Chess competitions lower levels

micko4 · 17-08-2019 8:39pm #1

Hi,

I am wondering.. I've been playing chess the past 8 months or so and have gotten to 1050 rating on blitz games on chess.com playing around 3000 games, is there any competitions for people who are rated under a certain amount or are first timers or is there just competitions where you know the higher rated guys will beat you? If so any idea what sort of rating you would need on chess.com to be a decent competitor?

Thanks

mikhail · 17-08-2019 9:06pm

I'm not sure how a chess.com rating would square up against an Irish rating, but most Irish tournaments have an under 1200 section that would be suitable for you. You'll find a calendar of events on https://www.icu.ie/events There are usually discounts for entering well in advance, but you can enter on the day too.

Most of them are weekender tournaments: 5-6 games where you'll typically have something like 90 minutes each on the clock. There are a couple of 1 day rapidplays too - those are about 25 minutes each per game - but they won't have sections.

If you've further questions, just ask. There are plenty of tournament players on this subforum.

micko4 · 17-08-2019 9:52pm

Thanks a lot! Very helpful and much appreciated. Suppose I would need to find out how my chess.com rating would compare against an Irish chess rating.. if I have never played a real life game before I suppose I have no rating? How does someone get get an initial rating?
Cheers

mikhail · 17-08-2019 10:30pm

Someone with a similar chess.com rating who also has an icu rating would give you an idea, but it doesn't really matter. I suggest you just try it and see what happens.

You get a rating from your first twenty competitive matches. This gets updated on the icu website shortly after a tournament finishes (maybe a few days later typically; it depends on how organised the guys running the event are). While you have fewer than 20 games finished, they'll publish a provisional rating, but that can fluctuate a lot so I wouldn't put too much store in it.

You also need to join the icu, which isn't too dear. You should do that before your second tournament, or the rating resets.

micko4 · 17-08-2019 10:46pm

Thanks a lot!

sodacat11 · 18-08-2019 1:03pm

micko4 wrote: »

Hi,

I am wondering.. I've been playing chess the past 8 months or so and have gotten to 1050 rating on blitz games on chess.com playing around 3000 games, is there any competitions for people who are rated under a certain amount or are first timers or is there just competitions where you know the higher rated guys will beat you? If so any idea what sort of rating you would need on chess.com to be a decent competitor?

Thanks

What part of the country are you in? I am sure that there must be a chess club near you that would welcome you with open arms. Once you join a club everything else follows on fom that.

cdeb · 18-08-2019 3:17pm

micko4 wrote: »

Hi,

I am wondering.. I've been playing chess the past 8 months or so and have gotten to 1050 rating on blitz games on chess.com playing around 3000 games, is there any competitions for people who are rated under a certain amount or are first timers or is there just competitions where you know the higher rated guys will beat you? If so any idea what sort of rating you would need on chess.com to be a decent competitor?

Thanks

I think the online ratings tend to be a bit higher than in real-life. So maybe take it as a real rating of 850. That's still fine of course - weekenders cater to that level - but don't be worried if you play and you find your rating falls below your online rating.

micko4 · 19-08-2019 5:04pm

sodacat11 wrote: »

What part of the country are you in? I am sure that there must be a chess club near you that would welcome you with open arms. Once you join a club everything else follows on fom that.

Hi thanks for the reply. I am in Dublin, there is a chess club local to me I think but I just can't make it on the times they open unfortunately.

micko4 · 19-08-2019 5:06pm

cdeb wrote: »

I think the online ratings tend to be a bit higher than in real-life. So maybe take it as a real rating of 850. That's still fine of course - weekenders cater to that level - but don't be worried if you play and you find your rating falls below your online rating.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I was wondering about that I couldn't find any comparisons online to how the ICU ratings would compare with an online chess.com one. What do you mean by weekenders? Thanks

mikhail · 19-08-2019 5:34pm

micko4 wrote: »

What do you mean by weekenders? Thanks

A weekender is the most common type of competition: typically 5-6 games over a Friday evening to Sunday evening.

Usually they're Swiss tournaments, meaning that you play someone on the same score as you (roughly; there are other constraints).

And as I said, they tend to have several sections depending on your rating; the exceptions to that are called Opens.

micko4 · 19-08-2019 6:46pm

mikhail wrote: »

A weekender is the most common type of competition: typically 5-6 games over a Friday evening to Sunday evening.

Usually they're Swiss tournaments, meaning that you play someone on the same score as you (roughly; there are other constraints).

And as I said, they tend to have several sections depending on your rating; the exceptions to that are called Opens.

Thanks, I'll look into it some more.

cdeb · 19-08-2019 7:07pm

There's two coming up in South Dublin on the link mikhail have earlier. Might be of interest

micko4 · 19-08-2019 11:25pm

cdeb wrote: »

There's two coming up in South Dublin on the link mikhail have earlier. Might be of interest

Is this one of them? https://www.icu.ie/events/1274 what level would the guys playing at this one be at?
Thanks

mikhail · 20-08-2019 12:38am

micko4 wrote: »

Is this one of them? https://www.icu.ie/events/1274 what level would the guys playing at this one be at?
Thanks

That's a one-day open rapidplay tournament. Every player in the same section. You can see the range of players signed up already on that webpage - everything from unrated to 2100+. You could certainly play in that, but could expect to struggle (at least until the last couple of rounds). The shorter games might suit you if you're used to online chess though, and it doesn't mean giving up a whole weekend.

cdeb · 20-08-2019 7:34am

The two full weekenders are here and here. They're over three days - though you could ask to, say, not play in round 1 if you wanted to save a day of the weekend. The bottom section in each is for players rated under 1200 and would go down to beginner level. If we assume that you're maybe somewhere between 850 and 1050, then you see that there's players lower rated than that in both tournaments already. Expect to play a lot of little people!

Entry numbers tends to increase quickly in the week leading up to the tournament. There was about 150 all told in each tournament last year, between all the various sections.

micko4 · 20-08-2019 8:32pm

mikhail wrote: »

That's a one-day open rapidplay tournament. Every player in the same section. You can see the range of players signed up already on that webpage - everything from unrated to 2100+. You could certainly play in that, but could expect to struggle (at least until the last couple of rounds). The shorter games might suit you if you're used to online chess though, and it doesn't mean giving up a whole weekend.

I do like the shorter games, I don't have the patience for the longer ones and would like to not have to give up the whole weekend. But there would obviously no chance of me winning anything ever in these tournaments or do they have under 1200 winners or anything. Not that it's about winning or that I would even be able to win against 1200 rated players but it's good to have a bit of a goal or competition about it.

micko4 · 20-08-2019 8:34pm

cdeb wrote: »

The two full weekenders are here and here. They're over three days - though you could ask to, say, not play in round 1 if you wanted to save a day of the weekend. The bottom section in each is for players rated under 1200 and would go down to beginner level. If we assume that you're maybe somewhere between 850 and 1050, then you see that there's players lower rated than that in both tournaments already. Expect to play a lot of little people!

Entry numbers tends to increase quickly in the week leading up to the tournament. There was about 150 all told in each tournament last year, between all the various sections.

Ah man, I'm gonna get beaten by some kids ay? lol. If you miss the first day would it affect you in anyway or could you catch up on extra games the next day?

micko4 · 20-08-2019 8:35pm

Also what rating are you guys at?

cdeb · 20-08-2019 9:12pm

micko4 wrote: »

Ah man, I'm gonna get beaten by some kids ay? lol. If you miss the first day would it affect you in anyway or could you catch up on extra games the next day?

No way of avoiding getting beaten by kids! On the flip side, give it a couple of years and they'll be in the top section and you'll be able to say "I nearly beat him once"

If you miss the first day - firstly, let the organisers know in advance. Otherwise, you won't be in the draw for the second round. You get a half point for a bye, so it's like getting a draw. In round 2, you'd play someone who either drew their first match or took a bye. Then continue as normal.

I'm about 1700 at the moment (1900 online)

micko4 · 20-08-2019 9:47pm

cdeb wrote: »

No way of avoiding getting beaten by kids! On the flip side, give it a couple of years and they'll be in the top section and you'll be able to say "I nearly beat him once"

If you miss the first day - firstly, let the organisers know in advance. Otherwise, you won't be in the draw for the second round. You get a half point for a bye, so it's like getting a draw. In round 2, you'd play someone who either drew their first match or took a bye. Then continue as normal.

I'm about 1700 at the moment (1900 online)

That's a savage rating, you playing since you're young? I wonder what rating is achievable for me, I'm 33 now.

cdeb · 20-08-2019 10:19pm

It's nothing special tbh; I think it's just above the median in the country. Other posters here are stronger.

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to get up to, say, 1300. It'd be a nice rating psychologically because the bottom section in most weekenders is <1200. At 1300, you'd have to play up a section.

Chess competitions lower levels

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