When should you play in tournaments?

The short answer is. . . whenever you want. But that ignores a problem players face when competing and trying to improve.

Suppose you’ve spent a lot of time working on new techniques, but you haven’t quite perfected them yet. When you play in a tournament, you will be sorely tempted to fall back on what worked for you before. . . which will set your training back who knows how much. Think about it: you spent all that time developing new, more advanced skills, and then you reinforce the old bad habits by falling back into them in the tournament! You literally told your subconscious to forget all that training, let’s go back to the old ways. How much training will it take to undo that?

So if you think you’ll fall back into bad habits, generally avoid tournaments until you’re more ready. A very general guideline is that it might take six months to put a new skill into practice. So maybe take those six months and then play tournaments again.

HOWEVER . . . If you’re the type who can use these new advanced skills and not worry about winning or losing, or (gasp!) losing rating points, then by all means play tournaments and use those new skills. You can still play smart tactics, but do so using the techniques and playstyle you strive for. It’s only a matter of time before you break through, and these new skills will become ingrained.

But here’s an even tougher question. Let’s say you play the tournament, and maybe even make it to the finals of an event, using your new skills and the style you want to play. Suppose you’re playing in the final against someone you know you can beat with your old game, but aren’t so confident with your new game.

My hesitant answer is to play to win, while still trying to use as much of your ‘new’ and more advanced style as possible. When you’re trying to be a looper, but your opponent is struggling with your heavy push. . . then maybe use both. . . and give him a hard push at important moments. Playing a more advanced style doesn’t mean forgetting what you could do before or having to play dumb – so use that when you need to, while perhaps focusing on your new-found skills and playing the style you’re aiming for.