1. It depends i would check online.
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2.If registration is still open you can still join.
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3.I don't know your playing skill but OTB tourneys are fun ,winning or losing.Β
4.Most likely you will find that it is.
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5.Unless you want to travel home every day you need to find a place to stay
I am 16 years old and I live in Victoria, Australia. I've enjoyed playing chess since I was 7 years old and when I was in grade 6, I came 1st place in the primary school chess tournament (over 100 participants from about 15 different schools).
I am currently finishing year 10 and beginning year 11 next year. Ever since I joined high-school, I haven't found any tournaments at all because the school I go to is not as enthusiastic about chess as I am. I was researching Chess Victoria and I came across a tournament happening in the summer holidays from the 15th-23rd of January, 2011. It is based in Mooroolbark which shouldn't be too far from where I live (maybe a few hours by car or train).
It seems like a pretty serious chess tournament because it has proper age divisions like U/10, U/12, U/14, U/16 and U/18 (I would participate in the U/18) and is not a school-based chess tournament like the last one I attended (and won) when I was 12 years old.
I have a few questions I want to ask about this, since I have never participated in a serious chess tournament before, and after I won the last tournament 4 and a half years ago and was invited to play at a higher level, my parents couldn't be bothered signing me up so I haven't played offline for many years. Here are my questions:
1. How many people do you think will be participating in something like this?
2. Is it too late for me to sign up now (I am a few weeks late of getting a free t-shirt but I don't care about that)?
3. Would I stand a chance in the U/18 division?
4. Is it worth going, even if it means hours of travel to get there?
5. When it says "15th-23rd of January, 2011", does it mean I actually have to be there for 8 full days? Because I would have nowhere to sleep and to drive that far for days seems pretty hard on both me and my mum who has to drive me/arrange a train ticket for me.
The summer holidays for me start in a week and go all through December and January, finishing at the start of February. I have slightly over 2 months where I have nothing planned at all except for a single day (christmas day) out of about 60+ days. I want to join something like this, and it seems like such a good opporunity for me, but I'm not sure how this will work out. Please give me advice!