have you ever considered playing in an online tournament?
Outstanding video. Great explanation of the psychological aspects that one would not be ready for in the switch from computer to OTB games.
Thank you!
You should treat a classical game like a test. Bring good snacks and you should also get up periodically to refresh your brain and perspective. Also try and have a chess buddy to do online virtual OTB practice games to help you with 3D vision. Let's say a time control of at least 25min with 5sec delay. Setup your board and when your friend makes a move online you move the piece on a physical board and write down the moves. After you move on the physical board make the move online. Obviously this is easier if it own an electronic chess board but it's not 100% needed. Lastly if your opponent is an adult ask them if they want to go over the game in a side room. It's constructive and fun to get opponents perspective on the game.
The thing about pieces obscuring others is absolutely true. In one of my first OTB tournament games, I played a poor move because one of my pawns was hiding behind my own king and I didn't see it. It sounds stupid but there it is. Actually when I joined a chess club, I was stunned by how large the tournament pieces are compared with a home set!
Good job! When I first played in a chess tournament, Bobby Fischer had recently won the World Championship (1972). Unlike most of your viewers, up until then I had never played a weak opponent (Dad and older brothers only). Some more observations:
1. Your first opponent may be much stronger or much weaker than you. This is true whether your opponent is 80 or 8, female or male, and even experienced or new. But most OTB tournament players are stronger than casual players.
2. Know that some opponents will not be polite. Vent any anger with your good moves. No rage moves or rage quits.
3. You don't have to resign. But if your opponent is clearly beating you (say, up two pieces), you may want to conserve your energy for the next game and resign. If you want to keep playing, keep playing.
4. You can refuse a draw offer. It often (usually) means your winning chances are better. Some pawnless end games are dead drawn. My rule is I don't accept a draw offer unless it's clear to me it's dead drawn, or I am dead tired (twice in 50 years).
5. You will lose some games due to face-to-face pressure. You will also probably win some games for the same reason.
6. After the tournament, look up the games in an openings database and/or chess engine. See that you did make some brilliant moves, as did your opponents. And some painful ones,
7. Have fun! Almost all players are both there to have fun and are very competitive.
All great advice! Thank you!
You make some really good points here. I particularly like the first point on how strong players can be almost any age and gender. Some very young kids are super strong. In the UK we have an 8-year-old girl who is over 1800 FIDE and already has the WFM title. And she’s not even the top player in her age group!
This was a really enjoyable video! You're definitely right. The difference between 2d and 3d calculation, and the psychological aspect of it were things that hadn't been covered in other videos I've seen. I have my first tournament (only rapid, not classical) coming up in a few days, so this was great advice!
Thank you!! Best of luck in your tournament!
One point worth noting if you’re not already aware is that you don’t have to notate in rapidplay. Good luck in your tournament if you haven’t already played it!
Great video, I played my first tournament at 35yo last year and experienced many of the same issues. Trying to slow down and not play at the pace of my opponent when they play quickly is one piece of advice I can offer!
I played in my first OTB classical tournament last week. I very much agree with everything in this video, i know I did not hold a poker face when after blundering. In addition, somethings that greatly improved my experience, I went with a team of players from my school, but if that's not possible, I highly recommend going with a friend so that you can prep openings and review games together. Furthermore, if your opponent is up for it, review the game with them after, you can learn your mistakes and their thought process while playing.
The BIG thing for me was having the mental state to push through a difficult game. After playing for 2-3 hours and being in a losing/worse position, it's natural to want to feel to give up, and start slacking in calculation/spotting tactics, but never give up. In my round 4 game I made a mistake that I thought cost me the game, but I was still +2 reviewing in engine after the game, so I learned that I should play my best in the moment, regardless of the game so far or my opponent.
Great insight about never letting up. Not sure your playing strength but something to always remember is that your opponent (if they’re about the same elo is you) is just as capable of making a mistake as you are. Play the position on the board to the best of your abilities and stay focused until you are 99.9% certain of how you could convert the win from the other side
Great video! I had the opposite situation; after years of playing tournments, The Internet and Chess computers were invented. I play online by transfering the moves to my standard tourament set, and play and record the game as usual. I also only play classical time controls, which limits how many humans are willing to play me.
Thank you! That's an interesting take, I would guess not many people have the same experience but I love that you keep playing OTB so to speak.
Good stuff!
Thank you!
All he says is true and very important;
This also results in you LOSING more often, these variables have a much bigger effect on those who wrongly think; “ I am ready and I am going to surprise a lot of people on how GOOD I am “ -- NOT!!
The face to face, over the board is a massive change, but -- it is a SO MUCH BETTER EXPERIENCE!
Your online level is DEFINITELY NOT. As GOOD when you play your first HANDFUL of over the board games!!
You still can gain a lot of insight and LEARN how to use online chess in a BETTER WAY- to help improve your REAL CHESS ( over the board)!
Thank you for the comment!!
This is gold
🙏🏼🙏🏼
I learned chess 64 years ago and played it for about 25 years OTB. Then I had a break before starting to play online when online first started, which was about 10 years later, which I also gave up after a few years. I've recently started playing online again, and last month I joined a club and started playing OTB. I can say that my "OTB skills" hadn't disappeared. Notation was still automatic, and I haven't been put off by any of the other elements. Now, if I can just get back to my former strength...
I believe!! Thanks for the comment, love to hear about others’ experiences. I’m hoping I can also get to the point where notating is automatic!
ya I need to start writing moves down. I hear that really helps you visualize the board when you learn the squares.
I’ve also found that reading chess books in conjunction with a physical board helps a lot with visualization and coordinate recognition
@cameronginochio I read a couple beginner chessboooks which helped me, but beyond that they have been pointless. I still miss obvious hanged pieces and tactics. I think puzzles and analyzing my games is all I should bother with. But writing down moves I think might help big time with focus and viziualisation.
I recently started teaching chess to beginners, OTB, and insist they start to write moves from about the second lesson. I want them to become like me, who can just visualise each square on the board without thinking. It works.
Interesting perspective (to me). You played in a tournament while you were still fairly new to OTB, so some of what you're describing is about OTB and some is about formal games and tournaments.
Anyone who played chess before about 1995 was playing OTB and most people who played formal games had been playing informally OTB for a while beforehand, so your trajectory seems novel, but I realise it's probably quite common.
I think it’s just so easy and convenient to play chess now on our devices that OTB play is truly a novel practice for most chess players nowadays. Unless you grew up playing chess in school where you’ve built a community of fellow students who you know play chess, it’s rather hard to find people in real life who play. Of course there are groups and clubs but when the barrier to entry for online play is literally zero, it makes sense that many don’t play OTB
last weekend went for my first otb tournament (at age 30)
That was rapid chess tournament, so judge said it's not mandatory to note down the moves.
Also very frustrating thing about otb chess is that noone has to notify you if you're checked. And then you have to move the piece you touched. This way my crushing game turned into a draw.
And yes, it could be hurtfull for many to lose to 10 year old kids
I was surprised at how exhausting my first tournament was. This was in the 1970's so it was hard to even get a game against anyone near my playing ability at home (90% of the games I played I destroyed my opponent, the other 10% my opponent destroyed me), so tournaments had more of an appeal to me then than they do now.
When you say they had a greater appeal to you then than now, is that because you can now play against somebody of equal strength easier online?
@@cameronginochiochess exactly
Yeah I just realized about that 2d vs 3d thing that because of online chess I am forever centering my pieces OTB since I learned chess originally from an actual board a lot of this video actually "bounces off" but that one hits rather hard 🤦🤦🤦😭😭😭
And….Great video!
Thank you for the insight! Planning to get to 1500 and I’m 9 elo away from 1200
Best of luck!!
Great insightful video! I'm curious what your elo is.
Thank you! Currently I am 1479 chesscom rapid and 722 USCF (provisional after 15 rated games)
Not only is it 3D v 2D…the computer perfectly places every piece in the middle of the square facing the same direction. With OTB play the pieces get all askew.
That's actually a super great point that I hadn't considered. And thank you for the compliment on my video!
You can adjust the pieces; however, you should say "J'adoube" before doing so.
I should note that some players deliberately leave pieces askew to try and upset their opponent, but can in turn get annoyed when you adjust them. Getting annoyed is not good for your chess.
I've been playing at a club for a couple months to get over the face-to-face anxiety. Did you do that before the tournament? (edit: I'm trying to find the courage to do my first OTB tournament at 52) Edit 2: I recently played a club game where my opponent made an illegal move while I was distracted by recording the moves and did not even notice the godlike power of the right illegal move (mated in 18 moves)
Funnily enough I didn’t have the courage to go to our local club until AFTER my tournament. It felt more personal than a tournament. I’ve since been to several action quad nights and it’s been a great experience.
Huge bummer that your only club experience resulted in an illegal move, but hopefully it was unintentional and I’m sure not the norm! Mistakes happen all the time.
All that said, can’t emphasize enough how fun I think tournaments are and you should definitely go!
@@cameronginochiochess The illegal move was a one-time thing out of dozens of games, just wanted to share an experience where move recording in a rapid game proved enough of a distraction that I missed something.
Thank you very much for the video. I’m going to my first tournament in 3 days. I have a question, why should we notate our moves in the tournament? Do we take the sheets with us home or the Tournament organizers take them?
Best of luck in your tournament! Not sure where you’re located but if the tournament is sanctioned by your country’s governing body (for example in the U.S. it’s USCF) then it’s likely that notating moves is required by the rules. Depends on time control but anything longer than 30 min requires notation here im pretty sure. The reason notation is required is because it forces both players to keep a log of the game in case there are any disputes over things like illegal moves, three-fold repetition for a draw, 50 move rule, stalemate, etc. If you don’t notate but your opponent does, if there is ever a dispute with the arbiter it’s basically whatever your opponent says goes because they are the only one with a log of game (and would be the same situation vice versa). In practice it’s also nice to notate because then you can analyze the game later! In the tournaments I’ve played in, I haven’t had to turn in my sheet. Hope this helps!
@@cameronginochiochess THANK YOU VERY MUCH! that really helped me. It's necessery to notate in my place too. I was always curious why should we do it because I think it takes many time and distract us during the game beside the clock itself, So it really needs practice to not waste time. I’m grateful for your detailed response, wish you all the best in your upcoming tournaments too ✨🤍
I wanted ask if my chess set is acceptable to bring to an OTB tournament. It’s the Official World Set Studio Set which is said to be about 13% smaller overall than the official world chess set, the set used by FIDE tournaments. Thank you
Good video. OTB, longer time control, so much more thinking time. Can be mentally draining!
And think on this. 3 minute game online, one mistake doesn't matter too much, on to the next game. But now make that same mistake after 3 HOURS of concentration. 😢
You should have played "back in the day" when i started (late 1970s). Smoking FFS!
You try seeing the board through a haze of smoke! 🙂.
You can join a chess club to get practice in playing RL chess
Definitely! I have played at a local club several times since the tournament to accumulate more practice OTB
I just got home from my first tournament, nobody told me these things 😢
Always a learning experience! How did it go?
i have no time to play otb tourneys
so how'd it go?
I scored 3.0/5! It was very fun experience and has influenced me to play more rated club and tournament games since
I can't stand the 3d vs the 2d - also hate having to notate. Not having access to music. Etc
You’re going to play and lose to children.
Just get ready for that.
100%
DRRRRRRRRR I cant believe the real world is in 3D!!!! DRRRRRRRRRRRRR