1. It depends i would check online.
2.If registration is still open you can still join.
3.I don't know your playing skill but OTB tourneys are fun ,winning or losing.
4.Most likely you will find that it is.
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!